California legislators consider extending foster care through age 21

Mercury News ^ | 03/09/2009 | Karen de Sa

[calcowgirl]

A bevy of bipartisan California legislators vowed Monday to be better parents to the state's foster youth, pledging to extend their life-sustaining benefits through age 21 rather than casting them off as teenagers.

Currently, most youth "aging out" of foster care are bounced off state support at 18, a tender age for a vulnerable population that often has nowhere to go and no one to rely on. But an assembly bill written by Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, and Assemblyman Jim Beall, D-San Jose, would draw on newly available federal funds to support relative caregivers and transitional living programs through age 21.

(snip)

AB 12 appears to be drawing widespread support. Monday, Bass and Beall were joined in a news conference by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento; Secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency Kim Belshé and state Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno.

Republican legislators also voiced support, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger lauded the benefits extension that could begin October 2010.

"I am committed to working with Assembly Speaker Karen Bass and Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg on a bipartisan solution that ensures our children and youth in foster care are provided with the tools needed to succeed at life," Schwarzenegger said in a prepared statement.

Beall said the state had a "moral" duty to help the foster kids. "They're our responsibility and if we're going to be responsible parents, we shouldn't send them out on the streets at age 18 because literally they'll be on the streets."

[RC2]

The military will decide if a person is the material they want. It’s not that hard to do. Those that meet the requirements will be far better off than those that don’t. You thereby solve part of the problem.

[tflabo]

Has the Sacramento State House become an asylum for the insane? Billion$ in Arrear$ and these cretins pushing for a nanny state full speed. Creating government dependents for a lifetime. Arnold Atlas not shrugging anymore either!