SB 12

A California Senate bill aimed at boosting benefits to foster youth involved with the juvenile justice system was amended on Tuesday to ensure that those youth who were in secure confinement on their 18th birthday would not be stripped of extended foster care benefits.

By Sawsan Morrar The California Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved a bill to widen the door on extended foster care to probation-involved youth yesterday. Senate Bill 12, introduced by Senator Jim Beall (D-San Jose) would make sure foster youth who were in a locked facility on their 18th birthday and larger numbers of youth who are involved with the probation system can access foster care benefits from age 18 to 21.

A 20-year-old’s saga of abuse, incarceration and heartache illuminates the shadowy intersection of child welfare and juvenile justice. “Like a picture in a magazine.” That’s how Angel’s mother Leah wanted their small townhouse in Pacifica, California, to look.

In October 2014, The Imprint published a story that showed how probation-involved foster youth were being denied extended-care benefits because of an arbitrary rule that basically said if they were locked up on their 18th birthday, they were locked out of foster care.