HB 1325 2003
1	CHAMBER ACTION
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6	The Committee on Future of Florida's Families recommends the
7	following:
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9	Committee Substitute
10	Remove the entire bill and insert:
11	A bill to be entitled
12	An act relating to independent living transition services;
13	amending s. 409.1451, F.S.; requiring each Department of
14	Children and Family Services district to identify
15	adolescent foster children with developmental disabilities
16	or special mental health needs and to assist such youth in
17	the transition to self-sufficiency; revising eligibility
18	requirements for independent living transition services,
19	participation in the Road-to-Independence Scholarship
20	Program, and transitional support services; authorizing
21	Medicaid coverage to youth eligible for transitional
22	support services; providing an effective date.
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24	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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26	Section 1. Subsection (1), paragraph (a) of subsection
27	(2), subsection (4), and paragraphs (b) and (c) of subsection
28	(5) of section 409.1451, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
29	409.1451 Independent living transition services.--
30	(1) SYSTEM OF SERVICES.--
31	(a) The Department of Children and Family Services or its
32	agents shall administer a system of independent living
33	transition services to enable older children in foster care and
34	young adults who exit foster care at age 18 to make the
35	transition to self-sufficiency as adults.
36	(b) The goals of independent living transition services
37	are to assist older children in foster care and young adults who
38	were formerly in foster care to obtain life skills and education
39	for independent living and employment, to have a quality of life
40	appropriate for their age, and to assume personal responsibility
41	for becoming self-sufficient adults.
42	(c) Each Department of Children and Family Services
43	district shall identify adolescent foster youth with
44	developmental disabilities or special mental health needs. The
45	department shall work with these foster youth to help them make
46	the transition to self-sufficiency and shall assist the youth
47	and young adults with reasonable accommodations for their
48	disabilities. The department shall assist the youth with
49	accessing support and funding from other sources, such as the
50	department’s Developmental Disabilities Office and the
51	department’s Mental Health Office. The department shall
52	coordinate the independent living plan for a youth with the
53	school’s individual education plan for a child who is in a
54	special education program. The department shall give special
55	attention to 17-year-old foster children residing at residential
56	treatment facilities, therapeutic foster homes, or other mental
57	health placements who face a particularly difficult transition
58	to living as adults in the community.
59	(d)(c)State funds for foster care or federal funds shall
60	be used to establish a continuum of services for eligible
61	children in foster care and eligible young adults who were
62	formerly in foster care which accomplish the goals for the
63	independent living transition services and provide the service
64	components for services for foster children, as provided in
65	subsection (3), and services for young adults who were formerly
66	in foster care, as provided in subsection (5).
67	(e)(d)For children in foster care, independent living
68	transition services are not an alternative to adoption.
69	Independent living transition services may occur concurrently
70	with continued efforts to locate and achieve placement in
71	adoptive families for older children in foster care.
72	(2) ELIGIBILITY.--
73	(a) The department shall serve children who are 13 to 18
74	years of age and who are in foster care through the program
75	component of services for foster children provided in subsection
76	(3). The department shall also serve former foster youth who are
77	18 to 23 years of age and are in high school as a special
78	education student, in a high school equivalency diploma program
79	pursuant to s. 1003.435, or in an adult education program
80	pursuant to s. 1004.93, through the program component of
81	services for foster children provided in subsection (3).
82	Children to be served must meet the eligibility requirements set
83	forth for specific services as provided in this section and
84	through department rule.
85	(4) PARTICIPATION IN LIFE SKILLS ACTIVITIES.--In order to
86	assist older children in foster care, ages 13 to 18 years of
87	age, and former foster youth with disabilities, with the
88	transition to independent living as adults, the program must
89	provide them with opportunities to participate in and learn from
90	life skills activities in their foster families and communities
91	which are reasonable and appropriate for their age. Such
92	activities may include, but are not limited to, managing money
93	earned from a job, taking driver's education, and participating
94	in after-school or extracurricular activities. To support these
95	opportunities for participation in age-appropriate life skills
96	activities, the department may:
97	(a) Develop, with children in the program and their foster
98	parents, a list of age-appropriate activities and
99	responsibilities to be presented to all children involved in
100	independent living transition services and their foster parents.
