Resources for Youth During the COVID-19 Pandemic
About Youth Justice at BayLegal
The Youth Justice Project gives legal advice and represents young people between the ages of 14 to 25 for FREE. We keep everything you tell us CONFIDENTIAL unless we get your permission to share certain information.
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How to Contact Us
- Youth Legal Hotline: (510) 250-5277
- Leave a message ANYTIME with your name and a callback number. We are working remotely for clients during the COVID-19 shelter in place.
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Please call if you are a young person who has questions about:
- Homelessness: if you are experiencing homelessness or do not have a safe place to live
- Foster Care: if you want help getting into foster care or getting AB 12 benefits (extended foster care)
- Guardianship: if you need help making someone your guardian
- Medical: if you need access to medical or mental health benefits
- School: if you want help with school (enrollment, discipline, special education)
- Public Benefits: if you were denied public benefits like CalFresh (food stamps) or General Assistance (cash aid)
- Have questions about immigration, restraining orders, and record sealing? When in doubt, please give us a call.
Resources for Foster Youth and Former Foster Youth
- Child welfare hotline and emergency response are essential government functions and should not be limited due to COVID-19. Child welfare agencies are still required to respond within the same timelines.
- Child welfare and probation agencies are still obligated to make sure that foster youth are continuing to receive services and appropriate placements, including emergency placements. Monthly visits must still happen, but can be done by phone or video.
- Child welfare and probation workers must also take additional precautions to maintain safe and healthy conditions for them and the families they work with.
- Certain requirements for Resource Family Approval relating to interviews, bedroom sharing, and training have been made flexible due to COVID-19.
- Counties are also temporarily allowed to make emergency placements with community families who have not yet been approved but have been identified as a potential placement.
- See https://www.cdss.ca.gov/#covid19 for the latest updates from the State.
- The State is temporarily extending Extended Foster Care through June 30, 2020 for non-minor dependents (foster youth who are on AB 12) who would otherwise age out on their 21st birthday. A non-minor dependent’s social worker or probation officer should also be flexible about the eligibility criteria for AB 12,given that some things like work, college, and certain programs may be unavailable due to COVID-19. If a young person cannot meet the eligibility criteria for AB 12 during this time, the social worker or probation officer have to document the reasons, but extended foster care will still continue through June 30, 2020.
- Former foster youth between the ages of 18 and 21 who are eligible can “re-enter” Extended Foster Care (AB 12) by signing Mutual Agreements with their county. Services and housing placements must begin as soon as the agreement is assigned, and youth do not have to wait for a court hearing.
- Counties are still obligated to make sure AB 12 youth have appropriate housing placements.
- Forms like Mutual Agreements and Transitional Independent Living Plans and others can be done without face-to-face contact.
- If you are on AB 12 and are being discharged from your Transitional Housing Program, please call Bay Area Legal Aid’s Youth Justice Project at (510) 250-5277 and leave a message, or reach out to the California Department of Social Services Foster Care Ombudsman.
- THP-Plus programs provide transitional housing and supportive services for former foster youth between the ages of 18 and 24, and sometimes up to age 25, depending on the county. As of yet, the State has not issued specific guidance on how counties should be handling THP-Plus during COVID-19.
- To see recommendations for what your county could be doing, please see “Six Immediate Steps Counties Can Take to Ensure Housing Stability and Maximize Participation in Transitional Housing Program-Plus (THP-Plus) During COVID-19.”
- Emergency Planning for Youth in Extended Foster Care from YLC https://ylc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Emergency-Plan-with-TAY-in-Foster-Care_YLC.pdf
- Access to Laptops, Cell Phones, Storage, Internet, Work Study, and Housing Help from John Burton Advocates for Youth https://www.jbaforyouth.org/covid-19-resources/
- Mutual Aid, Housing Help, Laptops, Cell Phones Storage, Internet, and More from CYC https://docs.google.com/document/u/1/d/1-1D6tMJG0sUrcc94YUmHa-w3k3dxiHezgscm221X41Y/mobilebasic?urp=gmail_link
- Bay Area Legal Aid’s Youth Justice Project About Loss of Transitional Housing (510) 250-5277
Education
The California Department of Education continues to offer guidance to school districts throughout the state, but it is largely up to each school district to decide how it will implement distance learning. Find out directly from your school district how it is handling things like grades, credits, special education, and discipline at this time.
