FFPSA: Advocacy and Enforcement Template Letters

A host of new “Complex Care” supports and forms of assistance have been put into place to help develop innovative, highly individualized service models to ensure young people are always in the least restrictive placement and with family whenever possible. More information about these supports is available in the California Department of Social Services’ Complex […]

Emergency Planning Toolkit for Youth in Congregate Care

Youth Law Center has developed an emergency planning resource to support attorneys and advocates working with youth in congregate care. As you know more than anyone, youth in congregate care facilities face acute risks in a public health emergency. Meanwhile, the state licensing agencies that are tasked with monitoring the safety and wellbeing of young […]

AB 2005 Fact Sheet

Fact Sheet on AB 2005; a bill that will put restrictions on out of state foster care placements for youth under the supervision of probation.

AB 2005 – Request for Signature

Letter to Governor Brown Requesting Signature on AB 2005, a bill which will ensure that youth under probation supervision are placed in facilities outside of California only as a last resort.

Press Release

Press release: Robin Goldfaden and Javier Stauring Join YLC

AB 388: What Group Home Staff Need to Know

Fact Sheet on AB 388: What Group Home Staff Need to Know. AB 388, which takes effect January 1, 2015, is a new law specifically intended to reduce the frequency of law enforcement involvement and delinquency petitions arising from incidents at group homes.

AB 388: What Youth Advocates Need to Know

Fact Sheet on AB 388: What Youth Advocates Need to Know. AB 388, a new law which takes effect January 1, 2015, is specifically intended to reduce the frequency of law enforcement involvement and delinquency petitions arising from incidents at group homes.

AB 388: What Social Workers Need to Know

Fact sheet for social workers on AB 388: a new law taking effect January 1, 2015, designed to prevent unnecessary policy involvement in group homes and reduce the use of locked detention before trial for foster youth.

Legal Rights of Teens in Out of Home Care (2014)

This booklet, based on California law, covers some of the concerns of a youth in out-of-home care, including types of placements, guardianship, independent living, role of the courts, visitation, confidentiality, pregnancy, money, religion, driving, emancipation and rights and responsibilities of youth in out-of-home care, group or foster homes

AB 388 Chaptered Text

Text of AB 388, bill requiring oversight on the use of law enforcement in group homes, limiting the unnecessary secure detention of foster youth and providing the same protections for foster youth that non-foster youth living at home with parents routinely receive when the come into contact with the delinquency system.

Jones-Mason v. Anderson Stipulation to Stay Proceedings

Jones-Mason v. Anderson was filed in December 1996 against the State Department of Social Services for failing to establish standards to protect the health and safety of infants and toddlers in group homes and emergency shelters. Group home regulations did not address sanitation in diaper changing, special feeding instructions for infants, or toilet training for […]

Jones-Mason v. Anderson Stipulated Modification

Jones-Mason v. Anderson was filed in December 1996 against the State Department of Social Services for failing to establish standards to protect the health and safety of infants and toddlers in group homes and emergency shelters. Group home regulations did not address sanitation in diaper changing, special feeding instructions for infants, or toilet training for […]

YLC Letter to Commissioner Susan Hamilton re Congregate Care for Young Children

Since 2009, the Youth Law Center has been working with Connecticut advocates to reduce group care, particularly for young children under the age of six, using research about the negative effects that group care can have on young children to advocate for change. The Department of Children and Family Services (DCF) issued a report on […]

Warren v. Saenz Peremptory Writ of Mandate

Warren v. Saenz was a taxpayer action alleging that the California Department of Social Services has deliberately ignored the fact that nine counties — including Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Clara, and Orange — operate shelter facilities in violation of state licensing laws. Charging that thousands of California’s abused and neglected children each year are […]

Warren v. Saenz Petition for Writ and Complaint

Warren v. Saenz was a taxpayer action alleging that the California Department of Social Services has deliberately ignored the fact that nine counties — including Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Clara, and Orange — operate shelter facilities in violation of state licensing laws. Charging that thousands of California’s abused and neglected children each year are […]

Jones-Mason v. Anderson Petition

Jones-Mason v. Anderson was filed in December 1996 against the State Department of Social Services for failing to establish standards to protect the health and safety of infants and toddlers in group homes and emergency shelters. Group home regulations did not address sanitation in diaper changing, special feeding instructions for infants, or toilet training for […]

Booraem v. Orange County Settlement Agreement

Booraem v. Orange County, filed in August 1998, challenged the detention of abused and neglected infants and young children for extended periods of time under illegal and unconstitutional conditions in Orangewood Children’s Home, an unlicensed institution owned and operated by Orange County. The lawsuit targeted Orangewood’s failure to meet the mandated standards of care for […]

Booraem v. Orange County Complaint and Petition for Writ of Mandate

Booraem v. Orange County, filed in August 1998, challenged the detention of abused and neglected infants and young children for extended periods of time under illegal and unconstitutional conditions in Orangewood Children’s Home, an unlicensed institution owned and operated by Orange County. The lawsuit targeted Orangewood’s failure to meet the mandated standards of care for […]

Bohler v. Anderson Order Granting Writ of Mandate

Bohler v. Anderson was filed in June 1997 over the failure of the Department of Social Services to develop a system for deciding where to place abused and neglected children. The state spends between $1100 and $5000 per month per child on group home care, depending upon the intensity of care needed for troubled children. […]

Bohler v. Anderson Petition for Writ of Mandate

Bohler v. Anderson was filed in June 1997 over the failure of the Department of Social Services to develop a system for deciding where to place abused and neglected children. The state spends between $1100 and $5000 per month per child on group home care, depending upon the intensity of care needed for troubled children. […]

Recommendations on Children in Foster Care – California Working Families Policy Summit

The Youth Law Center was co-sponsor of the 2009 California Working Families Policy Summit, held January 13 at the Sacramento Convention Center. Organized by The California Center for Research on Women and Families, the Summit brought together over 700 policymakers and advocates to address high priority policy issues for California families. This year’s Summit Workshops […]

Institutions vs. Foster Homes: The Empirical Base for a Century of Action

This is an important report on recent research comparing the advantages and disadvantages of institutional care to those of family foster care and other forms of out-of-home care. The report found that compared to foster care, institutions: (1) are not safer or better at promoting child development; (2) are not more stable; (3) generally fail […]