Realizing the Vision of the
Continuum of Care Reform:
Focus on Families
INTRODUCTION
Relative caregivers are the backbone of our child welfare system. Grandparents alone care for
more than 2.5 million children, and in at least 1 million of those homes, neither parent is
present. Relative foster placements are also legally prioritized, more cost effective, tend to
lead to more long term placement stability, and offer better connections to community
supports leading to long lasting ties to caring adults. Yet, counterintuitively, child welfare
systems traditionally provide the least amount of support and funding to relative caregivers.
This creates a child welfare funding structure, which both fails to adequately support the
preferred out-of-home placement, i.e., relatives, and struggles to fiscally respond to the specific
needs of the children in its care.
36% of California’s foster
children are placed with
relatives
56% of California’s foster
children
are not eligible for federal
foster care funding
300,000 grandparents are
caring
for their grandchildren in
California.
The Continuum of Care Reform underway in California is an opportunity to make necessary
system reforms to address these disparities and ensure that our state’s children are supported
in the settings where we know they are most likely to thrive.
WHAT IS THE CONTINUUM OF CARE REFORM EFFORT?
The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) recently launched a massive new statewide
reform effort, dubbed the Continuum of Care Reform or CCR. The CCR effort is the result of the
2012 budget bill (SB 1013), which required CDSS to form a workgroup to develop
recommendations for reforming the current rate-setting system, as well as services and
programs serving children and families in the continuum of placements eligible for foster care
benefits. While the main objectives of the CCR workgroup is on reforming residential
treatment programs, particularly group homes and Foster Family Agencies, it is clear that in
order to minimize the time that youth remain in these institutional settings, there has to be
greater support and services for youth in those placements where we know young people
thrive: with families.
The CCR workgroup is mandated to consider the following:

How rate-setting systems can better support a continuum of programs and
services that promote positive outcomes for children and families;

How provision of an integrated, comprehensive set of services including mental
health and other critical services supports the achievement of well-being,
permanency and safety outcomes;

How to ensure services in family-like settings including after-care;

How to provide outcome-based evaluations of foster care providers or other
methods of measuring quality improvement;

How changes in the licensing, rate-setting and auditing process can improve the
quality of foster care providers, the quality of services and programs provided and
enhance oversight.
Consistent with these requirements, the overall vision of the CCR is focused on family-like
placements:
 All children live with a committed, permanent nurturing family;

Congregate care is a short-term, high quality intervention that is part of a continuum
of care for children and youth; and

Services and supports are tailored to meet the needs of the individual child and
family served, with the ultimate goal of transitioning to a permanent family
and/or preparation for a successful transition to adulthood.
HOW ARE RELATIVES RELEVANT TO THE CONTINUUM OF CARE REFORM EFFORT?
Relatives are a critical part of the continuum of care that supports California’s foster youth. In
fact, relative foster parents are the most utilized foster care placement in California. Currently
over 36% of California’s foster children are placed with grandparents, aunts and uncles, older
siblings or other caring relatives.
Placement with relative caregivers offers placement in a family-like setting and can provide
consistency and stability, preserving family connections and maintaining cultural customs. For
instance, children in kinship care have fewer placement changes and more frequent and
consistent contact with birth parents and siblings. Of great import, placement with relatives,
rather than non-relative foster caregivers, can mitigate the trauma and negative emotions
experienced by children removed from their parents' care, reducing behaviors that can result in
removal to a group home or other higher levels of care.
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However, in California, relative foster placements are the least supported placement. While
California remains ahead of many states in its adherence to the federal mandate prioritizing
placement with kin, our support of relative placements lags behind most of the country. This is
true despite the fact that California requires relatives to be approved according to the exact
same requirements as used for licensure of non-relative homes -- including background checks,
home approval requirements, monthly social worker visits and six month court reviews.
At the root of the inequity in how California supports relative foster parents is our reluctance to
provide state-only foster care benefits to those relatives caring for children who do not meet
federal eligibility standards. Notably, 56% of California foster children do not qualify for federal
foster care benefits due to antiquated eligibility rules, based on a requirement that the child's
home of removal meet the 1996 eligibility rules for the now defunct Aid to Families with
Dependent Children (AFDC).
For the non-federally eligible children, California has chosen to provide state-only foster care
benefits only for children placed in non-relative foster homes or group homes. Relatives caring
for a non-federally eligible child do not receive foster care benefits at all. Instead, the relative
foster parent can only receive CalWORKs benefits, which provides about half of what the state
of California has determined to be the minimum amount support necessary for a foster child.
Relative Foster Parent
Federally Eligible Child
$799/month
Non-Relative Foster
Parent
$799/month
Non-Federally Eligible Child
$351/month
$799/month
Non-Federally Eligible Child who is a
Regional Center Client
Non-Federally Eligible Sibling Set of 3
$351/month
$2,106/month
$714/month
$2,397/month
To put the funding paid to relatives caring for non-federally eligible youth in context:

A child who is not federally eligible and placed with a relative currently receives
funding at 35% of the federal poverty level regardless of the child’s specialized needs.

A CalWORKS grant for one child is no where near the basic foster care rate, which is based
on studies of bare adequacy for children in foster care, and range from $640 to $799.

In contrast to the $4,212 spent annually on the relative, if this same youth goes into a level
12 group home (where 52% of youth in group homes are placed), the state will spend
$99,708 annually for that same youth’s care.
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The lack of adequate funding can be especially problematic to the overall stability and health of
relative placements. As compared to non-relative foster parents, relatives caring for foster
children tend to be older, have lower incomes (39% are living below the poverty level), and be
in poorer health. And, unlike non-relative foster parents, the majority of relatives who agree to
care for children removed from their biological parents do so with little notice, preparation or
training. To be successful in raising our state’s children, these relative foster parents need at
least the same level of support as non-relative foster parents.
In short, as other researchers have noted, relative foster parents are required “to provide the
same nurturance and support for children in their care that non-kin foster parents provide, with
fewer resources, greater stressors, and limited preparation.” The CCR is an opportunity to
change this dynamic.
NEEDED REFORMS TO SUPPORT RELATIVE CAREGIVER PLACEMENTS
California can and should improve support to relative foster parents to ensure better outcomes
and futures for the children in their care, consistent with the goals of the CCR. Kinship providers
receiving inadequate funding have found themselves having to turn to food banks, or struggling
to make rent and pay utilities after taking in their relative children. Seldom is their money
available for extra-curricular activities, like sports or dance lessons, which can be beneficial and
provide a positive outlet for children in foster care who have experienced trauma.
Failure to adequately support relative foster parents also can result in significantly higher costs
to the state and counties. While it is inexpensive to place a non-federally eligible child with a
relative, these costs skyrocket if that youth subsequently ends up in group care.
By utilizing a foster care rate setting structure based on the type of placements rather than on
the needs of the child, California leaves many relative foster parents without adequate funding,
penalizing the very placements that are prioritized under the law. To remedy this significant
inequity, the Continuum of Care Reform should consider ways to support relative placements in
order to ensure that all children in foster care receive appropriate funding to meet the child’s
specialized needs, regardless of the youth’s federal eligibility or the youth’s placement in
relative or non-relative foster care. There are a number of ways to achieve this goal, including:

Certifying relatives through a FFA to ensure relatives receive the same level of
training and support, as well as the same benefit level, as all other certified homes;

Paying state-only foster care benefits to relative caregivers;

Paying an increased child-only TANF grant to relatives caring for foster youth or
those diverted from foster care.
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