Public social services.

(1) Existing law generally provides for the placement of foster youth in various placement settings, and governs the provision of child welfare services, which is defined to mean public social services that are directed toward the accomplishment of specified purposes, including protecting and promoting the welfare of all children, preventing the unnecessary separation of children from their families, and restoring to their families children who have been removed. Existing federal law, the Family First Prevention Services Act of 2018 (federal FFPSA) , among other things, provides states with an option to use federal funds under Title IV of the federal Social Security Act to provide mental health and substance abuse prevention and treatment services and in-home parent skill-based programs to a child who is a candidate for foster care or a child in foster care who is a pregnant or parenting foster youth, as specified. This bill would, among other things, state the intent of the Legislature to exercise the option afforded to states in the federal FFPSA to receive federal financial participation for the above-described prevention services that are provided for a candidate for foster care, a pregnant or parenting foster youth, and their parents or kin caregivers, and the allowable costs for the proper and efficient administration of the program. The bill would authorize a county, or Indian tribe, consortium of tribes, or tribal organization that has entered into an agreement with the state regarding the care and custody of Indian children to elect to provide those prevention services, as prescribed. The bill would require the State Department of Social Services to have oversight of those prevention services and to seek all necessary federal approvals to obtain Title IV-E federal financial participation for those prevention services. The bill would require the department to develop an allocation methodology to distribute state funding for the prevention services program and would require counties to use the allocated funds and to document and report the services, as specified. The bill would authorize the State Department of Health Care Services to submit a Medicaid state plan amendment, waiver request, or both, to maximize federal financial participation under the Medi-Cal program for prevention services provided pursuant to these provisions, and would require the department to maintain oversight over the prevention services claimed under the Medi-Cal program. (2) Existing law, the California Community Care Facilities Act, provides for the licensing and regulation of community care facilities, including short-term residential therapeutic programs, by the State Department of Social Services, and defines a short-term residential therapeutic program as a residential facility licensed by the department and operated by any public agency or private organization that provides an integrated program of specialized and intensive care and supervision, services and supports, treatment, and short-term, 24-hour care and supervision to children, including foster children. A violation of the act is a misdemeanor. This bill would require a short-term residential therapeutic program, as a condition of licensure, to provide specified trauma-informed support and transition services to foster youth as part of a planned or unplanned discharge. By creating requirements for short-term residential therapeutic programs, the violation of which is a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) The federal FFPSA, among other things, prohibits foster care maintenance payments to be made on behalf of a child placed in a qualified residential treatment program, among other childcare institutions, unless a court assesses the placement within 30 days of the placement being made and the program meets specified requirements, including the utilization of a trauma-informed treatment model, the participation of family members in the child's treatment program, and the provision of registered or licensed nursing staff and discharge planning and postdischarge supports and services. The federal FFPSA also requires, in the case of placement in a qualified residential treatment program, an assessment and determination by a qualified individual of which placement would best meet the needs of the child, and documentation in the child's case plan of these assessments, among other things. This bill would make various changes to provisions relating to the licensing of, and the placement of foster youth in, short-term residential therapeutic programs in order to conform those provisions to the above-described federal FFPSA requirements, including requiring a qualified individual, as defined and based on federal approval and a process developed jointly by specified departments, to conduct an assessment of certain placements to short-term residential therapeutic programs or out-of-state residential facilities, establishing a process for the juvenile court to review and approve the placement of a dependent child, ward, or nonminor dependent in a short-term residential therapeutic program, requiring county social workers and probation officers to include certain information in specified social studies, reports, and case plans, requiring short-term residential therapeutic programs to ensure the availability of nursing staff, and providing at least 6 months of family-based aftercare services postdischarge from a short-term residential therapeutic program or an out-of-state facility. By creating requirements for short-term residential therapeutic programs, the violation of which is a crime, and by imposing new duties on county officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (4) Existing law, subject to an annual appropriation in the annual Budget Act, requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to provide funding to counties for allocation to child welfare services agencies to help young adults who are 18 to 24 years of age, inclusive, secure and maintain housing, with priority given to young adults formerly in the state's foster care or probation systems. Existing law suspends this program on December 31, 2021, unless the Department of Finance makes a specified finding. This bill would delete the provisions conditionally suspending that program. The bill would also require a child welfare agency that accepts any distribution of money to report specified information to the department on an annual basis. (5) Existing law, the Budget Act of 2019, appropriated $5,000,000 to the