California Welfare and Institutions Code § 16565

(a) The Legislature finds and declares the following: (1) Social determinants of health, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), positive childhood experiences, and other supports are critical determinants of life outcomes for children. Research shows that ACEs can have lasting, negative, and permanent impacts on childhood development. Many factors, including experiencing abuse or neglect, placement instability and disconnection from family and natural supports, leave children and nonminor dependents in foster care particularly vulnerable to the impact of ACEs. (2) Research also shows that positive childhood experiences, tailored to a child’s or nonminor dependent’s strengths, can lessen the impact of ACEs. Through positive childhood experiences, children can develop, build, and nurture strengths and personal autonomy, which may support the successful transition to permanency and successful adulthood. (3) Focusing on strengths building activities, by providing explicit funding for these activities, will help to prevent children and nonminor dependents in foster care from developing more complex needs and will serve to stabilize children, and, as applicable, nonminor dependents in their families, which, whenever possible and consistent with federal and state laws for placement preferences, should include placement in the home of a relative, nonrelative extended family member or, in the case of an Indian child, an extended family member as defined in Section 224.1. (4) Strengths building activities should be culturally responsive, family centered, and permanency focused, and, in the case of an Indian child, consistent with the prevailing social and cultural conditions and way of life of the Indian child’s tribe. (5) It is therefore the intent of the Legislature in enacting this section to create a program to empower the children and nonminor dependents in foster care and their families, with support from the child and family team, to select and make decisions about the goods, services, activities, and supports needed to achieve the strengths building objectives. (b) The Strengths Building Child and Family Determination Program is hereby established. Beginning on the date required by paragraph (9) of subdivision (h) of Section 11461, the Strengths Building Child and Family Determination Program shall be available to every child and nonminor dependent in foster care whose tier has been determined as part of the Tiered Rate Structure established in subdivision (h) of Section 11461, based on the completion of the IP-CANS assessment. In lieu of applying the Strengths Building Child and Family Determination Program to nonminor dependents placed in a setting described in subdivision (w) of Section 11400, an amount equivalent to Tier 1 of the Strengths Building Funding shall be included in their rate, as described in clause (ii) of subparagraph (B) of paragraph (6) of subdivision (h) of Section 11461. (c) For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply: (1) “Child and family determination” means the process established by the department to empower the child or nonminor dependent, in an age and developmentally appropriate manner and the child and family or nonminor dependent to make decisions, informed by the IP-CANS assessment tool about the mix of goods, services, activities, and supports needed to meet the child’s or nonminor dependent’s strengths building objectives. In the case of an Indian child, the process shall be informed by the prevailing social and cultural conditions and way of life of the Indian child’s tribe. (2) “Child and family team” has the same meaning as described in paragraph (4) of subdivision (a) of Section 16501, including, for an Indian child, a representative of the Indian child’s tribe or Indian custodian, as applicable. (3) “Family” includes the child’s parents, guardian, Indian custodian, and relatives, unless a juvenile court has made an order terminating parent

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