Kinship family approval

The law gives kin caregivers a distinct approval option while preserving resource-family and tribal-home options. It also extends foster-care supports, safeguards, and caregiver authorities to approved kinship families.

What the law does ​

• Requires the State Department of Social Services to adopt a kinship family approval process by July 1, 2028, for relatives, nonrelative extended family members, and Indian children’s extended family members.
• Requires counties to explain and offer eligible caregivers a choice among kinship family approval, resource family approval, and, for Indian children, a tribally approved home.
• Allows courts to place a child temporarily or after removal with a nonrelative extended family member or an Indian child’s extended family member when the placement does not threaten the child’s health or safety, even if approval or a criminal-record exemption is pending.
• Applies criminal-background checks, child-abuse registry checks, confidentiality rules, approval consequences, insurance protections, and other foster-care provisions to kinship families.
• Gives kinship families access to a child’s relevant school records and includes them in caregiver education-related rights and juvenile-court notices.
• Makes knowingly false or materially incomplete kinship-family application statements a misdemeanor.

Who it affects ​

• Relatives, nonrelative extended family members, and extended family members of Indian children seeking to care for foster children.
• Foster children, including Indian children, placed with kin or extended family.
• County child welfare departments, probation departments, foster family agencies, schools, and juvenile courts.

Context ​

The new kinship family approval process becomes operative July 1, 2028.

Breakdown ​

Kinship Family Approval Process ​

The bill requires the State Department of Social Services to create a kinship family approval process by July 1, 2028. It gives relatives, certain extended family members, and Indian children’s extended family members a new approval option for caring for children, alongside existing options. It also adds confidentiality rules and penalties for knowingly false or incomplete application information.

Key takeaways

• The department must adopt a kinship family approval process by July 1, 2028.
• The new process applies to relatives, nonrelative extended family members, and extended family members of an Indian child who seek to care for a child placed by a county child welfare or probation department.
• A kinship family must meet specified home environment assessment and family engagement standards.
• Counties must tell eligible caregivers about the available approval options, including kinship family approval, resource family approval, and, for an Indian child, a tribally approved home.
• The bill extends certain rules that apply to resource families to kinship families and removes obsolete provisions.
• Personal identifying information, written evaluation reports, and court proceedings involving kinship families are confidential except where the law allows disclosure.
• Kinship family applicants must declare that their application information is true, correct, and complete to the best of their knowledge, and knowingly deceptive false statements or material omissions are misdemeanors.

Expanded Kinship Placement Authority ​

The bill lets courts place a child with an extended family member or a nonrelative extended family member even if certain placement approvals or criminal-record exemptions are still pending. The court may do so after removal or on a temporary or emergency basis only if it finds the placement does not risk the child’s health or safety.

Key takeaways

• Courts may place a child with an extended family member or nonrelative extended family member after removal, or on a temporary or emergency basis, before all approval requirements are complete.
• The placement may occur regardless of the status of a criminal-record exemption, kinship family approval, tribal home approval, or resource family approval.
• The court must find that the placement does not pose a risk to the child’s health and safety.
• The bill extends to extended family members and nonrelative extended family members authority that existing law provided for placement with relatives.

School Record Access for Kinship Families ​

The bill requires schools to give kinship families access to a pupil's records. This adds kinship families to the people who must be allowed access under the existing pupil-record rules. Because local educational agencies may have new duties, the change creates a state-required local program.

Key takeaways

• Kinship families must be granted access to pupil records under the same access rules that apply to specified caregivers and other authorized people.
• The bill adds kinship families to the list of people and entities schools are required to allow access to pupil records.
• The change may require local educational agencies to perform additional duties.
• The bill treats those added local duties as a state-mandated local program.

Adoption Assistance Eligibility ​

The bill expands eligibility for Adoption Assistance Program benefits in certain cases involving criminal history issues. A child may receive benefits when a prospective adoptive parent or another adult in the home has been granted a criminal record exception, or when a juvenile court has approved placement with a prospective parent who did not receive that exception.

Key takeaways

• The bill allows Adoption Assistance Program benefits in some cases where a prospective adoptive parent would otherwise be ineligible.
• Benefits may be available when the prospective parent or another adult living in the home has received a criminal record exception.
• Benefits may also be available when a juvenile court authorizes placement with a prospective parent who was not granted a criminal record exception.

Public Access Findings ​

The bill includes findings explaining why it limits public access to certain government meetings or records. These findings are required when a law restricts constitutional rights of access to public bodies' meetings or public agencies' writings.

Key takeaways

• The bill makes the findings required for a law that limits public access to government meetings or records.
• The findings are intended to identify the interest being protected and why limiting access is necessary.
• This part does not describe any additional substantive change beyond adopting those required findings.

State Reimbursement for Local Costs ​

The bill says no state reimbursement is required for certain costs it imposes on local agencies or school districts, for a reason specified elsewhere in the act. If the Commission on State Mandates finds that the bill creates other reimbursable state-required costs, the state must reimburse them under existing procedures.

Key takeaways

• The bill excludes certain mandated costs from state reimbursement.
• The exclusion applies for a reason specified in the act.
• Other costs may be reimbursed if the Commission on State Mandates finds that the bill imposes them as state-required mandates.
• Any approved reimbursement must follow California's existing reimbursement procedures.

Coordinating Changes With Other Bills ​

This part coordinates AB 2478 with SB 1017, AB 2764, and SB 1051. It adds the other bills’ proposed changes to specified Education Code and Welfare and Institutions Code sections, but only if both bills in each pairing become law and AB 2478 is enacted last.

Key takeaways

• The coordinated change to Education Code Section 49076 applies only if SB 1017 is enacted and AB 2478 is enacted last.
• The coordinated changes to Welfare and Institutions Code Sections 366.31, 11363, 11386, 16120, and 16501.1 apply only if AB 2764 is enacted and AB 2478 is enacted last.
• The coordinated change to Welfare and Institutions Code Section 11461.6 applies only if SB 1051 is enacted and AB 2478 is enacted last.
• These provisions are designed to incorporate changes proposed by the other bills when the stated enactment conditions are met.