Department of Housing and Community Development to allocate to counties for the support of housing navigators to help young adults 18 to 21 years of age, inclusive, secure and maintain housing, with priority given to young adults in the foster care system. This bill, subject to an appropriation in the annual Budget Act, would require the department to allocate funding to counties to continue that housing navigator program. The bill would require a child welfare agency that accepts any distribution of money to report specified information to the department on an annual basis. The bill would require the housing navigator program for any county that accepts any distribution of money to provide specified training to its child welfare agency social workers and probation officers who serve nonminor dependents, including training to address an overview of the housing resources available through the local coordinated entry system, homeless continuum of care, and county public agencies. (6) Existing law establishes the Transitional Housing Placement-Plus program, which provides transitional housing for former foster youth who are at least 18 years of age and, except as specified, not more than 24 years of age. Existing law provides for the establishment of rates to be paid to providers of transitional housing. This bill would establish the THP-Plus Housing Supplement Program and would require the Department of Housing and Community Development, subject to an appropriation in the annual Budget Act, to allocate and distribute funds to up to 11 counties under the program. The bill would specify that a county is eligible to receive this supplemental funding if the fair market rent for a 2-bedroom apartment in the county is one of the 11 most expensive in the state during the 2020–21 federal fiscal year. The bill would specify requirements for counties that elect to receive this funding, including, among others, that the county maintain the bed capacity for the Transitional Housing Program-Plus program that the county contracted for as of July 1, 2021. The bill would also prescribe the method of calculating the amount of supplemental funding a county receives pursuant to this program. (7) Existing law, the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act, requires the State Department of Developmental Services to contract with regional centers to provide services and supports to individuals with developmental disabilities and their families. To maximize federal financial participation and facilitate timely access to residential placements of consumers in foster care, the bill would require the department to enter into interagency agreements, as specified, to obtain state and federal funding with the state departments that oversee the agencies that have the legal responsibility to serve all members of the general public and receive public funds for providing those services. The bill would require regional centers to fund the vendored residential service types, as specified. (8) Existing law establishes the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children, which governs the conditions for placing children in out-of-state group homes. Under existing law, the State Department of Social Services is designated to act as the Compact Administrator for the state. Existing law subjects a minor between 12 and 17 years of age, who violates a federal, state, or local law or ordinance, and a minor under 12 years of age who is alleged to have committed specified serious offenses, to the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, which may adjudge the minor to be a ward of the court. Existing law generally prohibits a court from placing a ward outside of the state, but authorizes a court to place a ward in an institution in another state pursuant to the compact if equivalent facilities are not available in this state or out-of-state institutional care is in the best interest of the child and will not produce undue hardship. This bill would generally prohibit the placement of foster youth, nonminor dependents, and wards of the court in out-of-state residential facilities, as defined, on and after July 1, 2021. The bill would authorize those placements before July 1, 2022, if specified criteria are met, including that the facility has been certified for placement by the State Department of Social Services or is exempt from that certification. On and after July 1, 2022, the bill would prohibit the department from certifying new out-of-state residential facilities or seeking approval of new placements by county child welfare agencies or probation departments in out-of-state residential facilities. The bill would prohibit county child welfare agencies from placing a child in an out-of-state residential facility, unless specified placement criteria are met and the agency completes specified tasks to seek a child-specific certification of an out-of-state residential facility. By creating new duties for counties, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would require the department to decertify all out-of-state residential facilities on January 1, 2023, and ensure that all children and youth have been returned to California by that date. The bill would set forth the duties of the department, as Compact Administrator, in reviewing a child-specific certification of a placement in an out-of-state residential facility. The bill would require the department to report the number of children placed in an out-of-state residential facility pursuant to the compact on or before September 1, 2021, and each month thereafter, as specified, and would require the department to report every 6 months beginning January 1, 2022, specified data on children placed in out-of-state residential facilities. The bill would also make conforming changes. (9) Existing law states the intent of the Legislature to improve California's child welfare system and its outcomes by increasing the use of home-based family care and creating faster paths to permanency resulting in shorter durations of involvement in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Existing law authorizes foster youth to be placed in a short-term residential therapeutic program if an interagency placement committee determines that the foster youth meets certain criteria, including that the youth is assessed as seriously emotionally disturbed or has individual behavioral or treatment needs can only be met by the level of care provided in a short-term residential therapeutic program. Existing law also establishes an intensive