California Foster Youth Education Summit
On January 23, 2007, a broad collaborative of advocates and other professionals representing education, child welfare, the courts, and foster youth will meet for the first California summit meeting to address critical issues in foster youth education. Topics to be discussed include implementation of AB 490, access to higher education, early childhood issues, and educational decision making. Foster and kinship caregivers and other child welfare system participants interested in learning more about ensuring educational success for children and youth in foster care can contact the LAPP office for information about the summit and LAPP resources on educational issues.
LAPP Attorney Honored as National Foster Parent of the Year
Lois Raap, a LAPP senior attorney, will be honored on January 24, 2007 by Casey Family Programs as one of two co-recipients of their inaugural Ruth Massinga Foster Parent of the Year Award. Casey Family Programs, a Seattle-based foundation fostering excellence in child welfare, provides and improves—and ultimately prevents the need for—foster care. In addition to being honored at the January awards ceremony, Lois will have the opportunity to meet with Ruth Massinga, recently- retired executive director of Casey Family Programs and a well-regarded advocate for foster children and families.
Lois is being honored for distinguished community service, exceptional dedication to volunteer service, and outstanding leadership as a foster parent for California foster children and youth. The award is given to a licensed provider of in-home foster care who has greatly exceeded the standard of duty in supporting youth in care over the last two years, who has been a leading advocate for improvement in the child welfare system, and who can always be counted on to contribute. According to LAPP executive director, Regina Deihl, “Lois’ record of extraordinary community service is awe-inspiring. For the past thirty plus years, she has formed a bedrock foundation of hope in her own home and community, caring for and nurturing special needs foster children for as long as they need her.”
In recent years, Lois has also used her training as an attorney and a teacher and to help other foster, kinship, and adoptive parents get the help they need for their foster children. Lois has taught literally hundreds of foster and kinship caregivers, social workers, attorneys and others practical methods of working with schools to ensure children have appropriate educational plans, how to arrange mental health services for children in foster care, and procedures for working effectively with juvenile courts to obtain appropriate court orders for children and families.
LAPP is proud of Lois’ achievements on behalf of children and families and congratulates her on this well-deserved honor!
LAPP’s California Legislation Takes Effect January 1, 2007
On September 22, 2006, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed two LAPP bills into law that will improve the lives of foster and kinship parents and their children. Senate Bill 1641 and Senate Bill 1667 became effective January 1, 2007. The Governor also signed six additional bills into law to improve foster care and that increase foster care funding by more than $94 million, including additional funding for Kinship Support Services Programs (KSSP) and funding to provide relative caregivers with a clothing allowance and a special care increment to meet their children’s special needs. Below is a list of legislation. LAPP’s 2007 Legislative Update contains additional information on each of new laws.
Senate Bill 1641 (Soto) Community Care Licensing Foster Care Regulations
Senate Bill 1641 requires the California Department of Social Services to establish a workgroup to review all California Community Care Licensing (CCL) foster care regulations with an eye to ensuring that foster children and youth live normal childhoods and the regulations encourage the recruitment of quality, capable caregiver families. This legislation continues the process of changing the culture of foster care licensing from strict compliance to child well-being and normalcy for foster youth and their caregiver families. The workgroup to revise CCL regulations is already working on revising the regulations. The workgroup includes representatives from the foster and kinship caregiver community, including representatives from the California State Foster Parent Association and the California State Care Provider Association. Read a Fact Sheet on Senate Bill 1641.
Senate Bill 1667 (Kuehl) Foster and Kinship Caregiver Input for Juvenile Court Hearings
Senate Bill 1667 requires child welfare agencies to attach a copy of the existing California Judicial Council Caregiver Information Form (JV-290) to the notice of court hearings form for review, permanency, and post-permanency hearings that is provided to foster and kinship parents along with instructions on how to file the form directly with the juvenile court. The California Administrative Office of the Courts is in the process of drafting the instruction sheet with input from LAPP attorneys. Read a Fact Sheet on Senate Bill 1667.
