WHEREAS, The children and youth of California are our hope for the future, and all children deserve a safe, loving, accepting, stable, and nurturing home; and

WHEREAS, The success of a child is best supported by a family-focused, child-centered, and community-based child welfare system and preserving families is the primary goal of the child welfare system; and

WHEREAS, Kinship families and foster families play a critical role in serving as a support for the parents of children in foster care, making family reunification possible; and

WHEREAS, Nearly 100 times per day, a child is placed in foster care in California; and

WHEREAS, One-third of the nation’s unaccompanied homeless youth are in California; and

WHEREAS, California has over 43,000 children in the foster care system, disproportionately from Black and Native families; and

WHEREAS, The proportions of Black and Native youth in foster care are around four times larger than the proportions of Black and Native youth in California overall; and

WHEREAS, One-half of all children in foster care have endured four or more adverse childhood experiences such as abuse, neglect, and abandonment, which can negatively impact their health and development; and

WHEREAS, Numerous national studies have documented that children involved with the child welfare system have increased rates of chronic health problems, developmental delays and disabilities, mental health needs, and substance abuse problems; and

WHEREAS, Research indicates foster youth experience rates of homelessness ranging from 11 percent to 38 percent, disproportionately higher than that of the general population; and

WHEREAS, In California, 93 percent of foster youth say they want to attend college, but only 4 percent of former foster youth will obtain their bachelor’s degree by 26, compared to 50 percent of their peers; and

WHEREAS, For children and youth in the foster care system, we must continue finding them loving temporary homes, provide them with the resources they need, and deliver safe and supportive permanent homes; and

WHEREAS, California recognizes the enduring and valuable contribution of relatives and foster and adoptive parents who open their hearts, families, and homes to vulnerable children and youth; and

WHEREAS, California recognizes the numerous individuals and public and private organizations that work to ensure that the needs of children and youth living in, and leaving, foster care are met, that help provide foster and former foster children and youth with vital connections to their siblings, and that help launch young people into successful adulthood; and

WHEREAS, California is engaged in continuum of care reform, which is a comprehensive approach to improving the experience and outcomes of children and youth in foster care by improving assessments of children and families to make more informed and appropriate initial placement decisions, emphasizing home-based family care placements of children, appropriately supporting these placements with needed services, creating short-term residential therapeutic programs for youth whose needs cannot be met safely in families, and increasing transparency and accountability for child outcomes; and

WHEREAS, California is further engaged in building a comprehensive behavioral health system for youth and families impacted by the child welfare system that is responsive to the trauma inherent to family separation; now, therefore, be it