HB 1325 2003
1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to independent living transition services;
3	amending s. 409.1451, F.S.; requiring each Department of
4	Children and Family Services district to identify
5	adolescent foster children with developmental disabilities
6	or special mental health needs; requiring assignment to an
7	independent living counselor and providing counselor
8	duties; revising eligibility requirements for independent
9	living transition services, participation in the Road-to-
10	Independence Scholarship Program, and transitional support
11	services; authorizing Medicaid coverage to youth eligible
12	for transitional support services; providing an effective
13	date.
14
15	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
16
17	Section 1. Subsection (1), paragraph (a) of subsection
18	(2), subsection (4), and paragraphs (b) and (c) of subsection
19	(5) of section 409.1451, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
20	409.1451 Independent living transition services.--
21	(1) SYSTEM OF SERVICES.--
22	(a) The Department of Children and Family Services or its
23	agents shall administer a system of independent living
24	transition services to enable older children in foster care and
25	young adults who exit foster care at age 18 to make the
26	transition to self-sufficiency as adults.
27	(b) The goals of independent living transition services
28	are to assist older children in foster care and young adults who
29	were formerly in foster care to obtain life skills and education
30	for independent living and employment, to have a quality of life
31	appropriate for their age, and to assume personal responsibility
32	for becoming self-sufficient adults.
33	(c) Each Department of Children and Family Services
34	district shall identify adolescent foster children with
35	developmental disabilities or special mental health needs and
36	assign to them a department independent living counselor
37	specially trained in working with this population of children.
38	It shall be the specific responsibility of the counselor to work
39	with these foster youth to help them make the transition to
40	self-sufficiency as adults and to ensure that these children are
41	provided with reasonable accommodations for their disabilities.
42	The counselor must assist the youth with accessing support and
43	funding from other sources, such as the department’s
44	Developmental Disabilities Office and the department’s Mental
45	Health Office. The counselor must coordinate the department’s
46	independent living plan for a child with the school’s individual
47	education plan for a child who is in a special education
48	program. The counselor must begin working with an eligible child
49	at least 1 year prior to the child turning 18 years of age, with
50	special attention paid to 17-year-old foster children residing
51	at children’s residential treatment facilities who face a
52	particularly difficult transition to living as adults in the
53	community.
54	(d)(c)State funds for foster care or federal funds shall
55	be used to establish a continuum of services for eligible
56	children in foster care and eligible young adults who were
57	formerly in foster care which accomplish the goals for the
58	independent living transition services and provide the service
59	components for services for foster children, as provided in
60	subsection (3), and services for young adults who were formerly
61	in foster care, as provided in subsection (5).
62	(e)(d)For children in foster care, independent living
63	transition services are not an alternative to adoption.
64	Independent living transition services may occur concurrently
65	with continued efforts to locate and achieve placement in
66	adoptive families for older children in foster care.
67	(2) ELIGIBILITY.--
68	(a) The department shall serve children who are 13 to 18
69	years of age or who are 18 to 23 years of age and are in high
70	school as a special education student, in a high school
71	equivalency diploma program pursuant to s. 1003.435, or in an
72	adult education program pursuant to s. 1004.93and who are in
73	foster care through the program component of services for foster
74	children provided in subsection (3). Children to be served must
75	meet the eligibility requirements set forth for specific
76	services as provided in this section and through department
77	rule.
78	(4) PARTICIPATION IN LIFE SKILLS ACTIVITIES.--In order to
79	assist older children in foster care, ages 13 to 18 years of age
80	or who are 18 to 23 year of age and are enrolled in high school
81	as a special education student, in a high school equivalency
82	diploma program pursuant to s. 1003.435, or in an adult
83	education program pursuant to s. 1004.93, with the transition to
84	independent living as adults, the program must provide them with
85	opportunities to participate in and learn from life skills
86	activities in their foster families and communities which are
87	reasonable and appropriate for their age. Such activities may
88	include, but are not limited to, managing money earned from a
89	job, taking driver's education, and participating in after-
90	school or extracurricular activities. To support these
91	opportunities for participation in age-appropriate life skills
92	activities, the department may:
93	(a) Develop, with children in the program and their foster
94	parents, a list of age-appropriate activities and
95	responsibilities to be presented to all children involved in
96	independent living transition services and their foster parents.
97	(b) Provide training for staff and foster parents which
98	addresses issues of older children in foster care and the
99	transition to adulthood, including supporting education and
100	employment and providing opportunities to participate in
101	appropriate daily activities.
102	(c) Develop procedures to maximize the authority of foster
103	parents to approve participation in age-appropriate activities
104	of children in their care.
105	(d) Provide opportunities for older children in foster
106	care to interact with mentors.
107	(e) Develop and implement procedures for older children to
108	directly access and manage the personal allowance they receive
109	from the department in order to learn responsibility and
110	participate in age-appropriate life skills activities to the
111	extent feasible.
112	(5) PROGRAM COMPONENT OF SERVICES FOR YOUNG ADULTS
113	FORMERLY IN FOSTER CARE.--Based on the availability of funds,
114	the department shall provide or arrange for the following
115	services to young adults formerly in foster care who meet the
116	prescribed conditions and are determined eligible by the
117	department. The categories of services available to assist a
118	young adult formerly in foster care to achieve independence are:
119	(b) Road-to-Independence Scholarship Program.--
120	1. The Road-to-Independence Scholarship Program is
121	intended to help eligible students who are former foster
122	children in this state to receive the educational and vocational
123	training needed to achieve independence. The amount of the award
124	shall equal the earnings that the student would have been
125	eligible to earn working a 40-hour-a-week federal minimum wage
126	job, after considering other grants and scholarships that are in
127	excess of the educational institutions' fees and costs, and
128	contingent upon available funds. Students eligible for the Road-
129	to-Independence Scholarship Program may also be eligible for
130	educational fee waivers for workforce development postsecondary
131	programs, community colleges, and universities, pursuant to s.