- See the California Department of Education’s guidance on distance learning, school meals, special education, mental health, and more.
- If you are a young person with special education (or an Individualized Education Program “IEP”), see the Alliance for Children’s Rights tips on how to request meetings, keep track of services, and more. Keep logs of the services you are receiving in case you need to request additional services in the next school year to stay on track with your education. You can find these and more at the Alliance for Children’s Rights COVID-19 page, under Education.
- The National Center for Youth Law and other partner organizations have compiled examples of distance learning plans and policies from around the state at https://youthlaw.org/caplans/. Education advocates from around the Bay Area, including Bay Area Legal Aid, sent letters to County Offices of Education with recommendations for how to make distance learning work for youth and their families.
- See Bay Area Legal Aid’s Legal Information Videos on Distance Learning, Special Education, and Discipline during COVID-19 School Closures
- See WCCUSD’s FAQs:
- Access free meals:
- Internet access:
- Students with disabilities:
- Students with disabilities must have equitable access to education. This includes getting accommodations to distance learning getting services by phone or video whenever possible. Schools must also do their best to follow IEP timelines.
- https://bit.ly/CDESpEd
- See OUSD’s FAQs:
- Access free meals:
- Internet access:
- Students with disabilities:
- Students with disabilities must have equitable access to education. This includes getting accommodations to distance learning getting services by phone or video whenever possible. Schools must also do their best to follow IEP timelines.
- https://bit.ly/CDESpEd
Mental Health and Medical Access
- Young people should still have access to mental health care, including by phone and video, and prescription medications during COVID-19.
- Individuals with a Medi-Cal Managed Health Care Plans will not be required to pay for COVID-19 testing.
- Most Plans cannot delay or cancel your medical treatments if it will harm your health, and many visits can be done by phone or video.
- If you are having trouble getting access to or getting coverage for certain services, please call our Health Consumer Center at (855) 693-7285.
- Alameda Mental Health Access:
- (800) 491-9099
- http://www.acbhcs.org/providers/Access/access.htm
- Rape and Sexual Violence Hotline:
- (510) 845-7273
- https://www.bawar.org/
- Youth Crisis Line:
- (800) 843-5200
- https://calyouth.org/cycl/
- Bay Area Legal Aid’s Health Consumer Center (for problems with Medi-Cal or other insurance):
- Contra Costa Mental Health Access:
- (888) 678-7277
- https://cchealth.org/bhs/access-services.php
- Rape and Sexual Violence Hotline:
- (510) 845-7273
- https://www.bawar.org/
- Youth Crisis Line:
- (800) 843-5200
- https://calyouth.org/cycl/
- Bay Area Legal Aid’s Health Consumer Center (for problems with Medi-Cal or other insurance):
- Santa Clara Mental Health Access:
- (800) 704-0900
- http://www.sccgov.org/sites/bhd/Pages/home.aspx
- Rape and Sexual Violence Hotline:
- (510) 845-7273
- https://www.bawar.org/
- Youth Crisis Line:
- (800) 843-5200
- https://calyouth.org/cycl/
- Bay Area Legal Aid’s Health Consumer Center (for problems with Medi-Cal or other insurance):
- (855) 693-7285
- https://baylegal.org/what-we-do/health-care/health-care-access/
General Resources At-a-Glance
- Food Access
- http://www.cafoodbanks.org/find-food-bank
- Due to the Coronavirus pandemic emergency, children who are eligible for free or reduced-price school meals, including foster youth, will receive food benefits. These food benefits are called Pandemic EBT or ‘P-EBT’ benefits. P-EBT benefits help caregivers of foster youth buy food while schools are closed. Read more here.
- Public Benefits
- Evictions
- Rental Assistance
- Call Bay Area Legal Aid for information on rental assistance programs near you: (800) 551-5554
- CARES Act Payments
- Unemployment, Disability Insurance, and Paid Family Leave
- Disaster Relief Assistance for Immigrants
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Individuals who are 18 years old, are undocumented, and aren’t eligible for other types of benefits can apply for California Disaster Relief Assistance for Immigrants. If you are in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, or Santa Clara, contact Catholic Charities. Please be prepared for long wait times.
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