Senate Bill sb0428
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Florida Senate - 2004 SB 428
By Senator Campbell
32-201B-04
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to independent living
3 transition services; amending s. 409.1451,
4 F.S.; requiring each district of the Department
5 of Children and Family Services to identify
6 adolescent foster children with developmental
7 disabilities or special mental health needs and
8 assist such youth in the transition to
9 self-sufficiency; revising eligibility
10 requirements for independent living transition
11 services, participation in the
12 Road-to-Independence Scholarship Program, and
13 transitional support services; authorizing
14 Medicaid coverage for youth who are eligible
15 for transitional support services; providing an
16 effective date.
17
18 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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20 Section 1. Subsection (1), paragraph (a) of subsection
21 (2), subsection (4), and paragraphs (b) and (c) of subsection
22 (5) of section 409.1451, Florida Statutes, are amended to
23 read:
24 409.1451 Independent living transition services.--
25 (1) SYSTEM OF SERVICES.--
26 (a) The Department of Children and Family Services or
27 its agents shall administer a system of independent living
28 transition services to enable older children in foster care
29 and young adults who exit foster care at age 18 to make the
30 transition to self-sufficiency as adults.
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1 (b) The goals of independent living transition
2 services are to assist older children in foster care and young
3 adults who were formerly in foster care to obtain life skills
4 and education for independent living and employment, to have a
5 quality of life appropriate for their age, and to assume
6 personal responsibility for becoming self-sufficient adults.
7 (c) Each Department of Children and Family Services
8 district shall identify adolescent foster youth with
9 developmental disabilities or special mental health needs. The
10 department shall work with these foster youth to help them
11 make the transition to self-sufficiency and shall assist the
12 youth and young adults with reasonable accommodations for
13 their disabilities. The department shall assist the youth with
14 accessing support and funding from other sources, such as the
15 department's Developmental Disabilities Office and the
16 department's Mental Health Office. The department shall
17 coordinate the independent living plan for a youth with the
18 school's individual education plan for a child who is in a
19 special education program. The department shall give special
20 attention to 17-year-old foster children residing at
21 residential treatment facilities, therapeutic foster homes, or
22 other mental health placements who face a particularly
23 difficult transition to living as adults in the community.
24 (d)(c) State funds for foster care or federal funds
25 shall be used to establish a continuum of services for
26 eligible children in foster care and eligible young adults who
27 were formerly in foster care which accomplish the goals for
28 the independent living transition services and provide the
29 service components for services for foster children, as
30 provided in subsection (3), and services for young adults who
31 were formerly in foster care, as provided in subsection (5).
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Florida Senate - 2004 SB 428
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1 (e)(d) For children in foster care, independent living
2 transition services are not an alternative to adoption.
3 Independent living transition services may occur concurrently
4 with continued efforts to locate and achieve placement in
5 adoptive families for older children in foster care.
6 (2) ELIGIBILITY.--
7 (a) The department shall serve children who are 13 to
8 18 years of age and who are in foster care through the program
9 component of services for foster children provided in
10 subsection (3). The department shall also serve former foster
11 youth who are 18 to 23 years of age and are in high school as
12 a special education student, in a high school equivalency
13 diploma program pursuant to s. 1003.435, or in an adult
14 education program pursuant to s. 1004.93, through the program
15 component of services for foster children provided in
16 subsection (3). Children to be served must meet the
17 eligibility requirements set forth for specific services as
18 provided in this section and through department rule.
19 (4) PARTICIPATION IN LIFE SKILLS ACTIVITIES.--In order
20 to assist older children in foster care, ages 13 to 18 years
21 of age, and former foster youth with disabilities, with the
22 transition to independent living as adults, the program must
23 provide them with opportunities to participate in and learn
24 from life skills activities in their foster families and
25 communities which are reasonable and appropriate for their
26 age. Such activities may include, but are not limited to,
27 managing money earned from a job, taking driver's education,
28 and participating in after-school or extracurricular
29 activities. To support these opportunities for participation
30 in age-appropriate life skills activities, the department may:
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1 (a) Develop, with children in the program and their
2 foster parents, a list of age-appropriate activities and
3 responsibilities to be presented to all children involved in
4 independent living transition services and their foster
5 parents.
