SB 528: Supporting Parenting Youth in Foster Care

1. SB 528: Supporting Parenting Youth in Foster Care Web seminar/Wednesday, April 3, 2013

2. Information to Participate • Call-in number is 702-489-0004 and access code is 754-235-388. • To submit live questions, click on the “Questions” panel, type your question, and click “Send” • Presentation materials and audio will be posted at www.johnburtonfoundation.org

3. Today’s Presenters • Amy Lemley, John Burton Foundation • Jody Green, Children’s Law Center • Barbara Facher, Alliance for Children’s Rights • Mara Ziegler, Public Counsel • Martha Matthews, Public Counsel • Alicia Lewis, Office of Senator Leland Yee

4. What are the goals of SB 528?

5. What does California do for parenting youth in foster care?

6. Why is it urgent to change our practice NOW? • AB 12 extended foster care to age 21 • By age 21: • 3/4 young women in foster care will have experienced a pregnancy • 1/2 will be custodial parents to at least one child • Children of parenting foster youth are five times more likely to have spent time in foster care than the children of same-aged mothers in the general population

7. Four Key Provisions of SB 528 • Access to information about sexual development & reproductive health • Improved planning through specialized conferences • Access to subsidized child care • Requirement to collect data on parenting and pregnant youth and their children

8. Provision #1 Sexual Development & Reproductive Health Education

9. Programs for the general teen population are inadequate This has resulted in 94% decline in total participants served by all teen pregnancy prevention programs

10. Lack of information contributes to high rates of pregnancy • Teen girls in foster care are 2.5 times more likely to become pregnant by age 19than those not in foster care • 3/4 young women in foster care report being pregnant at age 21as compared to only 1/3 of those in the general population • More than half of the young women and nearly one-third of the young men in an Illinois study had at least one child at age 21, as compared to 24% of women and 12% of men of the same age in the general population

11. How will SB 528 help? • SB 528 would ensure: • all dependent children ages 12 and older are informedof their rights to receive these minor consent health services • all dependent children ages 12 and older have access to these minor consent health services as needed • all dependent children receive age-appropriate, medically accurate information about sexual development, reproductive health, and prevention of unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections on an ongoing basis • SB 528 Minor Consent Health Services: • Diagnosis and treatment of sexual assault • Prevention or treatment of pregnancy • Prevention or treatment of infectious, contagious, and communicable diseases • Mental health services • Treatment of alcohol and drug abuse

12. Important clarification: • SB 528 requires the social worker to ensure minor consent health services and access, but does not require the social worker to provide it. Who could? • Public health nurse • Community based organization • Health outreach worker • Foster parent • FFA social worker

13. Provision #2 Improved planning through specialized conferences • Modeled after current practice in Los Angeles County • Began in 2008 • Voluntary; estimated 95% of youth elect to participate • 150 conferences held in last 12 months • Social workers from Alliance for Children’s Rights and Public Counsel serve as advocates for teen parents • Children’s Law Center of California conducting evaluation

14. Pregnant youth in foster care often do not receive timely access to prenatal care • A survey of child welfare workers in California found that on average, only 1 in 5 child welfare workers thought that it was their responsibility to refer a pregnant youth for prenatal care • An Illinois study found that 22 percent of youthdid not receive any prenatal care during the first six months of their pregnancy Late access to prenatal care is associated with poor birth outcomes, including prematurity, birth defects and maternal depression

15. Youth also receive inadequate information about preventing subsequent pregnancies • In a survey of child welfare workers in California, only half stated that they regularly discuss preventing subsequent pregnancy with foster youth who were pregnant • 30% of female foster youth who have been pregnant will experience a second pregnancy before age 21

16. Subsequent pregnancies have serious implications An Illinois study found…

17. Early results of PPT conferences in Los Angeles • Earlier referrals to prenatal care • Timely referrals to evidence-based Nurse Family Partnership or other home visitation program • Social and emotional support for the youth • Access to information about preventing subsequent pregnancies • Increased knowledge about available maternal and child resources • Improved planning about how pregnancy will affect school • Proactive consideration about how pregnancy may affect placement, pre and post-birth • Access to parenting classes and child development/early intervention services • Access to information about infant care and subsidized child care • Increased involvement of youth fathers • Linkage to other relevant resources (e.g. substance abuse treatment, family law services, advice on outstanding tickets, etc.)

