Senate Bill sb0358
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida Senate - 2007 SB 358
By Senator Wilson
33-21-07
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
1
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida Senate - 2007 SB 358
33-21-07
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, 2011. The annual
30 reports must compare the young adults in the pilot program to
31 the cohort selected under subsection (3). The final report
2
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida Senate - 2007 SB 358
33-21-07
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, 2011.
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 2007-2008 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, 2007.
14
15 *****************************************
16 SENATE SUMMARY
17 Requires the Department of Children and Family Services
to create a pilot program in Miami-Dade County to provide
18 continued foster care until participants reach the age of
21 years. Provides eligibility requirements. Prescribes
19 services that will be continued. Requires the department
to submit a report to the court. Requires the selection
20 of a cohort group for the purpose of comparing results.
Requires reports to the Legislature. Provides for
21 expiration of the program.
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
3
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.