HB 0069B 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 and to assist such youth in
7	the transition to self-sufficiency; revising eligibility
8	requirements for independent living transition services,
9	participation in the Road-to-Independence Scholarship
10	Program, and transitional support services; authorizing
11	Medicaid coverage to youth eligible for transitional
12	support services; providing for construction of the act in
13	pari materia with laws enacted during the 2003 Regular
14	Session or the 2003 Special Session A of the Legislature;
15	providing an effective date.
16
17	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
18
19	Section 1. Subsection (1), paragraph (a) of subsection
20	(2), subsection (4), and paragraphs (b) and (c) of subsection
21	(5) of section 409.1451, Florida Statutes, as amended by chapter
22	2003-1, Laws of Florida, are amended to read:
23	409.1451 Independent living transition services.--
24	(1) SYSTEM OF SERVICES.--
25	(a) The Department of Children and Family Services or its
26	agents shall administer a system of independent living
27	transition services to enable older children in foster care and
28	young adults who exit foster care at age 18 to make the
29	transition to self-sufficiency as adults.
30	(b) The goals of independent living transition services
31	are to assist older children in foster care and young adults who
32	were formerly in foster care to obtain life skills and education
33	for independent living and employment, to have a quality of life
34	appropriate for their age, and to assume personal responsibility
35	for becoming self-sufficient adults.
36	(c) Each Department of Children and Family Services
37	district shall identify adolescent foster youth with
38	developmental disabilities or special mental health needs. The
39	department shall work with these foster youth to help them make
40	the transition to self-sufficiency and shall assist the youth
41	and young adults with reasonable accommodations for their
42	disabilities. The department shall assist the youth with
43	accessing support and funding from other sources, such as the
44	department’s Developmental Disabilities Office and the
45	department’s Mental Health Office. The department shall
46	coordinate the independent living plan for a youth with the
47	school’s individual education plan for a child who is in a
48	special education program. The department shall give special
49	attention to 17-year-old foster children residing at residential
50	treatment facilities, therapeutic foster homes, or other mental
51	health placements who face a particularly difficult transition
52	to living as adults in the community.
53	(d)(c)State funds for foster care or federal funds shall
54	be used to establish a continuum of services for eligible
55	children in foster care and eligible young adults who were
56	formerly in foster care which accomplish the goals for the
57	independent living transition services and provide the service
58	components for services for foster children, as provided in
59	subsection (3), and services for young adults who were formerly
60	in foster care, as provided in subsection (5).
61	(e)(d)For children in foster care, independent living
62	transition services are not an alternative to adoption.
63	Independent living transition services may occur concurrently
64	with continued efforts to locate and achieve placement in
65	adoptive families for older children in foster care.
66	(2) ELIGIBILITY.--
67	(a) The department shall serve children who are 13 to 18
68	years of age and who are in foster care through the program
69	component of services for foster children provided in subsection
70	(3). The department shall also serve former foster youth who are
71	18 to 23 years of age and are in high school as a special
72	education student, in a high school equivalency diploma program
73	pursuant to s. 1003.435, or in an adult education program
74	pursuant to s. 1004.93, through the program component of
75	services for foster children provided in subsection (3).
76	Children to be served must meet the eligibility requirements set
77	forth for specific services as provided in this section and
78	through department rule.
79	(4) PARTICIPATION IN LIFE SKILLS ACTIVITIES.--In order to
80	assist older children in foster care, ages 13 to 18 years of
81	age, and former foster youth with disabilities, with the
82	transition to independent living as adults, the program must
83	provide them with opportunities to participate in and learn from
84	life skills activities in their foster families and communities
85	which are reasonable and appropriate for their age. Such
86	activities may include, but are not limited to, managing money
87	earned from a job, taking driver's education, and participating
88	in after-school or extracurricular activities. To support these
89	opportunities for participation in age-appropriate life skills
90	activities, the department may:
91	(a) Develop, with children in the program and their foster
92	parents, a list of age-appropriate activities and
93	responsibilities to be presented to all children involved in
94	independent living transition services and their foster parents.