132	1009.25(2)(c).
133	2. A young adult 18 to 2321years of age is eligible for
134	the initial award, and a young adult under 23 years of age is
135	eligiblefor renewal awards, if he or she:
136	a. Is a dependent child, pursuant to chapter 39, and has
137	livedis livingin licensed foster care or in subsidized
138	independent living within 6 monthsat the timeof his or her
139	18th birthday;
140	b. Has spent at least 6 months living in foster care
141	before reaching his or her 18th birthday;
142	c. Is a resident of this state as defined in s. 1009.40;
143	and
144	d. Meets one of the following qualifications:
145	(I) Has earned a standard high school diploma or its
146	equivalent as described in s. 1003.425 or s. 1003.43, and has
147	been admitted for full-time enrollment in an eligible
148	postsecondary education institution as defined in s. 1009.533;
149	(II) Is enrolled full time in an accredited high school,
150	is within 2 years of graduation, and has maintained a grade
151	point average of at least 2.0 on a scale of 4.0 for the two
152	semesters preceding the date of his or her 18th birthday or, in
153	the case of a student in a special education program in an
154	accredited high school, has met the minimum grade point average
155	required by that program to graduate; or
156	(III) Is enrolled full time in an accredited adult
157	education program or high school equivalency diploma program
158	designed to provide the student with a high school diploma or
159	its equivalent, is making satisfactory progress in that program
160	as certified by the program, and is within 2 years of attaining
161	a high school diploma or its equivalentgraduation.
162	3.a. The department must advertise the availability of the
163	program and must ensure that the children and young adults
164	leaving foster care, foster parents, or family services
165	counselors are informed of the availability of the program and
166	the application procedures.
167	b. A young adult must apply for the initial award during
168	the 6 months immediately preceding his or her 18th birthday. A
169	young adult who fails to make an initial application, but who
170	otherwise meets the criteria for an initial award, may make one
171	application for the initial award if such application is made
172	before the young adult's 21st birthday.
173	c. If funding for the program is available, the department
174	shall issue awards from the scholarship program for each young
175	adult who meets all the requirements of the program.
176	d. An award shall be issued at the time the eligible
177	student reaches 18 years of age.
178	e. If the award recipient transfers from one eligible
179	institution to another and continues to meet eligibility
180	requirements, the award must be transferred with the recipient.
181	f. Scholarship funds awarded to any eligible young adult
182	under this program are in addition to any other services
183	provided to the young adult by the department through its
184	independent living transition services.
185	g. The department shall provide information concerning
186	young adults receiving the Road-to-Independence Scholarship to
187	the Department of Education for inclusion in the student
188	financial assistance database, as provided in s. 1009.94.
189	h. Scholarship funds shall be terminated when the young
190	adult has attained a bachelor of arts or bachelor of science
191	degree, or equivalent undergraduate degree, or reaches 23 years
192	of age, whichever occurs earlier.
193	i. The department shall evaluate and renew each award
194	annually during the 90-day period before the young adult's
195	birthday. In order to be eligible for a renewal award for the
196	subsequent year, the young adult must:
197	(I) Complete at least 12 semester hours or the equivalent
198	in the last academic year in which the young adult earned a
199	scholarship, except for a young adult who meets the requirements
200	of s. 1009.41.
201	(II) Maintain the cumulative grade point average required
202	by the scholarship program, except that, if the young adult's
203	grades are insufficient to renew the scholarship at any time
204	during the eligibility period, the young adult may restore
205	eligibility by improving the grade point average to the required
206	level.
207	j. Scholarship funds may be terminated during the interim
208	between an award and the evaluation for a renewal award if the
209	department determines that the award recipient is no longer
210	enrolled in an educational institution as defined in sub-
211	subparagraph 2.d., or is no longer a state resident. The
212	department shall notify a student who is terminated and inform
213	the student of his or her right to appeal.
214	k. An award recipient who does not qualify for a renewal
215	award or who chooses not to renew the award may subsequently
216	apply for reinstatement. An application for reinstatement must
217	be made before the young adult reaches 23 years of age, and a
218	student may not apply for reinstatement more than once. In order
219	to be eligible for reinstatement, the young adult must meet the
220	eligibility criteria and the criteria for award renewal for the
221	scholarship program.
222	l. A young adult receiving continued services of the
223	foster care program under former s. 409.145(3) must transfer to
224	the scholarship program by July 1, 2003.
225	(c) Transitional support services.--
226	1. In addition to any services provided through after care
227	support or the Road-to-Independence Scholarship, a young adult
228	formerly in foster care, may receive other appropriate short-
229	term services, which may include financial, housing, counseling,
230	employment, education and other services, if the young adult
231	demonstrates that the services are critical to the young adult's
232	own efforts to achieve self-sufficiency and to develop a
233	personal support system.
234	2. A young adult formerly in foster care is eligible to
235	apply for transitional support services if he or she is 18 to 23
236	years of age, was a dependent child pursuant to chapter 39, was
237	living in licensed foster care or in subsidized independent
238	living within 6 monthsat the timeof his or her 18th birthday,
239	and had spent at least 6 months living in foster care before
240	that date.
241	3. A young adult formerly in foster care who is eligible
242	for transitional support services pursuant to this subsection is
243	also eligible to receive Medicaid coverage through age 23.
244	4.3.If at any time the services are no longer critical to
245	the young adult's own efforts to achieve self-sufficiency and to
246	develop a personal support system, they shall be terminated.
247	Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2003.