Existing law requires county agencies that place children in foster care to conduct an evaluation of the county's placement resources and programs in relation to the needs of children placed in out-of-home care, and specifically requires county placement agencies to examine placements that are out of county and determine the reason the placement was necessary.
This bill would additionally require a county placement agency to examine its ability to meet the emergency housing needs of nonminor dependents.
Existing law establishes the supervised independent living placement as an independent supervised setting that is specified in a nonminor dependent's transitional independent living case plan and in which the nonminor dependent is living independently. Existing law defines a supervised independent living setting to include a supervised independent living placement and a residential housing unit certified by a transitional housing placement provider, as specified.
This bill would include a transitional living setting approved by a county to support youth who are entering or reentering foster care or transitioning between placements, excluding a runaway and homeless youth shelter or adult homeless shelter, within the definition of a supervised independent living setting. The bill would authorize a county, under certain conditions, to elect to certify that a supervised independent living placement meets health and safety standards once every 12 months.
Existing law requires, in order to be licensed as a transitional housing placement provider, an applicant to obtain certification from the county specifying the population that will be served by the facility. Existing law requires the certification to confirm that the program includes specified components.
This bill would require a county, in certain circumstances, to continue to approve payment to a transitional housing placement provider for a period of up to 14 days in a calendar month in which a nonminor dependent is absent from the placement and would generally prohibit a transitional housing placement provider from filling a nonminor dependents place if the nonminor dependent is temporarily absent from the placement for 14 days.
By imposing new duties or counties, this 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.

Statutes affected:
AB1979: 11400 WIC, 11402.2 WIC, 16001 WIC, 16522.1 WIC
01/23/20 - Introduced: 11400 WIC, 11402.2 WIC, 16001 WIC, 16522.1 WIC