We’re ending the month with big news! CLC is proud to announce that all five of our sponsored pieces of legislation have been signed by Governor Gavin Newsom!
This has been an outstanding legislative season. The success of these bills is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team and our commitment to driving positive change in California’s child welfare system. We extend our deepest gratitude to everyone who supported these initiatives, including the dedicated Legislators who authored the bills, Governor Newsom, our co-sponsors, and stakeholders who supported the bills.
Here’s a brief overview of each bill:
· AB 866 Medically Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder (ASM Blanca Rubio) guarantees timely access to medication-assisted treatment for older youth in the foster care system suffering from opioid use disorder. AB 866 will address the opioid crisis among foster youth by making effective, life-saving strategies equally accessible to youth in foster care.
· AB 2664 Family Reunification Timelines (ASM Isaac Bryan) provides families with child welfare cases a fair opportunity to reunify. AB 2664 will prevent counties from prematurely terminating a parent’s right to reunify with their child by clarifying that the timeline does not start until reunification services are actually ordered.
· AB 2906 Preserving Benefits for Foster Youth (ASM Isaac Bryan) requires counties to conserve Social Security survivors’ benefits received by a youth in foster care for that youth’s current and future needs, rather than using those benefits to pay for the cost of the child’s foster care placement. With AB 2906 California will join a national movement of states ending the archaic practice of recouping the costs of a child’s time in foster care through collecting their survivor’s benefits.
· AB 2929 Advancing Foster Youth Family Finding Efforts (ASM Juan Carrillo) ensures all parties involved in a child welfare case (attorneys, judicial officers) will have the information necessary to facilitate meaningful and ongoing connections between the youth and their family. AB 2929 serves as a testament to CA’s commitment to advancing the well-being of our foster youth by promoting important and stable family connections.
·     SB 1197 In-Home Respite Services (SEN Alvarado-Gil) will improve access to critical developmental services for vulnerable children and youth in the foster care system. SB 1197 will further California’s goal of providing coordinated, timely, and trauma-informed services to youth served by both child welfare & Regional Center.Â
For more information, visit our Policy and Legislation page.