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Committee advances bill to index infant supplemental payment for teen moms in foster care
Summary
The Senate Human Services Committee heard testimony and moved AB 349, which would index the infant supplemental payment for parenting foster youth to the California Necessities Index to reflect inflation; the bill was passed to the Appropriations Committee.
Assemblymember Dixon presented AB 349 to the Senate Human Services Committee, seeking to index the infant supplemental payment for foster youth parenting infants to the California Necessities Index.
The bill’s author said the infant supplemental payment has not been updated since 2016 and ‘‘falls critically short in providing these parenting foster youth . . . adequate financial resources to care for their children.’’ The measure would make the payment automatically increase with inflation so the monthly supplement better covers diapers, formula, childcare and other infant needs.
Jill Dominguez, CEO and president of Mary’s Path, testified the program serves pregnant and parenting teens ages 12 to 21 and that Mary’s Path is one of four such organizations in California. Dominguez said the infant supplement rate ‘‘has not been increased since 02/2016’’ and that ‘‘the cost of diapers has risen 90% over the past 2 years,’’ while formula has increased by about 11%.
Supporters at the hearing also included Nicole (representing the Orange County Board of Supervisors), Amanda Kirchner (County Welfare Directors Association), and Jayo Dentes (Alameda County). Vice Chair Chobot moved the bill; the committee roll call recorded votes of Adegeen (aye), Achobog (aye), Becker (aye) and Perez (aye). The motion carried and AB 349 was passed to the Appropriations Committee; committee staff kept the item on call.
The committee discussion focused on cost pressures facing short-term residential therapeutic programs for parenting foster youth and on the makeup of recipients, with witnesses noting a high share from low-income and minority communities and a high prevalence of trafficking survivors among program participants.
The bill does not specify a funding source in committee testimony; supporters described the change as indexing the existing infant supplement payment to the California Necessities Index (CNI) so that it increases automatically in future years.
