Foster care: resource family.

Existing law requires each county to provide cash assistance and other social services to needy families through the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program using federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) block grant program, state, and county funds. Existing law establishes the Aid to Families with Dependent Children-Foster Care (AFDC-FC) program, under which counties provide payments to foster care providers on behalf of qualified children in foster care. Under existing law, a child who is placed in the approved home of a relative is eligible for AFDC-FC if he or she is eligible for federal financial participation in the AFDC-FC payment, as specified. Existing law establishes the Approved Relative Caregiver Funding Program (ARC) for the purpose of making the amount paid to relative caregivers for the in-home care of children placed with them who are ineligible for AFDC-FC payments equal to the amount paid on behalf of children who are eligible for AFDC-FC payments. Existing law provides for the temporary or emergency placement of dependent children of the juvenile court and nonminor dependents with relative caregivers or nonrelative extended family members under specified circumstances. Existing law requires counties, until June 30, 2018, to provide an emergency assistance payment or ARC payment to an emergency caregiver who meets specified requirements, and is caring for a child or nonminor dependent placed in the caregiver's home under specified circumstances, if the child or nonminor dependent resides in California, and is not otherwise eligible for AFDC-FC or ARC. Existing law requires the payments to be made either through ARC or through the TANF block grant emergency assistance program for child welfare services, as specified. This bill would extend indefinitely the requirement that counties provide an emergency assistance payment or ARC payment to an emergency caregiver, but would remove the requirement that the child or nonminor dependent reside in California and not otherwise be eligible for AFDC-FC or ARC. Existing law provides for the implementation of the resource family approval process, which replaces the multiple processes for licensing foster family homes, certifying foster homes by foster family agencies, approving relatives and nonrelative extended family members as foster care providers, and approving guardians and adoptive families. Existing law defines a resource family as an individual or family that has successfully met both home environment assessment standards and permanency assessment criteria, as specified, necessary for providing care for a child placed by a public or private child placement agency by court order, or voluntarily placed by a parent or legal guardian. This bill would authorize a county to waive the permanency assessment criteria and approve an individual or family as a resource family upon completion of a home environment assessment if exceptional circumstances exist, as specified. The bill would require the county to document the reason for the waiver and indicate its applicability to a specific child. The bill would require the permanency assessment to be completed as soon as possible and no later than the annual update of the resource family approval. This bill would require a county welfare department, immediately following the placement of a child in the home of a relative or nonrelative extended family member who has not been approved as a resource family, to initiate funding through an emergency assistance payment or ARC payment, as specified. By expanding the duties of counties relating to foster care, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.