This publication provides an update on funding that the state has made available to county child welfare agencies and probation departments to support family based care for young people with complex needs. This Alert summarizes additional guidance provided by CDSS on how funds for Child-Specific Requests for Exceptional Needs and Capacity Building Requests can be […]
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 […]
Youth Returning to the Community from Juvenile Justice Facilities: A Guide for Advocates
No child should remain in custody due to the lack of a reentry plan. Now more than ever, the juvenile justice system must make every possible effort to return detained youth to their families and/or home communities. This guide is for advocates working to release detained youth and support them in the community during the […]
Guide to Online Information on California Licensed and Out of State Facilities
Guide to Online Information on California Licensed and Out of State Facilities
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 […]
Ensuring Accountability and Transparency for Out-of-State Facilities
Ensuring Accountability and Transparency for Out-of-State Facilities
Youth Arrests in Group Homes and Shelters
Youth Arrests in Group Homes and Shelters Handout
AB 2813 Fact Sheet – Equitable Standards for Foster Youth
This fact sheet describing AB 2813, a bill that would protect children and youth in foster care from being needlessly detained in juvenile halls solely due to their foster care status.
AB 2813 – Letter to Gov. Brown – request for signature
Letter to Governor Brown requesting signature on AB 2813, a bill to protect children and youth in foster care from being needlessly detailed in juvenile hall solely due to their foster care status.
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
State Policies on Non-Family Foster Care Settings
This paper surveys state policies that restrict congregate care for children and youth in the foster care system and makes recommendations based on our research and experience.
Request for Signature – AB 403
Letter to Governor Brown requesting signature on AB 403 (congregate care reform bill).
Investigations of CA Group Homes Marked By Delays and Uncertainty
ProPublica article about California Department of Social Services’ failure to timely and conclusively investigate hundreds of claims of misconduct and other problems in group homes that house the state’s most trouble children/
Senate panel examines why California foster system addicted to psychiatric drugs
Article about February 24, 2015 hearing before the Human Services Committee about the over-use of psychotropic medications on foster youth.
I want to be there when he graduates: Foster parents show higher levels of commitment than group care providers
YLC co-authored this study which showed greater commitment of foster parents to children than group home providers. Study published in Children and Youth Services Review 51, 2015 95-100.
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: New Protections for Youth In Group Homes
Fact Sheet on AB 388, a new law taking effect January 1, 2015, designed to prevent unnecessary law enforcement involvement in group homes. What Youth Need to know about the new law.
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
Letter from YLC sponsoring AB 388
Letter to Assembly Member Wesley Chesbro co-sponsoring SB 388
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.
Consensus statement on group care for children and adolescents: A statement of policy of the American Orthopsychiatric Association
Abstract
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 […]