Section 9544.

(a) The Legislature finds and declares that the purpose of the Foster Grandparent Program shall be to provide personally meaningful volunteer community service opportunities to low-income older individuals through mentoring children with exceptional physical, developmental, or behavioral needs, in accordance with the federal National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 12651 et seq.).

(b) For purposes of this section, "foster grandparent volunteer" means an individual who is 60 years of age or older, has an insufficient income, as determined in accordance with Part 1208 of Title 45 of the Code of Federal Regulations, and provides at least four hours a day, five days a week of foster grandparent services under this chapter.

(c) Direct service contractors shall meet all of the following requirements:

(1) Be a city, county, city and county, or department of the state, or any suitable private, nonprofit organization, that demonstrates the ability to provide the specified services in a variety of settings, including, but not limited to, hospital pediatric wards, facilities for the physically, emotionally, or mentally impaired, correctional facilities, schools, day care centers, and residences.

(2) Recruit, select, train, and assign staff and volunteers.

(3) Provide volunteer participants with the same benefits, transportation, stipends, and income exemptions as provided to the foster grandparent volunteers funded through the Corporation for National Service.

(4) Provide or arrange for meals, transportation, and supervision for volunteers.

(5) Provide benefits and meaningful volunteer service opportunities to low-income individuals 60 years of age and older.

(6) Serve children under 21 years of age who have special needs or who are deprived of normal relationships with adults.

(7) Provide services to persons, including, but not limited to, any of the following:

(A) Premature and failure-to-thrive babies, or abused, neglected, battered, or chronically ill children in hospitals.

(B) Autistic children, children with cerebral palsy or developmentally disabled children placed in institutions for the developmentally disabled.

(C) Physically impaired children, mentally disabled children, emotionally disturbed children, developmentally disabled children, or children who are socially and culturally deprived in school settings or child care centers, dependent children, neglected children, mentally disabled children, emotionally disturbed or physically impaired children, battered or abused children in residential settings.

(D) Delinquent children or adolescents in correctional institutions.

(E) A child under 19 years of age, when the child has been charged with committing, or adjudged to have committed, an offense which is the equivalent to, a misdemeanor.

(8) Maintaining a systematic means of capturing and reporting all required community-based services program data.

(d) In addition to the opportunity to help children who have exceptional physical, developmental, or behavioral needs and are deprived of normal relationships with adults, foster grandparent volunteers shall receive all of the following:

(1) Expenses for transportation to and from their homes and the place where they render their services or may have transportation in buses or in other transportation made available to them.

(2) One free meal during each day in which the foster grandparent renders services.

(3) Accident insurance, an annual physical examination, and a nontaxable hourly stipend.

(e) This section shall be implemented only to the extent that funds are appropriated for its purposes in the annual Budget Act or in another statute.

(Amended by Stats. 2003, Ch. 225, Sec. 23.5. Effective August 11, 2003.)