95	(b) Provide training for staff and foster parents which
96	addresses issues of older children in foster care and the
97	transition to adulthood, including supporting education and
98	employment and providing opportunities to participate in
99	appropriate daily activities.
100	(c) Develop procedures to maximize the authority of foster
101	parents to approve participation in age-appropriate activities
102	of children in their care.
103	(d) Provide opportunities for older children in foster
104	care to interact with mentors.
105	(e) Develop and implement procedures for older children to
106	directly access and manage the personal allowance they receive
107	from the department in order to learn responsibility and
108	participate in age-appropriate life skills activities to the
109	extent feasible.
110	(5) PROGRAM COMPONENT OF SERVICES FOR YOUNG ADULTS
111	FORMERLY IN FOSTER CARE.--Based on the availability of funds,
112	the department shall provide or arrange for the following
113	services to young adults formerly in foster care who meet the
114	prescribed conditions and are determined eligible by the
115	department. The categories of services available to assist a
116	young adult formerly in foster care to achieve independence are:
117	(b) Road-to-Independence Scholarship Program.--
118	1. The Road-to-Independence Scholarship Program is
119	intended to help eligible students who are former foster
120	children in this state to receive the educational and vocational
121	training needed to achieve independence. The amount of the award
122	shall equal the earnings that the student would have been
123	eligible to earn working a 40-hour-a-week federal minimum wage
124	job, after considering other grants and scholarships that are in
125	excess of the educational institutions' fees and costs, and
126	contingent upon available funds. Students eligible for the Road-
127	to-Independence Scholarship Program may also be eligible for
128	educational fee waivers for workforce development postsecondary
129	programs, community colleges, and universities, pursuant to s.
130	1009.25(2)(c).
131	2. A young adult 18 to 2321years of age is eligible for
132	the initial award, and a young adult under 23 years of age is
133	eligiblefor renewal awards, if he or she:
134	a. Is a dependent child, pursuant to chapter 39, and has
135	livedis livingin licensed foster care or in subsidized
136	independent living within 6 monthsat the timeof his or her
137	18th birthday;
138	b. Has spent at least 6 months living in foster care
139	before reaching his or her 18th birthday;
140	c. Is a resident of this state as defined in s. 1009.40;
141	and
142	d. Meets one of the following qualifications:
143	(I) Has earned a standard high school diploma or its
144	equivalent as described in s. 1003.43 or s. 1003.435, and has
145	been admitted for full-time enrollment in an eligible
146	postsecondary education institution as defined in s. 1009.533;
147	(II) Is enrolled full time in an accredited high school,
148	is within 2 years of graduation, and has maintained a grade
149	point average of at least 2.0 on a scale of 4.0 for the two
150	semesters preceding the date of his or her 18th birthday or, in
151	the case of a student in a special education program in an
152	accredited high school, has met the minimum grade point average
153	required by that program to graduate; or
154	(III) Is enrolled full time in an accredited adult
155	education program or high school equivalency diploma program
156	designed to provide the student with a high school diploma or
157	its equivalent, is making satisfactory progress in that program
158	as certified by the program, and is within 2 years of attaining
159	a high school diploma or its equivalentgraduation.
160	3.a. The department must advertise the availability of the
161	program and must ensure that the children and young adults
162	leaving foster care, foster parents, or family services
163	counselors are informed of the availability of the program and
164	the application procedures.
165	b. A young adult must apply for the initial award during
166	the 6 months immediately preceding his or her 18th birthday. A
167	young adult who fails to make an initial application, but who
168	otherwise meets the criteria for an initial award, may make one
169	application for the initial award if such application is made
170	before the young adult's 21st birthday.
171	c. If funding for the program is available, the department
172	shall issue awards from the scholarship program for each young
173	adult who meets all the requirements of the program.
174	d. An award shall be issued at the time the eligible
175	student reaches 18 years of age.