services foster care program to provide specialized programs to serve children with specific needs, including behavioral and specialized health care needs. This bill would require the State Department of Social Services, jointly with the State Department of Health Care Services, to establish the Children's Crisis Continuum Pilot Program for the purpose of developing treatment options that are needed to support California's commitment to eliminate the placement of foster youth with complex needs in out-of-state facilities. The bill would require the department to establish guidelines for foster youth eligibility and the selection, operation, and evaluation of the 5-year pilot, including guidelines on specified aspects of the structure of the pilot. The bill would require the State Department of Social Services, jointly with the State Department of Health Care Services, to take specified actions, including providing technical assistance to applicants and participating entities, awarding grants to participating entities, and developing a request for proposal process and selection criteria to determine which applicants will participate in the pilot program. The bill would require the selection criteria to include certain components, including submission of a plan by an applicant. The bill would require proposals to be submitted no later than January 31, 2022, and would require grant funds to be disbursed no later than March 31, 2022. This bill would require participating entities to develop, in collaboration with a workgroup, a highly integrated continuum of care for foster youth served in the pilot program. The bill would require the continuum of care, across all service settings, to reflect specified core program features and service approaches, including highly individualized and trauma-informed services. The bill would state the intent of the Legislature to appropriate moneys to the State Department of Social Services in the annual Budget Act or another statute for the purpose of administering a grant program to provide funding to participating entities for the duration of the pilot program. The bill would require the department, 3 years after commencement of the pilot project, and no later than April 1, 2025, to submit an interim report relating to the pilot program to the Assembly Committee on Human Services and the Senate Committees on Human Services. The bill would authorize the pilot program to be implemented through all-county letters or other similar instruction and would require any guidance issued pursuant to that authorization to be issued by March 1, 2022. (10) Existing law requires the Secretary of California Health and Human Services and the Superintendent of Public Instruction to establish a joint interagency resolution team, consisting of representatives from specified state departments, whose primary roles would be to develop guidance and provide support and technical assistance to counties with regard to those children and youth and the memoranda of understanding, as specified. Existing law required the team, no later than January 1, 2020, to review the placement and service options available to county child welfare agencies and county probation departments for those children and youth, and to develop and submit recommendations to the Legislature, regarding identified gaps in placement, needed services, and a centralized process for services, as specified. This bill would require the joint interagency resolution team to update that review and provide recommendations to the Legislature no later than December 31, 2022, that take into account the specific needs and characteristics of youth with unplanned discharges from short-term residential therapeutic programs and youth for whom counties were unable to, or have difficulty with, securing placements and providing trauma-informed services, as specified. The bill would additionally require the joint interagency resolution team to track and report deidentified information of children and nonminor dependents in foster care who have been assisted to preserve, or secure new, intensive therapeutic options and to post that information on the internet website of the California Health and Human Services Agency beginning July 1, 2022, and annually thereafter. (11) Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to provide technical assistance to encourage and facilitate the county placement agency's evaluation of placement needs and the development of needed placement resources and programs, and requires county placement agencies to conduct an evaluation of the county's placement resources and programs in relation to the needs of children and nonminor dependents placed in out-of-home care. This bill would require the department to allocate specified funds appropriated to the department in the Budget Act of 2021 through contracts with community-based providers or entities or through local assistance allocations to counties or Indian tribes that support new or expanded programs, services, and practices that ensure the provision of a high-quality continuum of care that is designed to support foster children in the least restrictive setting. The bill would also require the department to use the allocated funds to supplement county efforts to build system capacity for specified activities, including specialized models of professional foster care. (12) Existing law requires each county to, at the county's option, develop a county plan for wraparound services, as specified. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to seek applicable federal approval to make the maximum number of children being served through wraparound services eligible for federal financial participation, and to amend any applicable state regulations to the extent necessary to eliminate any limitations on the numbers of children who can participate in those programs. This bill would additionally require the State Department of Social Services and the State Department of Health Care Services, in consultation with county representatives and other stakeholders, to develop recommendations for implementing and expanding high-fidelity wraparound services statewide. (13) Existing law requires a county social worker to create a case plan for foster youth within a specified timeframe after the child is introduced into the foster care system. Existing law requires the case plan to include prescribed components, including, among other things, for certain youth and nonminor dependents, verification that the youth or nonminor dependent has received