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AB 12 Question of the Week
Q: My organization is a provider of THP+FC. Is there a minimum or maximum amount that we are required to provide in allowance to the youth placed in our THP+FC program?
For the answer, follow this LINK.
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State Issues Guidance on How to Implement New Infant Supplement for Parenting Dependents
On August 2, the California Department of Social Services issued County Fiscal Letter 16/17-07, which provides counties with instructions about how to claim the additional supplement ($489) that was added to the infant supplement rate, included in Assembly Bill 1603, the 2016-17 State budget bill. This additional supplement increased the infant supplement from $411 to $900 per month for all placements other than group homes. For group homes, the rate was increased to $1,379. This change went into effect July 1, 2016.
According to the letter, the additional portion of the infant supplement must be claimed separately from the base infant supplement rate. The letter includes a recommended procedure and also includes samples of the claim forms used to claim the infant supplement rate expenditures. To view County Fiscal Letter 16/17-07, follow this LINK.
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Support Legislation to Improve Access to Mental Health for Foster Youth
With a Friday deadline for bills to get out of the fiscal committees, time is running out to address a long-standing issue in California’s foster care system: how to ensure mental health services for the estimated 12,000 children and youth who are placed outside their county of jurisdiction. Under the current system of service delivery, mental health is county-based, meaning that a child who resides out-of-county is also out of network. According to advocacy organization Young Minds Advocacy, this commonly results in delays for critically needed care.
Assembly Bill 1299 was introduced last year by Assembly Member Ridley Thomas and proposes a solution that has been embraced by counties, advocates and the Administration. Under AB 1299, the responsibility for providing or arranging for specialty mental health services would shift from the county where a foster youth entered care to the county where the child resides.
Please take a moment to support this important legislation by sending in a support letter to the Appropriations Committee today. Follow this LINK for a sample letter. To read more about the policy, read a Frequently Asked Questions document developed by Young Minds Advocacy, a sponsor of the bill.
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Bill to Ensure Priority Registration for Foster Youth Passes Out of Appropriations
On August 3rd, Senate Bill 906 (Beall), which would ensure the availability of priority registration for foster youth, low-income students and students with disabilities in college in California, passed unanimously out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
These three categories of students fare much worse than the general population and are less likely to hold a post-secondary education degree by age 26. For foster youth, 8 percent will hold a college degree, 10 percent of low-income students and 29 percent of students with a disability, as compared to half of the population that is not low-income, disabled or in foster care.
SB 906 would ensure the availability of priority registration for foster youth, low-income students and students with disabilities by removing a sunset clause that would have eliminated priority registration on January 1, 2017. The bill would also change foster youth eligibility for priority registration. Currently, foster youth are eligible for priority registration if they were in foster care on or after their 18th birthday and under age 23. Under the new criteria, foster youth would be eligible for priority registration if they were in foster care on or after their 16th birthday, and were under age 26.
SB 906 will next be voted on by the full Assembly by August 31st, and if successful, will go to the Governor’s desk, who has until September 30th to sign or veto bills. To read a fact sheet on SB 906, follow this LINK.
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Family Conflict Key Driver of Youth Homelessness, Yet Few Evaluations of Family Interventions Exist
The Urban Institute has released a report summarizing existing evidence on family intervention strategies for youth experiencing or at risk of homelessness, and includes a summary of common elements of effective interventions and a discussion of gaps in the evidence base.
Because family conflict is a key driver of youth homelessness, most programs serving homeless youth use some form of family intervention to address conflict and help reconnect youth with families when possible and appropriate.
The report reviews family-focused interventions and indicates where they are on the spectrum of being evidence-based. It also categorizes them as 1) prevention strategies, addressing risk factors for youth homelessness such as substance use, family functioning or mental health; 2) reunification strategies, supporting youth and their families in the transition back home after separation; or 3) reconnection strategies, improving family relationships after a separation with or without physical reunification.
Of the 49 interventions reviewed, only two strategies identified were considered evidence-based, both falling into the category of reconnection strategies, with the remainders falling somewhere between “evidence-informed” and “of interest”.
The report identifies a number of gaps in the evidence. Few rigorous evaluations of family interventions for youth experiencing homelessness exist, and few interventions track housing or homelessness as an outcome. Additionally, there is little cross-sector sharing of interventions, and few interventions address the needs of LGBTQ youth or are designed for racial and ethnic minorities. Lastly, there is little evidence of working with schools to identify stressed families, and a lack of screening tools to appropriately target interventions. To read the report follow this LINK.
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