176	e. If the award recipient transfers from one eligible
177	institution to another and continues to meet eligibility
178	requirements, the award must be transferred with the recipient.
179	f. Scholarship funds awarded to any eligible young adult
180	under this program are in addition to any other services
181	provided to the young adult by the department through its
182	independent living transition services.
183	g. The department shall provide information concerning
184	young adults receiving the Road-to-Independence Scholarship to
185	the Department of Education for inclusion in the student
186	financial assistance database, as provided in s. 1009.94.
187	h. Scholarship funds shall be terminated when the young
188	adult has attained a bachelor of arts or bachelor of science
189	degree, or equivalent undergraduate degree, or reaches 23 years
190	of age, whichever occurs earlier.
191	i. The department shall evaluate and renew each award
192	annually during the 90-day period before the young adult's
193	birthday. In order to be eligible for a renewal award for the
194	subsequent year, the young adult must:
195	(I) Complete at least 12 semester hours or the equivalent
196	in the last academic year in which the young adult earned a
197	scholarship, except for a young adult who meets the requirements
198	of s. 1009.41.
199	(II) Maintain the cumulative grade point average required
200	by the scholarship program, except that, if the young adult's
201	grades are insufficient to renew the scholarship at any time
202	during the eligibility period, the young adult may restore
203	eligibility by improving the grade point average to the required
204	level.
205	j. Scholarship funds may be terminated during the interim
206	between an award and the evaluation for a renewal award if the
207	department determines that the award recipient is no longer
208	enrolled in an educational institution as defined in sub-
209	subparagraph 2.d., or is no longer a state resident. The
210	department shall notify a student who is terminated and inform
211	the student of his or her right to appeal.
212	k. An award recipient who does not qualify for a renewal
213	award or who chooses not to renew the award may subsequently
214	apply for reinstatement. An application for reinstatement must
215	be made before the young adult reaches 23 years of age, and a
216	student may not apply for reinstatement more than once. In order
217	to be eligible for reinstatement, the young adult must meet the
218	eligibility criteria and the criteria for award renewal for the
219	scholarship program.
220	l. A young adult who is eligible for the Road-to-
221	Independence Scholarship may, in lieu of the scholarship award,
222	choose to remain in foster care and continue to receive the
223	services of the children’s foster care program for as long as
224	the young adult continues to qualify for the Road-to-
225	Independence ScholarshipA young adult receiving continued
226	services of the foster care program under former s. 409.145(3)
227	must transfer to the scholarship program by July 1, 2003.
228	(c) Transitional support services.--
229	1. In addition to any services provided through after care
230	support or the Road-to-Independence Scholarship, a young adult
231	formerly in foster care, may receive other appropriate short-
232	term services, which may include financial, housing, counseling,
233	employment, education and other services, if the young adult
234	demonstrates that the services are critical to the young adult's
235	own efforts to achieve self-sufficiency and to develop a
236	personal support system.
237	2. A young adult formerly in foster care is eligible to
238	apply for transitional support services if he or she is 18 to 23
239	years of age, was a dependent child pursuant to chapter 39, was
240	living in licensed foster care or in subsidized independent
241	living within 6 monthsat the timeof his or her 18th birthday,
242	and had spent at least 6 months living in foster care before
243	that date.
244	3. Based on the availability of funds, a young adult
245	formerly in foster care who is eligible for transitional support
246	services pursuant to this subsection is also eligible to receive
247	Medicaid coverage through age 23.
248	4.3.If at any time the services are no longer critical to
249	the young adult's own efforts to achieve self-sufficiency and to
250	develop a personal support system, they shall be terminated.
251	Section 2. If any law amended by this act was also amended
252	by a law enacted at the 2003 Regular Session of the Legislature
253	or at the 2003 Special Session A of the Legislature, such laws
254	shall be construed as if they had been enacted at the same
255	session of the Legislature, and full effect shall be given to
256	each if possible.
257	Section 3. This act shall take effect October 1, 2003.