Foster care supplement.

Assembly Member Dixon’s measure targets the funding framework for foster care by instituting an inflation adjustment to the monthly supplement paid when a child lives with a parent who receives AFDC-FC or Kin-GAP benefits, or ARC payments, effective July 1, 2026, while preserving the broader rate and supplement structure that already governs AFDC-FC, Kin-GAP, and ARC programs. The proposal keeps the existing monthly supplement at $489 but adds a mechanism to adjust that amount for inflation beginning mid-2026, with the supplement still conditioned on annual appropriation in the Budget Act.

The amendment would require the department to maintain a uniform-rate framework for care and supervision costs across categories of eligible licensed community care facilities, and it preserves a long-standing sequence of adjustments to the uniform rate (including prior percentage increases, the California Necessities Index adjustments, and cost-of-living updates) while adding the inflation-based modification to the $489 monthly supplement. Beginning July 1, 2026, the supplement would be adjusted by the California Necessities Index, and the adjustment would be subject to available funds. The bill also continues existing provisions for special payments and credits tied to placement type (e.g., teen-parent scenarios, infant supplements, and plan-based incremental increases), as well as the expectant-parent payments that are automated through CalSAWS with a separate implementation timeline. A state-mandated local program provision clarifies that local costs are payable only to the extent the state provides annual funding for the increased costs; the absence of funding would mean no subvention requirement under the realignment framework.

Beyond the core inflation adjustment, the measure preserves the program’s overarching structure and adds administrative and implementation considerations. It retains the requirement for departments and counties to coordinate on system changes for the expectant-parent payments, with CalSAWS and the County Welfare Directors Association continuing to play a role in implementation. The bill’s administrative provision aligns the local costs with the 2011 Realignment framework, reinforcing that local agencies are responsible for increased costs only if the state funds them, and that new or higher levels of service without funding do not obligate state subventions. Enforceability remains anchored in existing state and county administrative mechanisms, with oversight by the administering department and related system partners.

The proposal sits within California’s long-standing, layered rate-setting regime for foster care payments, drawing on historical adjustments to uniform rates and supplements while adding a defined inflation-adjustment pathway for the key monthly supplement. It requires annual state funding to actuate the inflation adjustment, situating the measure’s fiscal impact squarely in the annual budget cycle and ties local implementation costs to the state’s funding decisions. Taken together, the changes clarify and modernize how inflation is reflected in the supplement, preserve established categories and supplementary payments, and situate counties’ implementation responsibilities within the existing mandate framework and system modernization efforts.