children’s advocacy institute

A group of legislative caucuses on vulnerable youth and on legal issues are jointly offering a congressional briefing tomorrow on a hot topic of late in child welfare: the legal rights of parents and children in dependency court proceedings.

A bill in California has been introduced that would determine a caseload standard for dependency court judges who preside over child welfare proceedings. Assembly Bill 859 would require the state legislature to analyze the current average caseloads in the county-run dependency court system and identify an “appropriate” cap on the number of cases these judges could carry at any given time.

As a registered Republican for more than 40 years, I am heartened by a recent reform by the Children’s Bureau of the Trump administration. It increases flexibility for states to manage their child protection systems, with the Social Security Title IV-E entitlement opened up to support high-quality legal representation for children and parents.

The Obama administration has demonstrated in recent weeks that when it is committed to an issue, it will go to great lengths to make things happen. Take criminal and juvenile justice reform.

As the state struggles to provide enough foster homes, California advocates and policymakers say one major challenge has been a lack of childcare for foster parents. For first-time foster parents Irene Barraza and Amy Saucier of Oakland, adding a new child to their home forced them to come up with creative solutions to balancing childcare with work.

On Feb. 12, California Attorney General Kamala Harris held a press conference in Los Angeles to announce the creation of a “Bureau of Children’s Justice” with goals ranging from reducing truancy and combatting “childhood trauma” to improving the foster care and juvenile justice systems.

Yesterday, the Children’s Advocacy Institute released a new report, “California’s Fostering Connections: Ensuring that the AB 12 Bridge Leads to Success for Transition Age Foster Youth.”  Authored by attorney Melanie Delgado the report reviews the first 18 months of extended foster care implementation in California, interviewing officials from 10 counties, current and former foster youth and a wide range of child welfare stakeholders from around the state.