101	(b) Provide training for staff and foster parents which
102	addresses issues of older children in foster care and the
103	transition to adulthood, including supporting education and
104	employment and providing opportunities to participate in
105	appropriate daily activities.
106	(c) Develop procedures to maximize the authority of foster
107	parents to approve participation in age-appropriate activities
108	of children in their care.
109	(d) Provide opportunities for older children in foster
110	care to interact with mentors.
111	(e) Develop and implement procedures for older children to
112	directly access and manage the personal allowance they receive
113	from the department in order to learn responsibility and
114	participate in age-appropriate life skills activities to the
115	extent feasible.
116	(5) PROGRAM COMPONENT OF SERVICES FOR YOUNG ADULTS
117	FORMERLY IN FOSTER CARE.--Based on the availability of funds,
118	the department shall provide or arrange for the following
119	services to young adults formerly in foster care who meet the
120	prescribed conditions and are determined eligible by the
121	department. The categories of services available to assist a
122	young adult formerly in foster care to achieve independence are:
123	(b) Road-to-Independence Scholarship Program.--
124	1. The Road-to-Independence Scholarship Program is
125	intended to help eligible students who are former foster
126	children in this state to receive the educational and vocational
127	training needed to achieve independence. The amount of the award
128	shall equal the earnings that the student would have been
129	eligible to earn working a 40-hour-a-week federal minimum wage
130	job, after considering other grants and scholarships that are in
131	excess of the educational institutions' fees and costs, and
132	contingent upon available funds. Students eligible for the Road-
133	to-Independence Scholarship Program may also be eligible for
134	educational fee waivers for workforce development postsecondary
135	programs, community colleges, and universities, pursuant to s.
136	1009.25(2)(c).
137	2. A young adult 18 to 2321years of age is eligible for
138	the initial award, and a young adult under 23 years of age is
139	eligiblefor renewal awards, if he or she:
140	a. Is a dependent child, pursuant to chapter 39, and has
141	livedis livingin licensed foster care or in subsidized
142	independent living within 6 monthsat the timeof his or her
143	18th birthday;
144	b. Has spent at least 6 months living in foster care
145	before reaching his or her 18th birthday;
146	c. Is a resident of this state as defined in s. 1009.40;
147	and
148	d. Meets one of the following qualifications:
149	(I) Has earned a standard high school diploma or its
150	equivalent as described in s. 1003.425 or s. 1003.43, and has
151	been admitted for full-time enrollment in an eligible
152	postsecondary education institution as defined in s. 1009.533;
153	(II) Is enrolled full time in an accredited high school,
154	is within 2 years of graduation, and has maintained a grade
155	point average of at least 2.0 on a scale of 4.0 for the two
156	semesters preceding the date of his or her 18th birthday or, in
157	the case of a student in a special education program in an
158	accredited high school, has met the minimum grade point average
159	required by that program to graduate; or
160	(III) Is enrolled full time in an accredited adult
161	education program or high school equivalency diploma program
162	designed to provide the student with a high school diploma or
163	its equivalent, is making satisfactory progress in that program
164	as certified by the program, and is within 2 years of attaining
165	a high school diploma or its equivalentgraduation.
166	3.a. The department must advertise the availability of the
167	program and must ensure that the children and young adults
168	leaving foster care, foster parents, or family services
169	counselors are informed of the availability of the program and
170	the application procedures.
171	b. A young adult must apply for the initial award during
172	the 6 months immediately preceding his or her 18th birthday. A
173	young adult who fails to make an initial application, but who
174	otherwise meets the criteria for an initial award, may make one
175	application for the initial award if such application is made
176	before the young adult's 21st birthday.
