Quinn Covarrubias

05/16/2026

It was a beautiful day in San Juan Capistrano today

04/10/2026

02/23/2026

HOMER SIMPSON is in ROSEVILLE!
February 21st, 2026

12/27/2025

12/24/2025

Wishing everyone a joyful Christmas!

11/30/2025

Before we turn the page on the calendar and National Adoption Awareness Month ends, we wanted to report on another successful adoption assistance case we handled in 2025. We filed a request for a state hearing on behalf of a family whose application for AAP benefits was denied. Under California law, the county who is financially responsible for paying AAP benefits is the county where the parent relinquishing the child for adoption resides. The county where the adoptive parents reside is responsible for determining eligibility for AAP benefits and preparing the necessary paperwork. In our case, after a lengthy wait, the adoptive family was informed by their county of residence that their AAP application had been approved. Our clients were not aware that the county had made numerous clerical mistakes in completing the required AAP paperwork. Part of the required paperwork is an AAP agreement, which under state law must be executed prior to the finalization of the child’s adoption. After the AAP agreement was signed, the child’s adoption was finalized. The county later corrected its paperwork errors, but the financially responsible county denied AAP benefits because the corrected forms were not completed until after the adoption was finalized. We argued that the AAP agreement signed by the county and the family prior to the adoption finalization met the legal requirements, but alternatively, that principles of equity required the decision to deny AAP benefits be set aside. The administrative law judge ruled in our clients’ favor, agreeing that the AAP agreement met the requirements of the statute and that the paperwork errors were not dispositive on the issue of whether the child was eligible for state AAP benefits. The county was ordered to rescind its notice of action denying AAP benefits and issue a new notice, authorizing the benefits. The AAP process can be daunting for adoptive families. It was unacceptable that, after such a lengthy process, our clients were denied benefits for reasons beyond their control. We are pleased to have assisted another adoptive family in navigating the appeal process and securing the benefits their daughter needed.