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Senate Bill 886 |
Senate Author: Uresti |
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Effective: 9-1-13 |
House Sponsor: Lewis |
Senate Bill 886 amends provisions of the Family Code relating to extended foster care for certain young adults and the extended jurisdiction of a court in a suit affecting the parent-child relationship involving those young adults. Previous law defined "trial independence period" as a specified period of time during which a young adult exits foster care with the option to return under the continuing extended jurisdiction of the court. The bill instead establishes that a young adult is assigned trial independence status when the young adult does not enter extended foster care at the time of the young adult's 18th birthday or exits extended foster care before the young adult's 21st birthday and makes the status mandatory for a period of at least six months beginning on a specified date. A court order is not required for a young adult to be assigned trial independence status, but the bill authorizes a court to order such status to be extended beyond the mandatory period. The bill requires a young adult who enters or reenters extended foster care after a period of trial independence to complete a new period of trial independence and specifies that the trial independence status of a young adult ends on the young adult's 21st birthday.
Senate Bill 886 revises the date on which a court's jurisdiction over a young adult who is in extended foster care or who has been assigned trial independence status expires unless the court's jurisdiction is voluntarily extended by the young adult or the court extends jurisdiction for purposes of determining guardianship. The bill authorizes a court with extended jurisdiction during trial independence, at the request of a young adult, to conduct certain hearings to review any transitional living services the young adult is receiving during trial independence. The bill specifies that a young adult for whom a guardian is appointed and qualifies is not considered to be in extended foster care or trial independence and that the court's jurisdiction ends on the date the guardian for the young adult is appointed and qualifies unless the guardian requests the extended jurisdiction of the court.