SACRAMENTO – Today, Assemblymember Diane Dixon (R-Newport Beach) introduced Assembly Bill 1952 which seeks to increase support for infants parented by foster youth.
“We need to meaningfully invest in our foster children. The most vulnerable members of our society rely on this core program. These are critical dollars that go towards ensuring these young moms and their babies are healthy and flourish,” said Asm. Dixon.
The bill is supported by the California Alliance of Child and Family Services and Mary’s Path, a licensed short-term residential therapeutic program in Orange County. Mary’s Path provides intensive support to pregnant youth and parenting teens, who have often experienced significant trauma and child sex trafficking. The additional funding is critical for organizations like Mary’s Path to keep up with the soaring costs of infant needs – from diapers to formula – so mothers can focus on building bonds with their babies, their education, and their own path to healing.
Mary’s Path is one of only four organizations in the State that has the expertise and capacity to serve these teen moms whose average age is 15.
Throughout the state there are only 49 beds specifically dedicated to pregnant foster youth or those who recently gave birth. Mary’s Path operates 30 percent of those beds. This is partly because state support to care for young mothers has not kept pace with the costs of caring for both mother and baby.
“Many of our residents have escaped from human trafficking or situations of domestic violence,” said Jill Dominguez, President and Executive Director, “Mary’s Path provides a safe space for these girls to receive mental health treatment and support as they prepare to give birth and then learn to take care of their babies. However, the amount of state financial support we get for caring for these babies has not increased since 2016 despite dramatic increases in the cost of living, diapers, formula, and other essentials, which Mary’s Path provides.”
Approximately 32 percent of foster youth become parents before the age of 21. This bill provides a much needed increase to the monthly infant supplement formula to match today’s cost of living. While the formula has not been increased since 2016, products like diapers have risen 22% since 2018. Increasing the infant supplement formula, in addition to ensuring it will be adjusted for future inflation in accordance with the California Necessities Index (CNI), will make a significant difference for parenting foster youth.
Assemblymember Dixon introduced the bill in January, which is recognized as National Human Trafficking Prevention Month.