comprehensive sexual health education, as specified, and an indication that the youth or nonminor dependent has been informed about various topics relating to reproductive and sexual health care. Existing law requires the case plan to identify the person or persons responsible for assisting the child or nonminor dependent with applications for postsecondary education and related financial aid, unless the child or nonminor dependent states that they do not want to pursue postsecondary education, including career or technical education. This bill would require a county social worker or probation officer to include in certain reports to the juvenile court a factual discussion of whether the youth or nonminor dependent has received comprehensive sexual health education and whether the youth or nonminor dependent has been informed of the topics relating to reproductive and sexual health care. The bill would require a county social worker or probation officer to include in certain reports to the juvenile court the identity of the person or persons responsible for assisting the child or nonminor dependent with applications for postsecondary education and related financial aid, as specified. The bill would require the juvenile court to make a determination regarding whether the social worker has performed those duties. The bill would require the Judicial Council, on or before January 1, 2023, to amend and adopt rules of court and to develop appropriate forms necessary to implement these provisions. By imposing additional duties on county social workers and probation officers, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (14) 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. Existing law establishes a schedule of basic rates to be paid for the care and supervision of each foster child. Existing law also establishes the Kinship Guardianship Assistance Payment Program (Kin-GAP) , which provides aid on behalf of eligible children who are placed in the home of a relative caretaker. Existing law requires, when a child is living with a parent who receives AFDC-FC or Kin-GAP benefits, that the rate paid to the foster care provider on behalf of the parent include an additional amount, known as an infant supplement, for the care and supervision of the child. This bill would make a pregnant minor or nonminor dependent eligible for the infant supplement for a specified period before the expected date of birth, as specified. The bill would require the department to develop and implement automated payments for these purposes, as specified. Because counties would administer these extended benefits, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (15) Existing law establishes the Approved Relative Caregiver Funding Program, for the purpose of making the amount paid to approved relative caregivers for the in-home care of children and nonminor dependents placed with them who are ineligible for Aid to Families with Dependent Children-Foster Care (AFDC-FC) payments equal to the amount paid on behalf of children and nonminor dependents who are eligible for AFDC-FC payments. Under existing law, an approved relative caregiver payment may be provided on behalf of a child or nonminor dependent who meets specified criteria, including that the child or nonminor dependent resides in California. This bill would extend eligibility for payments under the Approved Relative Caregiver Funding Program on behalf of a child or nonminor dependent placed out of state in the home of a relative, if the child or nonminor dependent is ineligible for AFDC-FC payments and meets other existing eligibility requirements, as specified. The bill would also require the home of the out-of-state relative to be licensed or approved as required by the state in which the home is located. To the extent that the bill would impose new duties on counties, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (16) 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 to provide a specified payment to an emergency caregiver if, among other things, the emergency caregiver has completed an application for resource family approval and an application for the Emergency Assistance Program. Existing law requires these payments to be made from Emergency Assistance Program funds included in the state's Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant, with the county solely responsible for the nonfederal share of cost, except as specified. Under existing law, during the 2021–22 fiscal year, and each fiscal year thereafter, these payments are ineligible for the federal or state share of payment upon approval or denial of the resource family application or beyond 90 days, whichever comes first, and requires the department to consider extending the required payments beyond 90 days if the resource family approval process cannot be completed within 90 days due to circumstances outside of a county's control. This bill would instead make the time limits that were to begin in the 2021–22 fiscal year apply beginning in the 2022–23 fiscal year. The bill would, for the 2021–22 fiscal year, make these payments eligible for the federal and state share of payment until approval or denial of the resource family application or for up to 120 days, whichever comes first, and would authorize an extension of eligibility for the federal and state share of payment for up to 365 days if certain conditions are met by the county, including, among others, the provision of monthly documentation showing good cause for the delay in approving the resource family application that is outside the control of the county. (17) 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 January 1, 2017, requires the department to establish interim rates, to be effective January 1, 2017, through December 31, 2021, as specified. 