Section 11460.

(a) Foster care providers shall be paid a per child per month rate in return for the care and supervision of the AFDC-FC child placed with them. The department is designated the single organizational unit whose duty it shall be to administer a state system for establishing rates in the AFDC-FC program. State functions shall be performed by the department or by delegation of the department to county welfare departments or Indian tribes, consortia of tribes, or tribal organizations that have entered into an agreement pursuant to Section 10553.1.

(b) "Care and supervision" includes food, clothing, shelter, daily supervision, school supplies, a child's personal incidentals, liability insurance with respect to a child, reasonable travel to the child's home for visitation, and reasonable travel for the child to remain in the school in which he or she is enrolled at the time of placement. Reimbursement for the costs of educational travel, as provided for in this subdivision, shall be made pursuant to procedures determined by the department, in consultation with representatives of county welfare and probation directors, and additional stakeholders, as appropriate.

(1) For a child placed in a group home, care and supervision shall also include reasonable administration and operational activities necessary to provide the items listed in this subdivision.

(2) For a child placed in a group home, care and supervision may also include reasonable activities performed by social workers employed by the group home provider which are not otherwise considered daily supervision or administration activities.

(c) It is the intent of the Legislature to establish the maximum level of state participation in out-of-state foster care group home program rates effective January 1, 1992.

(1) The department shall develop regulations that establish the method for determining the level of state participation for each out-of-state group home program. The department shall consider all of the following methods:

(A) A standardized system based on the level of care and services per child per month as detailed in Section 11462.

(B) A system which considers the actual allowable and reasonable costs of care and supervision incurred by the program.

(C) A system which considers the rate established by the host state.

(D) Any other appropriate methods as determined by the department.

(2) State reimbursement for the AFDC-FC group home rate to be paid to an out-of-state program on or after January 1, 1992, shall only be paid to programs which have done both of the following:

(A) Submitted a rate application to the department and received a determination of the level of state participation.

(i) The level of state participation shall not exceed the current fiscal year's standard rate for rate classification level 14.

(ii) The level of state participation shall not exceed the rate determined by the ratesetting authority of the state in which the facility is located.

(iii) The level of state participation shall not decrease for any child placed prior to January 1, 1992, who continues to be placed in the same out-of-state group home program.

(B) Agreed to comply with information requests, and program and fiscal audits as determined necessary by the department.

(3) State reimbursement for an AFDC-FC rate paid on or after January 1, 1993, shall only be paid to a group home organized and operated on a nonprofit basis.

(d) A foster care provider that accepts payments, following the effective date of this section, based on a rate established under this section, shall not receive rate increases or retroactive payments as the result of litigation challenging rates established prior to the effective date of this section. This shall apply regardless of whether a provider is a party to the litigation or a member of a class covered by the litigation.

(e) Nothing shall preclude a county from using a portion of its county funds to increase rates paid to family homes and foster family agencies within that county, and to make payments for specialized care increments, clothing allowances, or infant supplements to homes within that county, solely at that county's expense.

(Amended by Stats. 2010, Ch. 725, Sec. 17. Effective October 19, 2010.)