BILL NUMBER: SCR 35INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Senator Steinberg (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Bass) (Coauthor: Senator Wolk) APRIL 20, 2009 Relative to Foster Care Month. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SCR 35, as introduced, Steinberg. Foster Care Month. This measure would designate May 2009 as Foster Care Month. Fiscal committee: no. WHEREAS, In California, there are 75,000 children and youth in foster care who need and deserve safe permanent connections to loving adults, stable homes, and adequate preparation for a secure future; and WHEREAS, The needs of children and youth for a sense of belonging and unconditional emotional commitment are best met in families; and WHEREAS, Many California counties have successfully supported permanent family connections for foster youth, provided support for families at risk of entering the child welfare system, and changed practices to fully engage youth, family, and communities, thereby reducing the number of children and youth in foster care; and WHEREAS, California recognizes the enduring and valuable contribution of relatives, foster parents, and adoptive parents who open their hearts, families, and homes to vulnerable children and youth; and WHEREAS, California recognizes the numerous individuals and public and private organizations that work to ensure that the needs of children and youth living in, and leaving, foster care are met, that help to provide foster children and youth and former foster children and youth with vital connections to their siblings, and that help launch young people into successful adulthood; and WHEREAS, There is a new federal law, the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-351), that offers opportunities to promote permanent families for children in foster care, improves outcomes for older youth in foster care, increases support for Native American foster children and youth, improves the quality of staff working with children and youth in the child welfare system, expands our support of relative and adoptive caregivers, and assists older foster youth in securing meaningful supportive transitions from foster care; and WHEREAS, The new federal act affirms California's leadership and success in pioneering innovative child welfare approaches; and WHEREAS, California is committed to working in partnership with the federal government to improve the lives and futures of all children and youth touched by the child welfare system; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the Legislature designates May 2009 as Foster Care Month; and be it further Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.