Foster care: placement transition planning.

Plain English Breakdown

The official source does not provide specific details on when policies must be implemented or the costs involved.

Foster Care: Helping Kids Move Between Homes

AB-896 requires counties to create policies that help foster children when they move between different living situations or leave foster care.

What This Bill Does

• Requires each county child welfare agency to adopt a placement transition planning policy for supporting foster children who are transitioning between placement settings and from foster care to reunification.
• Ensures that foster children have the opportunity to provide input on their placement transitions.
• Provides guidance to social workers on obtaining input and sharing information during these transitions.
• Requires the State Department of Social Services to issue guidance describing best practices for successful placement transition planning.

Who It Names or Affects

• Foster children who are transitioning between different living situations or leaving foster care.
• County child welfare agencies responsible for creating and implementing transition plans.
• Social workers involved in the placement transitions of foster youth.

Terms To Know

Placement preservation strategy

A plan to keep a foster child in their current living situation when changes are being considered.

State-mandated local program

A program that the state requires counties or other local agencies to implement, which may involve additional costs for these entities.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify when the policies must be implemented.
• It is unclear how much it will cost counties to create and follow these new transition plans.

Official Summary Text

AB 896, Elhawary.
Foster care: placement transition planning.
Existing law generally provides for the placement of foster youth in various placement settings. Existing law requires, prior to making a change in the placement of a dependent child, a social worker or probation officer to develop and implement a placement preservation strategy to preserve the dependent child’s placement.
This bill would, among other things, require each county child welfare agency to adopt a placement transition planning policy for supporting foster children who are transitioning between placement settings and who are transitioning from foster care to reunification, and requires that the policy ensures that foster children are provided the opportunity to provide input on their placement transition and provides guidance to social workers for obtaining input and sharing information in placement transition planning. The bill would
require, if a child’s placement cannot be preserved, the social worker to ensure that there is appropriate placement transition planning, consistent with the county’s adopted policy. The bill would require the State Department of Social Services to issue guidance to county child welfare agencies to describe best practices and strategies for successful placement transition planning, and would require county child welfare agencies to submit to the department its placement transition planning policy, as specified. By imposing new duties on counties, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF