Contra Costa County Grand Jury
• 2014-2015
• Agency Response
Recommendation(s):*
⚠️ Aviso de traducción: Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings and Recommendations 8 findings
F1
Participation in foster care after age 18 under AB 12 is voluntary and youth may opt-out of the program before they turn 21. Response: Respondent agrees with this finding.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
Contra Costa County Children and Family Services should continue to pro-actively inform foster care youth about AB 12's programs. Response: Respondent agrees with this recommendation and will continue to engage staff and partners in ensuring that foster youth are informed and educated about the AB12 program and its supports. ILSP has an extensive Website of supports and information. The EHSD Website contains a link to that Website. ILSP staff are regular participants in statewide meetings to establish strategies to reach youth.
F2
Youth who opt out of foster care after age 18 can re-enter before they turn 21 if they re-enter within six months after opting out of the program. Response: Respondent does not agree with this finding. Once a youth has left Extended Foster Care (EFC), for example, no longer in an eligible facility and the case has been vacated and dismissed, the court will retain general jurisdiction. The youth may re-enter at any age prior to age 21. The SOC 163 (voluntary re-entry) form used for re-entry is valid for 180 days as the legal authority. Prior to the 180 days a court order should be in place. From All County Letter 12-12 Re-entry Into EFC The Court will retain jurisdiction over Non-Minor Dependents (NMDs) or foster youth who have reached age 18 and do not elect to remain in EFC, the Juvenile Court shall retain general jurisdiction over the NMD per Welfare and Institutions Code Section 303(b). This will allow the NMD to file a petition per W&IC section 388(e) for the court to resume or assume transition jurisdiction or resume dependency at a later date for youth who are still under the maximum age of EFC (W&IC section 303(b)).
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
Contra Costa County Children and Family Services Program should consider establishing more local housing options for aging out and emancipated youth, and identify funds to do so. Response: Respondent agrees with this recommendation. Children & Family Services will solicit support from current partners to discuss expansion to the extent that funding is available. We have a partnership with County Homeless Program and will continue to foster that and other partnerships in relationship to housing options.
F3
Contra Costa County informs foster youth about AB 12 and works with governmental agencies and other organizations to offer programs and information about how the system works to this populations. Respondent agrees with this finding. Response:
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
Contra Costa County Children and Family Services Program should continue to provide scholarship opportunities for youth so that they can have financial support while being trained or educated. Response: Respondent agrees with this recommendation and will continue to offer this as long as the funding is stable and provided by the state and federal government. . • ٠,
F4
Extension of foster care to emancipated or aged out youth (ages 18-21) benefits society because foster youth receiving extended services are less likely to rely on public resources and more likely to become self-sufficient adults. Respondent agrees with this finding. Response:
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
The County should continue to support the dedicated and professional skills offered by the ILSP service providers. Response: Respondent agrees with this recommendation and plans to do so as the need is important and the benefit is great.
F5
Emancipated youth who face housing instability and employment difficulties are frequently financially insecure and often have health and mental health issues. Response: Respondent agrees with this finding.
Related Recommendations (1)
R5
The County should maintain the Gold Mine database to monitor the progress and outcomes for County foster youth served by the County programs in order to help make future funding decisions about support services for foster youth. Response: Respondent agrees with this recommendation. The database will continue to be a high priority and regular data reports will continue to be refined and updated.
F6
Emancipated youth often need strong supplemental supports into adulthood. Response: Respondent agrees with this finding.
No recommendations for this finding
F7
ILSP Programs help improve the lives of at-risk foster care youth by helping them secure housing, employment, educational opportunities, healthcare and community support, among other necessities. Response: Respondent agrees with this finding.
No recommendations for this finding
F8
The County has established a databased called Gold Mine to track the progress of foster youth served by the County programs. Respondent agrees with this finding. Response:
No recommendations for this finding
* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.