WATCH: Lawmakers discuss budget's impact on foster youths

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(The Center Square) – As the impacts of federal budget cuts continue to be felt on the West Coast, California lawmakers heard from state officials and academic researchers about how the loss of federal dollars impacts foster children.

“These are literally our children,” said Assemblymember Corey Jackson, the Moreno Valley Democrat who is chair of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Human Services, at the beginning of the budget hearing Wednesday. “In California, we have made real progress for these individuals, but we have many miles to go. Our work is not done until we can say that we are putting these young people on a pathway to thrive.”

Budgetary impacts of the federal government’s funding bill, often referred to as the “One Big Beautiful Bill” or H.R. 1, passed with Congressional approval in July 2025 and was signed into law by President Donald Trump. The federal budget cut billions in funding for California’s social services programs.

A loss of federal taxpayer dollars to programs like Medicaid, known as Medi-Cal in California, and food assistance impacted the ability of millions of people in California to get adequate health care and food stamps, now called the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program or SNAP benefits. Food assistance is known as CalFresh in California.

Foster kids are among the groups in California most impacted by those cuts, people who testified on Wednesday told members of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee.

“In terms of the potential impacts of the federal H.R. 1 cuts, those cuts to CalFresh and Medi-Cal will increase hardship for families already facing significant challenges,” Angie Schwartz, deputy director of the California Child and Family Services Division, testified during the hearing. 

Roughly 5.5 million Californians rely on CalFresh benefits, Schwartz testified, and expanded work requirements will make many of those people face the loss of those benefits. Some of those include former foster youth who are no longer minors – a group that was previously exempted from work requirements to access CalFresh.

Those federal budget cuts could cost California’s taxpayers $2.3 billion to $5.1 billion a year, and risks putting an estimated 3 million households in the state in jeopardy of losing food assistance, according to the Sacramento-based California Budget & Policy Center.

“This is especially concerning, given that roughly 30% of transition-aged foster youth already experience food insecurity,” Schwartz testified.

According to the California Department of Social Services, those between 18 and 64 who are not disabled and don’t have dependents under age 14 have to demonstrate that they are working or in a job training program for at least 20 hours a week to get food assistance from CalFresh for longer than three months in a three-year period. A 2010 law allows foster youth between ages 18 and 21 to continue to stay in foster care, according to the Santa Barbara County Department of Social Services and the California Department of Social Services.

“I think we need to do a lot to make sure they transition into adult life,” Assemblymember David Tangipa, R-Fresno, told The Center Square. “We should have that social safety net that is able to catch people when they are struggling the most, but these work requirements are not overly burdensome.”

Tangipa, who received CalFresh benefits with his family when he was growing up, said there are additional benefits for transition-aged foster youth when they are still in school.

“It’s not losing benefits. It's simply adding work requirements, so that way, they’re productive members of society as they make their transition into true adulthood,” Tangipa said.