Statement from Carroll Schroeder, Executive Director for the California Alliance of Child and Family Services, on California's 2007-2008 Final Budget:

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Aug. 24  /PRNewswire/ -- "Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today took an important step forward in keeping the state's promise to our most vulnerable children by increasing funding in the Final Budget for group homes, foster family homes and private adoption agencies that provide care, services and support for children within the foster care system.

"Every single foster child in California deserves a permanent, stable and loving family. Those who cannot return to their own families deserve the chance to be adopted.  California Alliance member agencies are committed to achieving permanency for children, who through no fault of their own, have landed in foster care due to abuse and neglect.

"By providing group homes with a 5% increase, the first in five consecutive years, and by increasing private adoption reimbursement rate (PAARP) after six years, state policymakers have demonstrated that achieving positive outcomes for foster youth is a priority for California. While these increases by no means address the fact that care for foster youth has been severely under funded for the last 15 years, they will encourage private nonprofit child welfare agencies to continue their successful and innovative work.

"Decades of research has found that success for foster youth is directly tied to developing supportive, caring and stable relationships with dedicated caregivers. The adoption of foster children who cannot return to their families saves the state millions of dollars in foster care payments, court costs, Medi-Cal costs, and social workers' time and costs. Since private agencies are not reimbursed until a child is successfully adopted, PAARP is the only outcome-based funding program in California's foster care system.

"We are all in agreement that achieving positive outcomes for foster youth is a top priority for California. Yet, year after year the state shirks its responsibility to provide adequate support for those who care for foster children. Let us hope that this is the beginning of a new era for California's child welfare system, that California's 2007-2008 sets a budget precedent in prioritizing the needs of our foster youth in years to come."

The California Alliance of Child and Family Services (the Alliance) is a statewide association of more than 130 private nonprofit agencies that provide quality services and support to children and families. Member agencies offer a broad range of service options including adoption, family-based services, treatment foster care, mental health services, residential treatment, wraparound, nonpublic and charter school programs, and housing, services and support for transition age youth. The Alliance and its individual members are dedicated to advancing public policy that improves outcomes for vulnerable children and families. They recognize that achieving progressively better outcomes requires a wide array of effective, high quality and appropriately funded services.  For more information, please go to http://www.cacfs.org/. 

California Alliance of Child and Family Services