CLC’s Director of Policy & Training, Susan Abrams, spoke with The Imprint about the available pandemic relief for youth in foster care.
California plans to distribute pandemic relief funds to current and former foster youth. But with a Sep. 3 application deadline approaching, advocates say the process has confused and even denied eligible youth, stalling much-needed lifeline benefits.
These frustrations have left some to conclude that — in fairness to this vulnerable population of young adults raised by the state — the timeline to apply should be extended.
“It would be great to see an extension,” said Susan Abrams, an policy and training director with the Children’s Law Center of California, which represents 33,000 California children of all ages in dependency court. “It would also be very helpful for individual counties to clarify the application process and to ensure that all youth who have open cases know where to go.”