6 (b) Provide training for staff and foster parents
7 which addresses issues of older children in foster care and
8 the transition to adulthood, including supporting education
9 and employment and providing opportunities to participate in
10 appropriate daily activities.
11 (c) Develop procedures to maximize the authority of
12 foster parents to approve participation in age-appropriate
13 activities of children in their care.
14 (d) Provide opportunities for older children in foster
15 care to interact with mentors.
16 (e) Develop and implement procedures for older
17 children to directly access and manage the personal allowance
18 they receive from the department in order to learn
19 responsibility and participate in age-appropriate life skills
20 activities to the extent feasible.
21 (5) PROGRAM COMPONENT OF SERVICES FOR YOUNG ADULTS
22 FORMERLY IN FOSTER CARE.--Based on the availability of funds,
23 the department shall provide or arrange for the following
24 services to young adults formerly in foster care who meet the
25 prescribed conditions and are determined eligible by the
26 department. The categories of services available to assist a
27 young adult formerly in foster care to achieve independence
28 are:
29 (b) Road-to-Independence Scholarship Program.--
30 1. The Road-to-Independence Scholarship Program is
31 intended to help eligible students who are former foster
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1 children in this state to receive the educational and
2 vocational training needed to achieve independence. The amount
3 of the scholarship award shall equal the earnings that the
4 student would have been eligible to earn working a
5 40-hour-a-week federal minimum wage job, after considering
6 other grants and scholarships that are in excess of the
7 educational institutions' fees and costs, and contingent upon
8 available funds. Students eligible for the
9 Road-to-Independence Scholarship Program may also be eligible
10 for educational fee waivers for workforce development
11 postsecondary programs, community colleges, and universities,
12 pursuant to s. 1009.25(2)(c).
13 2. A young adult 18 to 23 21 years of age is eligible
14 for the initial scholarship award, and a young adult under 23
15 years of age is eligible for renewal awards, if he or she:
16 a. Is or was a dependent child, pursuant to chapter
17 39, and is living or has lived in licensed foster care or in
18 subsidized independent living within 6 months prior to at the
19 time of his or her 18th birthday;
20 b. Has spent at least 6 months living in foster care
21 before reaching his or her 18th birthday;
22 c. Is a resident of this state as defined in s.
23 1009.40; and
24 d. Meets one of the following qualifications:
25 (I) Has earned a standard high school diploma or its
26 equivalent as described in s. 1003.43 or s. 1003.435, and has
27 been admitted for full-time enrollment in an eligible
28 postsecondary education institution as defined in s. 1009.533;
29 (II) Is enrolled full time in an accredited high
30 school, is within 2 years of graduation, and has maintained a
31 grade point average of at least 2.0 on a scale of 4.0 for the
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1 two semesters preceding the date of his or her 18th birthday
2 or, in the case of a student in a special education program in
3 an accredited high school, has met the minimum grade point
4 average required by that program to graduate; or
5 (III) Is enrolled full time in an accredited adult
6 education program or high school equivalency diploma program
7 designed to provide the student with a high school diploma or
8 its equivalent, is making satisfactory progress in that
9 program as certified by the program, and is within 2 years of
10 attaining a high school diploma or its equivalent graduation.
11 3.a. The department must advertise the availability of
12 the scholarship program and must ensure that the children and
13 young adults leaving foster care, foster parents, or family
14 services counselors are informed of the availability of the
15 program and the application procedures.
16 b. A young adult may must apply for an the initial
17 scholarship award during the 6 months immediately preceding
18 his or her 18th birthday. A young adult who does not fails to
19 make an initial application at that time, but who otherwise
20 meets the criteria for an initial award, may make one
21 application for an the initial scholarship award if the such
22 application is made before the young adult's 22nd 21st
23 birthday.
24 c. If funding for the program is available, the
25 department shall issue awards from the scholarship program for
26 each young adult who meets all the requirements of the
27 program.
28 d. An award shall be issued after at the time the
29 eligible student reaches 18 years of age.
