SAN DIEGO — For years, county governments throughout California took social security or disability payments from foster children without their knowledge or consent and deposited it into county bank accounts.
A CBS 8 investigation last year found San Diego County had collected $3,214,968 in retirement benefits, disability payouts or social security survivor benefits from 310 foster youth in an eight-year span.
But a bill signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom Thursday will change this throughout the state. Assembly Bill 2906, authored by Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, will prevent counties throughout the state from using benefits owed to foster youth to pay for their care. Instead, the governing agencies will have to hold the money in an account for the youth until they turn 18.
It's a big first step in protecting one of the state's most vulnerable populations, experts say. For those victim to this practice in previous years, however, it's life-altering money lost in bureaucracy.
'I would have never experienced homelessness'
Katrina White lost both of her parents at a young age. She was a nine-year-old girl when her father died unexpectedly of a heart attack. Two years later, her mother died. She was forced into the foster care system soon after.
Then, she lost her housing. Like all foster youths when they turn 18, she was thrust into homelessness. She pitched a tent on a small piece of weed-riddled land near a trolley station in La Mesa. White tells CBS 8 she struggled to survive for years — and that it all could have been avoided if the system had worked differently when she was a child.
"I would have never experienced homelessness," she said. "I would have been in a safer predicament than I was."
White spoke with CBS 8 initially last year. She wasn't sure where her benefits went because she had moved between San Bernardino and San Diego Counties before she turned 18. She said she wasn't aware she even qualified for the benefits back then, but they would have made a huge difference in her childhood.
"I would have never been talked about while I was in school," she said. "I would have had better clothing that didn't have any holes in it, or shoes that were too big for me."
For years, she combatted homelessness and hopelessness.
"I was giving up hope that I was going to be able to have any shelter, any housing, at all. I was working at the same time, and none of my coworkers knew I was homeless and struggling to just make it work."
CBS 8 caught up with her after Newsom signed AB 2906 into law. While the law won't be able to help her get her benefits back, she's still hopeful foster children will avoid the same struggle she faced.
"I'm really excited that there's other foster youth out there that'll be able to utilize this," White said. "There's hope out there. I'm so thankful that he signed this bill."
White said support and guidance for foster youth is hard to come by, but she's remained diligent and continued to ask the right people for help. She's working toward her goal of being a nurse — things are looking up for her after a long-fought battle she never asked for.
Foster children with disabilities not included
The signed law is seen to be a big win — but there's still work to be done.
Amy Harfeld is Washington D.C.-based attorney with the University of San Diego's Children's Advocacy Institute and has been advocating for foster youth for decades. She says Newsom is falling in line with roughly 30 states in the country that have worked to reform this issue. But it could have happened sooner.
Newsom vetoed Assembly Bill 2512 last year. It was similar to the recently approved AB 2906, but leaves out protection for one particular group.
"It still leaves disabled kids who are in foster care out in the cold and leaves them vulnerable to having their disability benefits continue to be taken by the state and used for their care," Harfeld says. "So it's mysterious and troubling that the county is now going to be obligated under California law to pay for the foster care of all the children in their custody, except the disabled kids."
She says the foster child's benefits — sometimes valued as high as $20,000 — is their personal property and this bad practice has historically robbed them of what's rightfully theirs.
"It's important we stand up for those youth, both because it's ethical and moral, but also because it's the law," she said. "We know these outcomes for these youths are really abysmal when they leave foster care. It's pennywise and pound foolish for us to be pilfering their benefits to line city budgets instead of really thinking about what's best for the child and what would be the best way to help make sure they have a successful future."
Harfeld said reporting from CBS 8 and CBS Sunday Morning on this issue helped educate the public and added pressure for civic leaders to enact change.
"The public awareness have really generated and incredible amount of outrage, concern and public pressure," Harfeld said. "Policies like this exist and continue because people don't know about them."
Harfield adds, "Young people don't deserve to have their money taken after they've been removed from their home at their worst state. We really rely on news outlets such as CBS to help educate the public and create the kind of pressure we need to get bills like this out there and supported by the constituents who matter."
The law will go into effect Jan. 1, 2025.