(a) The following terms have the following meanings for purposes of implementing this section:
(1) “Adoptions” includes adoption services provided to children and families pursuant to Section 16100 of the Welfare and Institutions Code or which a county enters into an agreement with another entity to provide on the county’s behalf.
(2) “Child welfare services” includes those services provided to children and families pursuant to Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 16500) of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(3) “Foster care” includes expenditures for out-of-home placements for children pursuant to Article 5 (commencing with Section 11400), and Kinship Guardianship Assistance Payments provided pursuant to Article 4.5 (commencing with Section 11360) or Article 4.7 (commencing with Section 11385) of, Chapter 2 of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(b) Savings achieved by counties as a result of the shift of residential placement costs for seriously emotionally disturbed youth from the State Department of Social Services to the State Department of Education pursuant to Chapter 43 of the Statutes of 2011 shall be redirected to supplement foster care, child welfare services, or adoptions program expenditures. These savings amounts, as defined in subdivision (c), shall not supplant other foster care, child welfare services, or adoptions program expenditures for the 2011–12 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter. No county shall be required to redirect funding to foster care, child welfare services, or adoptions programs, or any combination of those programs or services, in an amount greater than the amount of the offsetting savings the county achieved as a result of the shift of residential placement costs. It is the intent of the Legislature that the requirements of this section shall result in no net costs to any county.
(c) The amount of savings that each county is responsible for maintaining within the foster care, child welfare services, or adoptions programs as defined in subdivision (a) will be calculated by the State Department of Social Services, in conjunction with the Department of Finance and the County Welfare Directors Association, using the average total annual amount each county spent on the county share of residential placement costs for seriously emotionally disturbed youth pursuant to Assembly Bill 3632 (Chapter 1747 of the Statutes of 1984) in the 2007–08, 2008–09, and 2009–10 fiscal years.
(d) This act is not intended to limit or restrict savings realized by counties from other caseload decreases or other decreases in costs for the foster care, child welfare services, or adoptions programs.
(e) This section shall not be construed to create an obligation for any county that previously opted to spend greater than the amount necessary to fully match its base allocation of General Fund moneys for child welfare services and adoptions in a given fiscal year to continue such an overmatch.
(Repealed and added by Stats. 2012, Ch. 40, Sec. 22. (SB 1020) Effective June 27, 2012.)