AB 1299

California Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation on Monday that aims to resolve issues preventing kids placed in out-of-county foster homes from getting needed mental health treatment. About one in five foster youth in California — or about 13,000 youth — are considered out of county, meaning they have been placed in a county other than the one where they first entered the state’s child welfare system.

Up to 85 percent of youth in foster care have some condition or disorder that requires mental health treatment. Given the trauma they have experienced in their young lives, they are three to six times more likely to experience emotional, behavioral and developmental problems than youth who are not in foster care.

On January 8th, Lincoln Child Center in Oakland, Calif., hosted a mental health policy forum aimed at developing state and federal legislative proposals for improving mental health services for families and youth in California.

Recent articles by The Imprint have described a long-standing problem wherein many children who are removed from their homes due to abuse and neglect are provided inadequate access to mental health care.

For out-of-county children on a path to adoption, the lack of consistent and timely mental health resources can have especially perilous consequences.

Proposed legislation, and the prospect of yet another class-action lawsuit against the state, may press lawmakers to resolve the issues preventing kids placed in out-of-county foster homes from getting needed mental health treatment.