California lawmakers weigh extending foster care through age 21.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A group of bipartisan California legislators vowed to be better parents to the state's foster youths, pledging to extend their life-sustaining benefits through age 21 rather than casting them off as teenagers.

Currently, most youths "aging out" of foster care are bounced off state support at 18, a tender age for a vulnerable population that often has nowhere to go and no one to rely on. But an Assembly bill written by Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, and Assemblyman Jim Beall, D-San Jose, would draw on newly available federal funds to support relative caregivers and transitional living programs for youths through age 21.

Former foster youths who gathered in the state capitol on a recent Monday in support of the bill described their loneliness and desperation as they entered the adult world with no money, no job, nowhere to live and, in many cases, no family or stable adults to rely on.

Many, if not most, foster youths depart from group homes or foster families with only a list of referrals and a bag full of their stuff. A lucky few may find an apartment in a transitional housing program or get help applying for welfare benefits.

The foster care extension, if passed, would be optional for foster youths; not all are expected to choose to remain in care for the entire three years. According to figures released, each foster youth would require approximately $13,000 from the federal government each year, and roughly $25,000 from the state and counties. But those care-giving costs that now come out of state and county budgets could be offset with the new federal money.

The bill appears to be drawing widespread support. Bass and Beall were joined in a news conference by Senate President Pro Tern Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento; California Health and Human Services Agency Secretary Kim Belshe and state Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno. Republican legislators also voiced support, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger lauded the benefits extension that could begin October 2010.