Foster care placement: resource family rights.

Existing law provides for the placement of certain children in foster care, relative placement, adoptive homes, or resource families under the supervision of the State Department of Social Services and county welfare departments. Existing law establishes rights for minors and nonminors in foster care, including the right to live in a safe, healthy, and comfortable home where he or she is treated with respect. This bill would require the State Department of Social Services to convene a resource family rights working group made up of specified participants, including, among others, a representative of the Office of the State Foster Care Ombudsperson. The bill would require the working group, by January 1, 2018, to evaluate existing resource family rights and make recommendations to the Legislature for revising existing resource family rights and establishing new resource family rights. The bill would require the working group to consider recommending to the Legislature specified resource family rights, including, among others, the right to be treated with dignity, respect, trust, and consideration as a resource family and a member of the professional team caring for foster children. The bill would also require the working group, by July 1, 2018, to, among other things, develop standardized information regarding existing resource family rights and its proposed revisions of, and additions to, those rights.