Non-Profit Youth and Family Agencies Urge Governor Newsom’s Signature on Vital Investments

Non-Profit Youth and Family Agencies Urge Governor Newsom’s Signature on Vital Investments

"With the crisis facing foster youth in news headlines statewide, California Alliance members are grateful that the legislature’s budget takes two critical first steps to stabilize the fragile safety net for youth coping from experiences of trauma and abuse,” said Alliance CEO Chris Stoner-Mertz.   "$8 million in one-time bridge funding for foster family agencies is a thin but critical lifeline to prevent these deeply connected community organizations that recruit foster parents and support foster youth from collapsing. The budget also addresses a severe backlog in the Guardian background check system that has exacerbated a staffing crisis for our agencies.  We ask Governor Newsom to support these vital investments in the well-being of our most vulnerable youth." 

"As 160 non-profit organizations serving the needs of vulnerable youth and families connected to the child welfare, behavioral health, justice and education systems, we are hopeful these initial steps will pave the way for important and long overdue conversations needed to fix the larger structural challenges in the safety net for youth and families,” Mertz concluded.