America s Foster Care And Adoption System - 1284 Words

Two obvious sponsors of AB 12 were its creators, Jim Beall and Karen Bass. Beall’s interests are in helping foster care children, low-income families, and people with disabilities. Bass’ interest in child welfare issues and foster care issues is seen in the legislation that she sponsors; one of her priorities is to improve America’s foster care and adoption system. Strong supporters of AB 12 are legislative Democrats and Republicans. Many people and groups were on board with AB 12, realizing that the change was needed. Co-sponsors of the bill were the following 9 prestigious agencies: the Judicial Council of California, the largest court system in the nation makes the policies of California courts, which is an alliance of over 110†¦show more content†¦The California Youth Connection made sure that they partnered with various child welfare organizations for 2 years to ensure that the long-awaited AB 12 transpired. Arnold Schwarzenegger, former Governor of California, was also a proud supporter of AB 12 and its pledges. In an interview in 2009, Schwarzenegger stated that he was committed to work with key players in AB 12 to ensure that foster children and youth were â€Å"†¦provided with the tools needed to succeed at life.†11 Along with this, he believed that the issue at hand was one that was very important to many Californ ians and also believed the solution to the issue would be to better equip California’s youth by offering the resources and services needed to transition into their adulthood.11 The California Department of Social Services sponsored an AB 12 Kick Off Event where the implementation of the bill was discussed on January 26, 2011, a whole year before its actual implementation.7 Professionals from all over the state whose primary goal is social well-being backed this bill based on their beliefs about giving youth an extension of time to be able to thrive further in life.2 Success/failure Under the California Fostering Connections to Success Act, Speaker Karen Bass of Los Angeles and Assembly Member Jim Beall of San Jose introduced AB 12 on December 1, 2008. The bill went through the lengthy process that bills