Recently enacted California Senate Bill 39 requires release of important information about deaths of children from abuse and neglect. Since July 2008, NCYL has been monitoring implementation of the new law. The results to date are mixed: some compliance, but also considerable resistance. cont'd...

September 28, 2008 - Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed legislation aimed at improving the lives of children and youth in California's foster care system by making it easier for caregivers and providers to access the resources they need to protect one of the state's most vulnerable populations.

August 26, 2008 - NCYL has been actively working with the Arkansas Division of Youth Services (DYS) to reform Arkansas’ juvenile justice system. NCYL Senior Attorney Pat Arthur, in collaboration with DYS, has co-authored a report that provides a framework for reform. See Report

March 11, 2008 - The National Center for Youth Law has joined other California non-profit organizations to defeat AB 1905, a bill which would grant automatic right to appeal when a class is certified.

• Read Coalition's Letter to CA State Assembly Judiciary Committee Opposing AB 1905

Sept. 5, 2007 - Both the CA Senate and Assembly have voted in favor of SB 39, which mandates public disclosure of findings and information about children who have died of abuse or neglect.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed an eight-bill foster care reform package that promises to improve the lives of tens of thousands of foster children. The Governor and Legislature have also included an increase of more than $94 million in foster care funding this year.

• Foster Care Bills
• Child Support Bill
• San Francisco Chronicle Editorial Campaign for Foster Care Reform

• Child Support (pdf)
  
• Keeping At-Risk Children From Entering Foster Care (pdf)

^{*The Summit was held Jan. 18 at the Sacramento Convention Center. Summit panels helped launch the legislative session by unveiling policy proposals on issues affecting CA’s working families. NCYL attorneys Curt Child and Bill Grimm made policy recommendations on child support and child welfare respectively.}

Child support collections should be disregarded for children in the Temporary Assistance Program (TAP) thereby increasing the income of these children. These children by definition, lack a parent with the ability to increase household income through earnings.

NCYL's Juvenile Mental Health Court Initiative is a direct response to America's over-reliance on locking up children with mental health problems. It is estimated that 50 to 90 percent of youth held in juvenile detention facilities suffer from some form of mental illness.

Editorial Campaign on Foster Care Reform

The National Center for Youth Law has been working with the San Francisco Chronicle on its ongoing editorial campaign to reform foster care, providing data and other information.