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AB-2663 Youth Acceptance Project.(2021-2022)



Current Version: 08/26/22 - Enrolled

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AB2663:v94#DOCUMENT

Enrolled  August 26, 2022
Passed  IN  Senate  August 23, 2022
Passed  IN  Assembly  August 24, 2022
Amended  IN  Senate  August 01, 2022
Amended  IN  Senate  June 29, 2022
Amended  IN  Assembly  April 19, 2022
Amended  IN  Assembly  March 24, 2022

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 2663

Introduced by Assembly Member Ramos
(Coauthor: Senator Wiener)

February 18, 2022

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.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 2663, Ramos. 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, 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, on or before July 1, 2023, require the State Department of Social Services to establish a 5-year pilot program, the Youth Acceptance Project (YAP), in order to increase permanency outcomes for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or plus (LGBTQ+) and gender-expansive youth, as defined, in up to 5 counties, to be selected to participate on a voluntary basis in the pilot program, as specified. The bill would set forth qualifying conditions for YAP services, including the youth’s receipt of child welfare services or being at risk of entering foster care, or being homeless or at risk of homelessness.
The bill would, subject to an appropriation, require the department to work in consultation with the nonprofit organization Family Builders by Adoption and other relevant stakeholders, as specified, to assist participating counties in providing LGBTQ+ and gender-expansive youth, and their families who are struggling with accepting the youth’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression, with advocacy, therapeutic-style support, and other necessary and appropriate intervention services. The bill would require participating counties to provide services that meet certain requirements relating to professional providers, principles, and procedures, including, among other things, any necessary housing and homelessness services, as specified.
The bill would require the department to submit a report to the Legislature with an evaluation of the pilot program.
This bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2029, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2030.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

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, or gender 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, transgender, queer, or plus (LGBTQ+) and gender-expansive 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+ and gender-expansive 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) On or before July 1, 2023, the State Department of Social Services shall establish a five-year pilot program, known as the Youth Acceptance Project (YAP), for the purpose of increasing permanency outcomes for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or plus (LGBTQ+) and gender-expansive youth in up to five counties, which shall be selected to participate on a voluntary basis in the pilot program according to criteria developed by the department pursuant to this section, in consultation with the County Welfare Directors Association of California, the nonprofit organization Family Builders by Adoption, and other relevant stakeholders with expertise in issues relating to LGBTQ+ and gender-expansive youth. Counties selected to participate in the pilot 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) Subject to an appropriation by the Legislature for the purpose of implementing this section, the department shall work in consultation with Family Builders by Adoption and other relevant stakeholders, including, but not limited to, tribal organizations, homeless continuums of care, community-based LGBTQ+ and gender-expansive organizations, and educational institutions, to assist participating counties in providing LGBTQ+ and gender-expansive youth, and their families who are struggling with accepting the youth’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression (SOGIE), with advocacy, therapeutic-style support, and other necessary and appropriate intervention services. To receive services through the YAP, the youth shall meet at least one of the following descriptions:
(1) The youth receives child welfare services or is at risk of entering foster care.
(2) The youth is homeless or is at risk of homelessness.
(c) Counties selected to participate in the pilot program shall provide services that 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 with which families often struggle in relation to a youth’s SOGIE.
(2) Be designed to increase, when possible, acceptance among an LGBTQ+ or gender-expansive youth’s parents, foster parents, adoptive parents, extended family members, other caregivers, tribal leaders, social workers, and additional staff involved in the youth’s care, as applicable.
(3) Be designed to provide holistic external supports for LGBTQ+ and gender-expansive youth, including the provision of housing and homelessness services and coordination with the homelessness response system to provide, when necessary and to the extent not in conflict with federal or state law, a safe and comfortable alternative to living with caregivers who are not accepting of the youth’s SOGIE.
(4) 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+ and gender-expansive youth need them to be.
(B) Recognizing that caregivers often experience complex emotions in response to a youth’s SOGIE journey.
(C) Believing that, with the proper support, caregivers can and do change.
(D) Providing accurate information to refute myths and misinformation about LGBTQ+ and gender-expansive identities.
(E) Supporting caregivers in identifying their core beliefs and feelings about LGBTQ+ and gender-expansive 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 program.
(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) “At risk of entering foster care” has the same meaning as defined in Section 727.4.
(2) “At risk of homelessness” has the same meaning as defined in Section 11360(1) of Title 42 of the United States Code.
(3) “Child welfare services” has the same meaning as defined in Section 16501.
(4) “Gender expansive” means an umbrella term to describe individuals who expand notions of gender expression and identity beyond binary gender norms.
(5) “Homeless” has the same meaning as defined in Section 16523.
(6) “Youth” means an individual who is between 3 and 21 years of age, inclusive.

18288.
 This chapter shall become inoperative on July 1, 2029, and, as of January 1, 2030, is repealed.