Plain English Breakdown
The official source does not specify an exact effective date, though it notes the bill was chaptered on October 10, 2025.
AB-896: Foster Care Placement Transition Planning
This law requires county agencies to create plans that help foster children move between homes or return to their families while giving the children a chance to share their thoughts.
What This Bill Does
- Requires each county child welfare agency to adopt a policy for planning placement transitions.
- Ensures foster children can give input on how they will be moved from one setting to another.
- Provides guidance to social workers on how to get information from and share details with the children during these moves.
- Mandates that if a child's current home cannot be kept, the worker must follow the county's transition plan policy.
- Requires the State Department of Social Services to issue best practice guides for successful transitions.
Who It Names or Affects
- County child welfare agencies
- Foster children moving between placements or returning home
- Social workers and probation officers
- The State Department of Social Services
Terms To Know
- Placement transition planning policy
- A set of rules created by a county to help manage how foster children move from one living situation to another.
- Reunification
- The process where a child in foster care returns to live with their biological family or legal guardians.
Limits and Unknowns
- No state reimbursement is required for the costs counties face from this new law.
- The specific reason why no money will be given back is not detailed, only that a specified reason exists.
- The exact date when these rules must start being followed is not listed in the provided text.