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, and suspends that rate increase on December 31, 2021, unless a specified circumstance applies. Existing law declares the intent of the Legislature to establish an ongoing payment structure no later than January 1, 2022. This bill would extend the interim rates through December 31, 2022. The bill would also repeal the suspension of the above-described rate increase. The bill would increase the amount included for the component for social workers in the interim rates by $50 per child, per month, effective July 1, 2021. The bill would instead state the intent of the Legislature to develop an ongoing payment structure no later than January 1, 2023, and would require the payment structure to be implemented when the department notifies the Legislature that the statewide automation systems can complete the necessary automation functions, as specified. (18) Existing law establishes a child welfare public health nursing early intervention program in the County of Los Angeles. Existing law suspends that program, as of December 31, 2021, unless the Department of Finance makes a specified determination regarding General Fund revenues and expenditures. This bill would repeal that conditional suspension, thereby extending the child welfare public health nursing early intervention program in the County of Los Angeles indefinitely. (19) Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to establish a statewide hotline as the entry point for a Family Urgent Response System, as defined, to respond to calls from caregivers or current or former foster children or youth during moments of instability. Existing law also requires county child welfare, probation, and behavioral health agencies, in each county or region of counties to establish a joint county-based mobile response system that includes a mobile response and stabilization team for the purpose of providing supportive services to, among other things, address situations of instability, preserve the relationship of the caregiver and the child or youth, and stabilize the situation. Existing law also suspends the implementation of these provisions on December 31, 2021, unless the Department of Finance makes a specified determination regarding General Fund revenues and expenditures. The bill would repeal that conditional suspension, thereby making these provisions operative indefinitely. By requiring counties to operate county-based mobile response systems indefinitely, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (20) Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to administer the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, under which each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families and individuals, and the CalFresh program, under which supplemental nutrition assistance benefits allocated to the state by the federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by each county. This bill would require the department, subject to an appropriation for this purpose in the annual Budget Act, to administer the California Guaranteed Income Pilot Program to provide grants to eligible entities for the purpose of administering pilot programs and projects that provide a guaranteed income to participants. The bill would require the department to prioritize funding for pilot programs and projects that serve California residents who age out of the extended foster care program and pregnant individuals. The bill would require the department, in consultation with relevant stakeholders, to determine the methodology for, and manner of, distributing those grants, subject to certain requirements. The bill would require an eligible entity, in order to receive a grant, to take specified actions, including presenting commitments of additional, nongovernmental funding for the pilot programs and projects to be funded with the grant. The bill would prohibit payments received by an individual from a pilot program or project funded by those grants from being treated as income or resources for the purpose of determining eligibility or the amount of benefits under any state or local benefit or assistance program. The bill would require departments that administer certain federal benefit or assistance programs to, if possible, approve an exemption or waiver to exclude a guaranteed income payment from consideration as income or resources for purposes of the federal benefit or assistance program, or seek federal waivers or exemptions to do so. The bill would also require the department, upon allocation of funding to eligible entities, to report to the Legislature and post publicly on its internet website information about the grants funded. The bill would also require the department to review and evaluate the pilot programs and projects funded pursuant to these provisions, provide a report to the Legislature regarding that review and evaluation, and post a copy of the report on its internet website. This bill would exempt contracts or grants awarded under the California Guaranteed Income Pilot Program from specified personal services contracting requirements, the Public Contract Code, the State Contracting Manual, and approval by the Department of General Services. The bill would authorize the department to implement the program without taking any regulatory action. This bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2026, and repeal them on January 1, 2027. (21) The bill would authorize the State Department of Social Services to implement, interpret, or make specific specified provisions of this act through all-county letters or similar written instructions from the department until regulations are adopted no later than July 1, 2024, and would authorize the State Department of Health Care Services to implement, interpret, or make specific the provisions of this act by means of plan or all-county letters, information notices, plan or provider bulletins, or other similar instructions, until the adoption of regulations no later than July 1, 2024. (22) 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for specified reasons. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. (23) Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services, subject to an appropriation of funds in the annual Budget Act, to administer the California Newcomer Education and Well-Being (CalNEW) Program to provide services for refugees, unaccompanied undocumented minors, and immigrant families. Existing law requires the department to allocate funding to school districts with significant numbers of refugee pupils and unaccompanied undocumented minors, or a significant population of English learner pupils. This bill, for the 2020–21 fiscal year, would appropriate $5,000,000 from the General Fund to the State Department of Social Services to administer the CalNEW Program by allocating funding to school districts with a significant number of eligible refugee pupils to improve their well-being, English language proficiency, and academic performance. The funding would be available for encumbrance and expenditure until June 30, 2024. The funds appropriated by this bill would be applied toward the minimum funding requirements for school districts and community college districts imposed by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.