18. How would SB 528 implement these conferences? • Conference would include family members, other supportive adults, trained social worker, resource specialist, and it may include public health nurse, community health worker or other personnel from public or private sectors with comprehensive knowledge of available maternal and child resources, including public benefit programs. • No penalty if the youth is unable or unwilling participate in the specialized conference

19. Provision #3 Improving access to subsidized child care to promote education • We know parenting foster youth are often academically delayed before they give birth: • Over forty percent of parenting foster youth scored in thelowest quartile on basic math and reading tests in eighth grade • The mean grade-point average for parenting foster youth in ninth grade was 1.35 for females and 0.96 for males

20. This trend continues once they become parents

21. Subsidized child care is out-of-reach for parenting foster youth **Data from SOC 405E

22. How will SB 528 help? • SB 528 would ensure: • parenting youth are not absent from school because of a lack of reliable, affordable child care • parents who are foster youth would be added as a priority population to the current system of subsidized child care

23. Provision #4 Require the collection of data on parenting and pregnant youth In California, we cannot answer the following questions: • How many parenting youth are in foster care? • How many are young men vs. young women? • How many of their children have been removed and placed into foster care? • What part of the state experiences higher rates of parenting teens? • Where are parenting foster youth placed? • Is there racial disproportionality among parenting foster youth? • How do they fare relative to non-foster youth in AB 636 measures and federal outcome measures?

24. Other states have this information… Profile of parenting youth in Illinois:

25. …and use it to improve services for parenting foster youth & their children • Illinois provides pregnant and parenting youth with: • family planning • mental health and drug and alcohol counseling • parenting education and support • prenatal and post-natal care • child care and crisis intervention • These services are provided by a private child welfare agency that created a network of providers in five regions of Illinois • Attention to the needs of parenting youth resulted from a class action law suit

26. These investments can help parenting foster youth and their children. • Illinois is closing the educational gap among its parenting foster youth. • The rate of high school or GED completion rate among IL mothers in foster care at age 21 is 71 percent. • This is only slightly lower than the rate for non-parents in foster care (77 percent) and considerably higher than the rate experienced by teen mothers at age 21 (51 percent).

27. How will SB 528 help? • SB 528 would require: • the new CWS/CMS database to include a mandatory field that will track parenting youth and their children • the State to develop interim procedures until the new system is developed in 2017

28. Where is SB 528 in the legislative process?

29. Will you help make SB 528 a reality? • Submit a letter of support • Sample letter can be found at John Burton Foundation website under Projects • Submit ASAP! • Visit legislators on Monday, April 22nd • Email Simone Tureck at simone@johnburtonfoundation.org • Visit your Senator or Assembly Member in the district • Write an op-ed • Visit the www.johnburtonfoundation.org for support material

30. QUESTIONS or COMMENTS? To submit live questions, click on the “Questions” panel, type your question, and click “Send” or contact Angie Schwartz, Alliance for Children’s Rights Jody Green, Children’s Law Center Amy Lemley, John Burton Foundation Martha Matthews, Public Counsel

31. Sources • Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth: Outcomes at Age 19 • Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth: Outcomes at Age 21 • Pregnant and Parenting Foster Youth: Their Needs, Their Experiences (2009) • “Sex Education and Reproductive Health Needs of Foster and Transitioning Youth in Three California Counties” by Wendy L. Constantine, BA. Petra Jerman, PhD, MPH, Norman A. Constantine, PhD of the Public Health Institute, March, 2009 • “Teen Pregnancy Prevention in California after State Budget Cuts” by Jan Malvin, Ph.D. of the Bixby Center at the University of California San Francisco, February 201 • State of California 405: Exit Outcomes for Youth Aging Out of Foster Care Quarterly Statistical Report (January to December 2012) • Teen Childbearing, Education and Economic Well-Being, The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, July 2012.