10/13/07 7:40 PDT

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill that provides a safety net for severely disabled foster care youth before they leave state care.

Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, authored the bill, AB 1331.

Evans said the bill requires county welfare agencies to screen all foster youth between 16 1/2 and 17 1/2 for a mental or physical disability and help them apply for Supplemental Security Income that provides a monthly benefit.

The goal is to have SSI in place before foster children are emancipated from the system, Evans said.

"We cannot abandon foster youth transitioning into adulthood, especially those living with disabilities," Evans said. "Now we can assure that disabled foster youth receive the assistance already available to them."

Evans' bill allows foster youth with pending SSI applications to remain in foster care past their 18th birthday until the applications are processed.

Evans said an estimated 15 percent of foster youth live with a serious mental or physical disability and that each year 4,000 of the 80,000 foster care youth in the state's system age out of the system.

Sixty-five percent of them leave state care without a place to live and 51 percent are unemployed, Evans said.

"Without these (SSI) benefits, disabled foster youth are at significantly greater risk for homelessness, unemployment and chronic physical and mental health problems," Evans said.

The federal monthly SSI grant for an individual is $623 and it triggers a State Supplemental Payment of $223 for a total of $856 a month, Evans said.