Assembly Concurrent Resolution
No. 284
CHAPTER 216
Relative to Court Adoption and Permanency Month.
[
Filed with
Secretary of State
September 07, 2018.
]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
ACR 284, Thurmond.
Court Adoption and Permanency Month.
This measure would designate November 2018 as Court Adoption and Permanency Month, and would encourage the courts and their local communities to join in activities to expedite permanent home placements for children.
Digest Key
Fiscal Committee:
NO WHEREAS, Consistent with its commitment to support practices and procedures that promote access to justice and improved case outcomes for California’s children and families, the Judicial Council has recognized November as Court Adoption and Permanency Month every year since 1999; and
WHEREAS, Half a million incidents of child abuse and neglect are reported each year in California, and about 21,000 children enter child welfare-supervised foster care for the first time; and
WHEREAS, Nearly 60,000 children in California live apart from their families in child welfare-supervised out-of-home care and 40 percent of the children in foster care in California have lived apart from their families for two or more years; and
WHEREAS, Twenty-two percent of the youth in care are transitional-age youth 16 to 20 years of age, inclusive; and
WHEREAS, Nearly 7,100 dependent youth and 1,100 youth in the juvenile justice system remain under the court’s jurisdiction as young adults and are deserving of permanency and stable living environments; and
WHEREAS, Of the more than 28,000 California children who left foster care in 2017, 49 percent were reunited with their families, 24 percent were adopted, and 11 percent achieved permanence through legal guardianships, including nearly 1,400 in relative guardianships; and
WHEREAS, Local courts and communities throughout California have created programs promoting permanency that have resulted in a reduction in the number of children waiting to live in safe, stable, and permanent homes; and
WHEREAS, The Judicial Council remains committed to working with the Governor, the Legislature, and local courts and communities to ensure that every abused or neglected child finds a safe, stable, and permanent home with a loving family as quickly as possible; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby designates November 2018 as Court Adoption and Permanency Month, during which the courts and their local communities are encouraged to join in activities to expedite permanency for children; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.