Senate Bill sb0448c1

    Florida Senate - 2006                            CS for SB 448

    By the Committee on Health and Human Services Appropriations;
    and Senator Wilson




    603-2306-06

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to independent living;

  3         requiring the Department of Children and Family

  4         Services to create a pilot program in

  5         Miami-Dade County to provide continued foster

  6         care until participants reach the age of 21

  7         years; providing eligibility requirements;

  8         requiring that the circuit court select

  9         participants; prescribing services that will be

10         continued; requiring periodic administration to

11         participants of an independent living

12         assessment tool; requiring the department to

13         submit a report to the court; requiring the

14         selection of a cohort group for the purpose of

15         comparing results; requiring reports to the

16         Legislature; providing for expiration of the

17         program; providing an appropriation; providing

18         an effective date.

19  

20  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

21  

22         Section 1.  Optional pilot program for continued foster

23  care to age 21.--

24         (1)  The Department of Children and Family Services

25  shall develop an optional continued foster care pilot program

26  in Miami-Dade County. The circuit court having jurisdiction

27  over young adults who are prospective participants shall

28  select participants for the program on its own authority or

29  upon the recommendation of the young adult who wishes to

30  participate, his or her case manager, or guardian ad litem.

31  Each participant must be younger than 18 years of age at the

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    Florida Senate - 2006                            CS for SB 448
    603-2306-06




 1  time of entry into the program and must be or must have been

 2  in foster care. The department may accept up to 50

 3  participants into the pilot program. A participant will

 4  continue to receive all foster care services, will remain

 5  under continued court jurisdiction, and will remain in his or

 6  her current foster or group home placement or another licensed

 7  foster home arranged by the lead agency until he or she leaves

 8  the pilot program or reaches 21 years of age, whichever occurs

 9  first.

10         (2)  The department or the lead agency must use the

11  independent living assessment tool referred to in s.

12  409.1451(4)(b)4., Florida Statutes, to assess each young adult

13  no later than 1 month after he or she reaches 17 years of age

14  to determine the young adult's specific needs and recommend

15  appropriate services. The independent living assessment tool

16  must be administered annually to determine the program's

17  effectiveness or lack thereof. The department or lead agency

18  must annually submit a report to the court as part of the

19  judicial review.

20         (3)  The Department of Children and Family Services

21  shall select a cohort of up to 50 young adults who were

22  formerly in foster care, who were not eligible for the

23  Road-To-Independence Scholarship, and who live in a county

24  similar to Miami-Dade County and shall compare this cohort to

25  the participants in the pilot program by administering to them

26  the same independent living assessment tool.

27         (4)  The department shall prepare an annual report and

28  submit it to the Legislature by January 31 of each year and

29  shall submit a final report by December 1, 2010. The annual

30  reports must compare the young adults in the pilot program to

31  the cohort selected under subsection (3). The final report

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    Florida Senate - 2006                            CS for SB 448
    603-2306-06




 1  must include an analysis, including a fiscal analysis, and a

 2  recommendation of the benefits and drawbacks of duplicating

 3  the pilot program throughout the state.

 4         (5)  This section expires July 1, 2010.

 5         Section 2.  There is appropriated from the General

 6  Revenue Fund to the Department of Children and Family

 7  Services, District 11, for the 2006-2007 fiscal year, the sum

 8  of $500,000 to be used in implementing the pilot program

 9  created under section 1 of this act. The department may

10  transfer funds appropriated in this section to the Agency for

11  Health Care Administration to fund the Medicaid cost of this

12  pilot program.

13         Section 3.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2006.

14  

15          STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
                       COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
16                         Senate Bill 448

17                                 

18  Clarifies that the pilot shall be administered by the
    Department of Children and Families, not the community-based
19  care lead agency provider.

20  Clarifies that the pilot shall serve up to 50 children in
    order to remain within the limits of the appropriation.
21  
    Authorizes the department to transfer funds from the funds
22  appropriated in the bill to the Agency for Health Care
    Administration for the Medicaid cost associated with the
23  pilot.

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