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Assembly
Bill 12 - Hope for
Foster Youth
 California
forces foster youth to
fend for themselves by
their late teens, but
newly proposed
legislation would change
that. Assembly Bill 12
would offer transitional
services to California's
nearly 80,000 foster
youth until they turn
21.
Assembly Speaker Karen
Bass, Senate President
Pro Tem Darrell
Steinberg and California
Supreme Court Associate
Justice Carlos R. Moreno
were among supporters
Monday who touted AB 12
at a Capitol news
conference. Bass said
AB 12 would lead to more
hope and less crime or
homelessness for youth
who don't live with
their parents and have
nowhere to turn.
"Just like our (own)
kids, foster kids need a
safety net," said Bass,
D-Los Angeles.
California currently
pushes youth from the
foster system when they
turn 18 - or one year
later if they're on
track for a high school
diploma.
"We have to do a whole
lot more," said Senate
President Pro Tem
Darrell Steinberg,
D-Sacramento.
Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger released
a statement Monday
supporting the concept,
saying he is committed
to a bipartisan solution
that ensures foster
youth are "provided with
the tools needed to
succeed at life."
AB 12 is an attempt to
boost services by making
the state eligible for
about $70 million in new
federal funds for foster
programs. California
could qualify for the
federal subsidy by
leveraging some existing
state and local funds
spent on foster care,
according to Assemblyman
Jim Beall, D-San Jose,
who joined with Bass to
propose AB 12. The
legislation is being
fine-tuned and no public
hearing has been held.
The goal is to offer
housing subsidies and
other assistance for the
4,500 foster teens who
leave the system each
year in their late
teens. No formal
opposition to AB 12 has
surfaced, Beall said.
Republican Assemblymen
Danny Gilmore of Hanford
and Hanford and Nathan
Fletcher of San Diego
attended the news
conference.
Kevin West, 20, a former
foster youth from Santa
Cruz, said he was forced
from his group home the
night he turned 18 and
was homeless until the
family of a high school
classmate took him in.
"I truly believe that
every foster youth
deserves the chance I
was given," said West,
who attends community
college and hopes to
become a social worker.
"They deserve all we can
do for them - and then
some," said Democrat
John Burton, former
Senate president pro
tem.
Monday's event touted
research on foster youth
from three states -
those who remained in
state care until 21 in
Illinois, and others who
were forced out of the
system at 18 in
Wisconsin and Iowa.
Foster youth who
remained in care until
21 were three times more
likely to enroll in
college, 65 percent less
likely to be arrested,
and 38 percent less
likely to get pregnant
as teenagers, according
to the report by
researchers from the
University of Washington
and Chapin Hall Center
for Children, an
independent research
facility at the
University of Chicago.
Supporting foster youth
until they turn 21
increases their lifetime
earning potential by at
least $92,000,
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