Page 5 - Strengthening California’s Emergency Child Care Bridge Program

Strengthening California’s Emergency Child Care Bridge
Background: California’s Emergency Child Care Bridge Program
Enacted through Senate Bill 89 (SB89) in 2017, California’s statewide Emergency Child Care Bridge Program for Foster Children (hereafter referred to as the Bridge Program) aims to facilitate the prompt placement of children within the foster care system into a stable setting
by helping relatives or foster caregivers obtain early care and education (ECE) services for children in their care The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) designed the Bridge Program to address the special circumstances of caregivers and children in foster care The Bridge Program is also intended to improve the capacity of ECE providers to meet the needs of this vulnerable population of children
By 2018, 46 out of California’s 58 counties agreed to participate in the Bridge Program With a budget of $599 million in fiscal year 2022-2023, it is critical that this statewide initiative reach the families who most need it and provide them with access to stable, quality early care and education services that are central to promoting healthy development in children However, there are substantial diferences in the program’s implementation across counties, and to date there is no notable systematic efort to assess the extent to which this initiative is working as intended or to identify best practices In January 2020, the Child Care Resource Center (CCRC) launched a study of the implementation and eficacy of the statewide Bridge Program
Purpose of the Bridge Program
As of October 2021, there are 19,666 children under the age of 5 in California’s foster care system1 Children’s Social Workers (CSWs) must often make multiple attempts to find an immediate placement for a child that has been removed from his or her home When it is necessary to place children in foster care due to maltreatment, CSW’s prioritize placement with family members (kinship caregivers) before considering non-relative (foster) caregivers Kinship caregivers tend to be older and have lower incomes than non-relative caregivers2 California’s CSWs have shared stories of children staying for long periods of time at “Welcome Centers” or even in their ofices while they made dozens of telephone calls in attempts to find a placement for these children If the child has special needs, is under age five years, or is part of a sibling set, the number of calls required to secure a placement increases dramatically3
Kinship caregivers tend to be in a more challenging situation than non-relative (foster) caregivers regarding accepting a foster child Kinship caregivers usually receive their related children unexpectedly, while non-relative (foster) caregivers have proactively chosen to provide foster care, allowing them to have more time in advance to prepare for the placement of a child Prior research shows that, in comparison with foster caregivers, kinship caregivers need more support with:4
• Navigating the child welfare and ECE systems
• Paying for child care
• Finding an ECE provider who meets the needs of their family
1 https://ccwipberkeleyedu/childwelfare/reports/PIT/MTSG/r/ab636/s
2 Scannapieco, M, Hegar, R L, & McAlpine, C (1997) Kinship Care and Foster Care: A comparison of Characteristics and Outcomes Families in Society, 78 (5), 480-488 3 https://wwwccrccaorg/resources/research-evaluation
4 https://wwwccrccaorg/resources/research-evaluation
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