Sacramento Snapshot: Legislators consider more aid to foster youth who are also parents

An effort to increase aid to foster youth who are parents is seeing early bipartisan support in the legislature.

California already provides some funding to certain programs or people who care for foster youth who are pregnant or have become parents — but that amount has not increased since 2016, said Assemblymember Diane Dixon, R-Newport Beach.

Her legislation would increase what’s called the infant supplement rate by $517.24 monthly, and that can be adjusted for inflation.

There were about 740 foster youth, between the ages of 11 and 20, who were identified as potential parents, according to data from the Department of Social Services. And the average annual income for foster youth is about $10,000, according to Dixon’s office.

Youth can stay in the foster system until the age of 21, but their children are not born into the system, according to the bill.

“We cannot ignore this need,” said Dixon. “This is a unique and vulnerable population, and it is critical we support them with this modest financial support.”

Infant supplements are typically given to the foster youth’s caregiver on their behalf, according to a fact sheet for the bill, although older youth in a program that transitions them to independent living can receive the aid directly.

Mary’s Path in Orange County is one of just four facilities in California that specifically cares for teenage mothers. An increase in funding, said its executive director Jill Dominguez, is “critical for organizations like Mary’s Path to keep up with the soaring costs of infant needs, from diapers to formula, so the young mothers we serve can focus on building bonds with their babies, their education and their own path to healing.”

According to Mary’s Path, the average age of a teen giving birth in the foster system is 15.5. All of its residents are low-income, according to the bill’s fact sheet, and 66% are Latino and 33% are Black, indicating disproportionality along economic and racial lines.

The rate was last raised in 2016 and stands at $1,379 for what’s classified as short-term residential therapeutic programs — a public agency or private organization that provides specialized care and services to minors — and $900 a month for other programs.

Last week, the bill, AB 1952, unanimously passed out of the Assembly Human Services Committee.

In other news

• A bill that would expand California’s dual enrollment program — where students can participate in college-level courses through community colleges while still in high school — unanimously passed out of the Senate Education Committee last week. From Sen. Josh Newman, D-Fullerton, SB 1244 would allow school districts to partner with nearby community colleges outside of their areas in certain instances.

• In California, people subjected to a restraining order because of domestic violence generally must relinquish their firearms — but there are some exceptions, specifically if that person is a law enforcement officer or must otherwise have a gun because of their profession. But legislation from Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, D-Irvine, would tighten up those exemptions, including preventing those people from purchasing additional firearms and ensuring the exemption is only valid while that person is employed in the job where a gun is required. It unanimously passed the Assembly Committee on Public Safety last week.

• Sen. Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, is teaming up with media personality Paris Hilton on legislation meant to increase transparency in the state’s youth facilities. The legislation would require facilities’ information on the use of restraints and seclusion rooms and incidents of deaths or injuries to be made public. Sens. Angelique Ashby, D-Sacramento, and Aisha Wahab, D-Hayward are also sponsors of the bill.

Hilton has become an advocate for greater oversight of residential treatment facilities for youth — drawing on her own experience of abuse she endured while at a boarding facility in Utah in her teens.

“As a survivor of the ‘Troubled Teen Industry,’ I am proud to partner with Sen. Shannon Grove, a champion for children in California, on the Accountability in Children’s Treatment Act to bring much-needed transparency to California youth facilities,” said Hilton. “I look forward to collaborating with all members of the California Legislature on this important bill in our shared pursuit for protection of our state’s most vulnerable youth.”

Source: Orange County Register