BILL NUMBER: ACR 139AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 8, 2012 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Beall ( Coauthors: Assembly Members Ammiano, Block, Eng, Gatto, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hill, Logue, Mitchell, Olsen, Pan, Solorio, and Williams ) (Coauthor:SenatorLiuCoauthors: Senators Cannella, De Leon, DeSaulnier, Fuller, Hancock, Liu, Runner, Strickland, Wolk, and Wright ) MARCH 22, 2012 Relative to Foster Care Month. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST ACR 139, as amended, Beall. Foster Care Month. This measure would designate May 2012 as Foster Care Month in California. Fiscal committee: no. WHEREAS, Progress can be measured by the opportunities we pass on to our children. For the youth in foster care across our state, we can give them the chance to have a safe, permanent, loving home where they can feel secure and thrive; and WHEREAS, California has the largest foster care population of any state, and most children in foster care are removed from their parents by the county child welfare departments, in conjunction with juvenile dependency courts, for a variety of reasons including abuse, abandonment, or neglect; and WHEREAS, During 2011, California's foster care system provided for the care of approximately 55,000 children on average each day; and WHEREAS, By October of 2011, 5,342 children were adopted and 2,056 children obtained guardianship; and WHEREAS, In recent years, more than one-half of the children leaving foster care returned to their families; and WHEREAS, Each year, approximately 4,000 to 5,000 foster youth reach the age of eighteen in the foster care system without ever being adopted by , or finding permanency with, a family that loves, nurtures, protects, and guides them; and WHEREAS, Children "aging out" of foster care need and deserve a support system as they work to secure affordable housing, pursue higher education, and acquire adequate employment; and WHEREAS, During Foster Care Month, we recognize the efforts of California's adoptive and foster families, relative caregivers, social workers, local governments, faith-based and community organizations, and others that are improving the lives of young people in foster care, and encourage all Californians to partake in efforts to serve these children in the year ahead; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature designates the month of May 2012 as Foster Care Month in California and encourages the people of the State of California to work together to ensure a brighter future for foster youth; and be it further Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.