177	c. If funding for the program is available, the department
178	shall issue awards from the scholarship program for each young
179	adult who meets all the requirements of the program.
180	d. An award shall be issued at the time the eligible
181	student reaches 18 years of age.
182	e. If the award recipient transfers from one eligible
183	institution to another and continues to meet eligibility
184	requirements, the award must be transferred with the recipient.
185	f. Scholarship funds awarded to any eligible young adult
186	under this program are in addition to any other services
187	provided to the young adult by the department through its
188	independent living transition services.
189	g. The department shall provide information concerning
190	young adults receiving the Road-to-Independence Scholarship to
191	the Department of Education for inclusion in the student
192	financial assistance database, as provided in s. 1009.94.
193	h. Scholarship funds shall be terminated when the young
194	adult has attained a bachelor of arts or bachelor of science
195	degree, or equivalent undergraduate degree, or reaches 23 years
196	of age, whichever occurs earlier.
197	i. The department shall evaluate and renew each award
198	annually during the 90-day period before the young adult's
199	birthday. In order to be eligible for a renewal award for the
200	subsequent year, the young adult must:
201	(I) Complete at least 12 semester hours or the equivalent
202	in the last academic year in which the young adult earned a
203	scholarship, except for a young adult who meets the requirements
204	of s. 1009.41.
205	(II) Maintain the cumulative grade point average required
206	by the scholarship program, except that, if the young adult's
207	grades are insufficient to renew the scholarship at any time
208	during the eligibility period, the young adult may restore
209	eligibility by improving the grade point average to the required
210	level.
211	j. Scholarship funds may be terminated during the interim
212	between an award and the evaluation for a renewal award if the
213	department determines that the award recipient is no longer
214	enrolled in an educational institution as defined in sub-
215	subparagraph 2.d., or is no longer a state resident. The
216	department shall notify a student who is terminated and inform
217	the student of his or her right to appeal.
218	k. An award recipient who does not qualify for a renewal
219	award or who chooses not to renew the award may subsequently
220	apply for reinstatement. An application for reinstatement must
221	be made before the young adult reaches 23 years of age, and a
222	student may not apply for reinstatement more than once. In order
223	to be eligible for reinstatement, the young adult must meet the
224	eligibility criteria and the criteria for award renewal for the
225	scholarship program.
226	l. A young adult who is eligible for the Road-to-
227	Independence Scholarship may, in lieu of the scholarship award,
228	choose to remain in foster care and continue to receive the
229	services of the children’s foster care program for as long as
230	the young adult continues to qualify for the Road-to-
231	Independence ScholarshipA young adult receiving continued
232	services of the foster care program under former s. 409.145(3)
233	must transfer to the scholarship program by July 1, 2003.
234	(c) Transitional support services.--
235	1. In addition to any services provided through after care
236	support or the Road-to-Independence Scholarship, a young adult
237	formerly in foster care, may receive other appropriate short-
238	term services, which may include financial, housing, counseling,
239	employment, education and other services, if the young adult
240	demonstrates that the services are critical to the young adult's
241	own efforts to achieve self-sufficiency and to develop a
242	personal support system.
243	2. A young adult formerly in foster care is eligible to
244	apply for transitional support services if he or she is 18 to 23
245	years of age, was a dependent child pursuant to chapter 39, was
246	living in licensed foster care or in subsidized independent
247	living within 6 monthsat the timeof his or her 18th birthday,
248	and had spent at least 6 months living in foster care before
249	that date.
250	3. Based on the availability of funds, a young adult
251	formerly in foster care who is eligible for transitional support
252	services pursuant to this subsection is also eligible to receive
253	Medicaid coverage through age 23.
254	4.3.If at any time the services are no longer critical to
255	the young adult's own efforts to achieve self-sufficiency and to
256	develop a personal support system, they shall be terminated.
257	Section 2. This act shall take effect October 1, 2003.