Assembly Bill 2216 (Bass) California Child Welfare Council
Assembly Bill 2216 creates a Child Welfare Leadership Council, within the Health and Human Services Agency, to bring together the multiple agencies and departments that provide services to children and families in the foster care system. The Council will improve collaboration and coordination between all the agencies and courts that serve children in foster care.
Assembly Bill 2195 (Bass) Relative Assessment When Placement Changes Occur
"Assembly Bill 2195 requires that child welfare agencies assess relatives for placement of foster children and youth when the child their existing foster parent or caregiver is suddenly unable to provide care. If the relative’s home is approved for placement of the child, the child welfare agency must evaluate the relative’s home for eligibility for foster care payments.
Assembly Bill 2488 (Leno) Sibling Contact
Assembly Bill 2488 helps foster children and youth establish and maintain contact with their siblings (brothers and sisters) who have been adopted. The bill puts new procedures in place to streamline the contact. Adoptive parents of youth under age 18 will be contacted for permission before a sibling contacts their child.
Assembly Bill 2480 (Evans) Appellate Lawyers for Foster Children/Invoking Privilege
Assembly Bill 2480 ensures that foster children and youth have attorneys, when necessary if their cases are appealed to a higher court. It also allows foster teens to invoke the psychotherapist-client, doctor-patient, and clergy-penitent privileges so that information from the professional cannot be disclosed without the permission of the youth or a court order.
Assembly Bill 1979 (Bass) Criminal Record Check Fee Waiver for Foster Youth Mentors
Assembly Bill 1979 encourages appropriate adults to become mentors for foster youth by waiving the fee for criminal background checks for adults who want to mentor foster youth.
Assembly Bill 2985 (Maze) Foster Youth Identity Theft
Assembly Bill 2985 requires county child welfare agencies to request a free consumer disclosure to find out if a foster youth has been the victim of identity theft and to provide a referral to a local counseling agency that helps victims of identity theft, if the credit check discloses any negative information.
Federal Legislation (H.R. 5403) Expands Gives Caregivers a “Right” To Participate in Any Court Proceeding
Signed into law on July 3, 2006, the federal Safe and Timely Placement of Foster Children Act of 2006, P.L. 109-239 includes two important amendments related to participation in juvenile court hearings by foster and kinship parents. The first requires all states, including California, to institute a court rule mandating that foster, kinship and pre-adoptive parents be notified of any court proceeding affecting the foster children in their care. The second gives these caregivers a “right” to participate in these proceedings. For specific information on participating in court, see LAPP’s informational Toolkits titled Court Participation Basics for California Foster and Kinship Parents, Communicating Concerns about a California Foster Child in Your Care, and De Facto Parent Status for California Foster and Kinship Parents.
LAPP Provides New Service for Resource Parents and Child Welfare Agencies
Early this year, LAPP established a new program aimed at building collaborative relationships between foster and kinship families and child welfare agencies in California. Currently being piloted in San Mateo County, LAPP provides non-attorney advocates to assist families with questions and concerns without resorting to court intervention. The advocate assists families in understanding how various processes work, how to navigate systems effectively, and supports families in resolving issues quickly, effectively, and with a minimum of frustration. For more information on LAPP’s unique conflict resolution model, contact the LAPP office at: (650) 712-1442.
LAPP Goes Hawaiian
LAPP is working with the Hawaii Foster Parent Association to enhance the ability of children’s caregivers in Hawaii to be effective advocates for their foster children. LAPP provides technical assistance to develop, test and disseminate Hawaii-sensitive self-help court forms, procedural rules, and protocols for Hawaii caregivers and foster care agencies. Mahalo to our friends and colleagues in the Hawaii caregiver community. To learn more about the foster care system in Hawaii, visit the Hawaii Foster Parent Association website at: http://www.hawaiifosterparent.org/default.asp
