Foster care.

Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to develop a payment system for foster family agencies that provide treatment, intensive treatment, and therapeutic foster care programs. Existing law commencing July 1, 2019, requires that the rates paid to foster family agencies, except for the rate paid to a certified family home or resource family agency, be 4.15% higher than the rates paid to foster family agencies in the 2018–19 fiscal year. This bill would, commencing July 1, 2021, require that the rates paid to foster family agencies be adjusted annually by an amount equal to the California Necessities Index, rounded to the nearest dollar. The bill would require the department to convene a workgroup with concerned stakeholders to establish a foster family agency rate structure to provide adequate funding for foster family agency social workers in order to reduce foster family agency social worker turnover and to improve permanency outcomes for foster children and youth. The bill would require the department, based on the findings of the workgroup, to submit specific recommendations to the Legislature, on or before December 31, 2022, to establish a foster family agency rate structure that ensures that foster family agency social workers are adequately compensated. The bill would require the rate adjustment described above to remain in effect until the date that the department submits those recommendations to the Legislature and the department establishes a foster family agency rate structure to ensure that foster family agency social workers are adequately compensated.