30 e. If the award recipient transfers from one eligible
31 institution to another and continues to meet eligibility
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1 requirements, the award must be transferred with the
2 recipient.
3 f. Scholarship funds awarded to any eligible young
4 adult under this program are in addition to any other services
5 provided to the young adult by the department through its
6 independent living transition services.
7 g. The department shall provide information concerning
8 young adults receiving the Road-to-Independence Scholarship to
9 the Department of Education for inclusion in the student
10 financial assistance database, as provided in s. 1009.94.
11 h. Scholarship funds shall be terminated when the
12 young adult has attained a bachelor of arts or bachelor of
13 science degree, or equivalent undergraduate degree, or reaches
14 23 years of age, whichever occurs earlier.
15 i. The department shall evaluate and renew each award
16 annually during the 90-day period before the young adult's
17 birthday. In order to be eligible for a renewal award for the
18 subsequent year, the young adult must:
19 (I) Complete at least 12 semester hours or the
20 equivalent in the last academic year in which the young adult
21 earned a scholarship, except for a young adult who meets the
22 requirements of s. 1009.41.
23 (II) Maintain the cumulative grade point average
24 required by the scholarship program, except that, if the young
25 adult's grades are insufficient to renew the scholarship at
26 any time during the eligibility period, the young adult may
27 restore eligibility by improving the grade point average to
28 the required level.
29 j. Scholarship funds may be terminated during the
30 interim between an award and the evaluation for a renewal
31 award if the department determines that the award recipient is
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1 no longer enrolled in an educational institution as defined in
2 sub-subparagraph 2.d., or is no longer a state resident. The
3 department shall notify a student who is terminated and inform
4 the student of his or her right to appeal.
5 k. An award recipient who does not qualify for a
6 renewal award or who chooses not to renew the award may
7 subsequently apply for reinstatement. An application for
8 reinstatement must be made before the young adult reaches 23
9 years of age, and a student may not apply for reinstatement
10 more than once. In order to be eligible for reinstatement, the
11 young adult must meet the eligibility criteria and the
12 criteria for award renewal for the scholarship program.
13 l. A young adult who is eligible for the
14 Road-to-Independence Scholarship may, in lieu of the
15 scholarship award, choose to remain in foster care and
16 continue to receive the services of the children's foster care
17 program for as long as the young adult continues to qualify
18 for the Road-to-Independence Scholarship receiving continued
19 services of the foster care program under former s. 409.145(3)
20 must transfer to the scholarship program by July 1, 2003.
21 (c) Transitional support services.--
22 1. In addition to any services provided through
23 aftercare after care support or the Road-to-Independence
24 Scholarship, a young adult formerly in foster care, may
25 receive other appropriate short-term services, which may
26 include financial, housing, counseling, employment, education
27 and other services, if the young adult demonstrates that the
28 services are critical to the young adult's own efforts to
29 achieve self-sufficiency and to develop a personal support
30 system.
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1 2. A young adult formerly in foster care is eligible
2 to apply for transitional support services if he or she is 18
3 to 23 years of age, was a dependent child pursuant to chapter
4 39, was living in licensed foster care or in subsidized
5 independent living within 6 months prior to at the time of his
6 or her 18th birthday, or and had spent at least 6 months
7 living in foster care before that date.
8 3. Based on the availability of funds, a young adult
9 formerly in foster care who is eligible for transitional
10 support services pursuant to this subsection is also eligible
11 to receive Medicaid coverage through age 23.
12 4.3. If at any time the services are no longer
13 critical to the young adult's own efforts to achieve
14 self-sufficiency and to develop a personal support system,
15 they shall be terminated.
16 Section 2. This act shall take effect October 1, 2004.
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19 SENATE SUMMARY
20 Requires each district of the Department of Children and
Family Services to identify those adolescent foster
21 children with developmental disabilities or special
mental health needs and to assist these youth in their
22 transition to self-sufficiency. Revises the eligibility
requirements for independent living transition services,
23 participation in the Road-to-Independence Scholarship
Program, and transitional support services. Authorizes
24 Medicaid coverage for youth eligible for transitional
support services through 23 years of age.
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