Disability Thrive Initiative

California’s new Resource Family Approval Program (RFA) may produce more qualified foster families, but it may also discourage relatives from stepping up to foster their grandchildren or other kin.

RFA merges the varying standards by which relative and non-relative families are approved to foster and adopt children in California’s child welfare system. The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) and advocates believe that the streamlined approval process will improve efficiency, increase parent preparation and increase permanency. Read more.

SACRAMENTO, CA [BY MARTY OMOTO, CDCAN – LAST UPDATED 04/05/2016 12:20 PM] – The California Department of Social Services, the state agency that oversees statewide the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, released April 1^st a new notice to the counties – called an “All County Letter” (All County Letter No. 16-22) – with information and instructions regarding the second of two “extraordinary circumstances exemptions” to overtime rules for persons who are IHSS providers who work for two or more people who receive IHSS, under certain specific conditions.
As previously reported, the US Department of Labor regulations requiring travel and wait time pay and also overtime for previously exempted home care workers across the nation – including in California, IHSS, Waiver Personal Care Services workers, and regional center funded home care services (Supported Living Services, In-Home Respite Services and Personal Assistance Services) – were slated to go into effect January 1, 2015. Read more here and see link below:

Waiver Personal Care Services Overtime Implementation

The US Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division has released the attached booklet called A Guide for Consumers and their Families to the Fair Labor Standards Act. The guide provides easy to understand information about when people have to pay in-home caregivers overtime. California requires all workers to be paid at least minimum wage, but other states don’t, so this booklet also covers when minimum wage must be paid from a federal perspective. This information will be important in cases where someone is using an individual caregiver (not paid through an agency or IHSS) in excess of forty hours per week.

Home Care Guide

Legislation that would require California to establish an information line to answer the public’s questions about end-of-life options received approval in a Senate committee on Wednesday despite critics’ concerns that the bill could be mistaken for a suicide hotline.

SB 1002, authored by Sen. Bill Monning, D-Carmel, would make a toll-free number available on the state Department of Public Health’s website. Read more

In a few months, California will begin providing full Medi-Cal coverage to all low-income children — regardless of their immigration status. Depending on whom you ask, anywhere from 170,000 to 250,000 children who live in California and are in the country illegally will qualify.

If you think your child will, or know a parent whose child will, state officials and health care advocates have a simple message for you: Take action now. Read more.

Capitol Public Radio

One year after a debate over vaccinating public school children reverberated through California Legislature, a new proposal would protect doctors from discipline or liability for issuing students medical exemptions. Read more.

Both regulators responsible for reviewing insurance mergers in California have now approved Centene Corp.’s $6.8 billion acquisition of Health Net, allowing the controversial deal to move forward. The California Department of Managed Health Care approved the deal Tuesday morning, followed a few hours later by the state Department of Insurance. The DMHC imposed conditions with a total price tag of at least $340 million. Read more.