Bill Text: CA AB2663 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Amended
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Youth Acceptance Project.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Vetoed) 2022-09-19 - Vetoed by Governor. [AB2663 Detail]
Download: California-2021-AB2663-Amended.html
An act relating to homelessness. An act to add and repeal Chapter 4.7 (commencing with Section 18287) of Part 6 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to youth.
NOYES
Local Program:
NO
SECTION 1.
Bill Title: Youth Acceptance Project.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Vetoed) 2022-09-19 - Vetoed by Governor. [AB2663 Detail]
Download: California-2021-AB2663-Amended.html
|
Amended
IN
Assembly
March 24, 2022 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 2663
| Introduced by Assembly Member Ramos |
February 18, 2022 |
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2663, as amended, Ramos.
Youth homelessness. Youth Acceptance Project.
Existing law generally provides for the placement of foster youth in various placement settings, and governs the provision of child welfare services, which is defined to mean public social services that are directed toward the accomplishment of specified purposes, including protecting and promoting the welfare of all children, preventing the unnecessary separation of children from their families, and restoring to their families children who have been removed. Existing law establishes the California Interagency Council on Homelessness, and requires the council to, among other things, set and measure progress towards goals to prevent and end homelessness among youth in California.
This bill would require the State Department of Social Services to establish a 5-year pilot project, the Youth Acceptance Project (YAP), in counties that shall be selected to participate on a voluntary basis in the pilot project, as specified. The bill would require the department to contract with the nonprofit organization, Family Builders by Adoption, to provide, in conjunction with participating counties, advocacy, therapeutic-style support, and intervention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and plus (LGBTQ+) youth who receive, or are at risk of receiving, child welfare services and LGBTQ+ youth who are experiencing homelessness or are at risk of homelessness, and their families who are struggling with accepting the youth’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression (SOGIE). The bill would require YAP services provided under the pilot project to meet specified requirements, including, that the services are to be provided by a clinician or
social worker and designed to increase acceptance among a LGBTQ+ youth’s parents, caregivers, foster parents, adoptive parents, extended family members, social workers, and additional staff involved in a youth’s care. The bill would require the department to submit a report to the Legislature with an evaluation of the pilot project, and would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2030.
Existing requires the Governor to establish the California Interagency Council on Homelessness, and requires the council to, among other things, set and measure progress towards goals to prevent and end homelessness among youth in California.
This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to support young people experiencing homelessness and to prevent and eradicate homelessness among California’s youth, and would make related findings and declarations.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee:Bill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(1) Research shows that when a family is rejecting of a youth’s sexual orientation, gender identity and expression (SOGIE), that rejection negatively affects the youth in many ways.
(2) Family rejection is a significant contributing factor to the disproportionate number of lesbian, gay, bisexual, questioning, and plus (LGBTQ+) youth experiencing homelessness or
impacted by the child welfare system.
(3) Family Builders by Adoption, a nonprofit foster family agency, created the Youth Acceptance Project (YAP), an intervention working with the families of LGBTQ+ and gender expansive youth. The intervention serves as a family preservation and family reunification tool assisting families who are struggling with the SOGIE of their child. Family Builders by Adoption currently provides YAP direct services in several counties in the San Francisco Bay area.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this act to spark additional county and regional collaboration to address the disproportionate number of LGBTQ+ youth who are experiencing homelessness and separated from their families and to take a harm reductionist approach to establishing permanency outcomes for youth and their family of origin.
SEC. 2.
Chapter 4.7 (commencing with Section 18287) is added to Part 6 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:CHAPTER 4.7. Youth Acceptance Project
18287.
(a) The State Department of Social Services shall establish a five-year pilot project, the Youth Acceptance Project (YAP), in counties that shall be selected to participate on a voluntary basis in the pilot project. The counties shall include, at a minimum, one county in southern California, one county in northern California, and one county in a rural area of the state.(b) Under YAP, the department shall contract with the nonprofit organization, Family Builders by Adoption, to provide, in conjunction with participating counties, advocacy, therapeutic-style support, and intervention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and plus (LGBTQ+) youth who meet one of the following descriptions, and their families who are
struggling with accepting their sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression (SOGIE):
(1) A youth who receives, or is at risk of receiving, child welfare services.
(2) A youth who is experiencing homelessness or is at risk of homelessness.
(c) The YAP services provided in participating counties shall meet all of the following requirements:
(1) Be provided by a clinician or social worker using a trauma-informed, psychoeducational model that is intentionally responsive to the families’ experiences within their own culture, religion, and race to address the misinformation, resistance, fear, and grief that families often struggle with related to a youth’s SOGIE.
(2) Be designed to
increase acceptance among a LGBTQ+ youth’s parents, caregivers, foster parents, adoptive parents, extended family members, social workers, and additional staff involved in a youth’s care.
(3) Emphasize all of the following:
(A) Approaching caregivers and important adults in a culturally humble manner as people who need additional information and personalized support to be the affirming advocating caregivers that LGBTQ+ youth need them to be.
(B) Recognizing that caregivers often experience complex emotions in response to a youth’s gender or sexual orientation and gender expression journey.
(C) Believing that with the proper support caregivers can and do change.
(D) Providing accurate
information to refute myths and misinformation about gender expansive and LGBTQ+ identities.
(E) Supporting caregivers in identifying their core beliefs and feelings about LGBTQ+ identities and helping them work through related emotions.
(F) Advocating for youth and their families in various settings and communities.
(d) (1) The department shall submit a report to the Legislature with an evaluation of the pilot project.
(2) A report to be submitted pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
(e) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
(1) “Child welfare services” has the same meaning as defined in Section 16501.
(2) “Homelessness” has the same meaning as defined in subsection (2) of Section 725 of the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 11434a(2)).
(3) “Youth” means an individual who is between 3 to 21 years of age, inclusive.
(f) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2030, and as of that date is repealed.
(a)The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1)Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and questioning (LGBTQIA+), youth of color, and former foster youth who have experienced homelessness or housing insecurity.
(2)The loneliness, lack of formal support systems, and social isolation they are experiencing have increased depression, anxiety, and substance abuse within these communities.
(3)Many youths are struggling to access timely, trauma-informed mental health
services.
(4)The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the rate of education disruption, family conflicts, and youth under 18 years of age being “kicked out” of their homes.
(5)Extra consideration should be included to address challenges in rural areas, including a lack of resources, limited public transportation, and food insecurity amongst unhoused youth.
(b)It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to support young people experiencing homelessness and to prevent and eradicate homelessness among California’s youth.
