81R10220 MCK-D

By: Dukes H.B. No. 2860

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to financial assistance programs in connection with certain children in the conservatorship of the Department of Family and Protective Services.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 162.3041, Family Code, is amended by adding Subsection (a-1) and amending Subsection (d) to read as follows:

(a-1) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), if the department first entered into an adoption assistance agreement with a child's adoptive parents after the child's 16th birthday, the department shall, in accordance with rules adopted by the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission, offer adoption assistance after the child's 18th birthday to the child's adoptive parents under an existing adoption agreement until the first day of the month of the child's 21st birthday, provided the child is:

(1) regularly attending high school or enrolled in a program leading toward a high school diploma or high school equivalency certificate;

(2) regularly attending an institution of higher education or a postsecondary vocational or technical program;

(3) participating in a program or activity that promotes, or removes barriers to, employment;

(4) employed for at least 80 hours a month; or

(5) incapable of doing any of the activities described by Subdivisions (1) through (4) due to a documented medical condition.

(d) If the legislature does not appropriate sufficient money to provide adoption assistance to the adoptive parents of all children described by Subsection (a), the department shall provide adoption assistance only to the adoptive parents of children described by Subsection (a)(1). The department is not required to provide adoption assistance benefits under Subsection (a-1) unless the department is specifically appropriated funds for purposes of that subsection.

SECTION 2. Section 264.101, Family Code, is amended by amending Subsections (a-1) and (d) and adding Subsection (a-2) to read as follows:

(a-1) The department shall continue to pay the cost of foster care for a child for whom the department provides care, including medical care, until the first day of the month in which [later of:

[(1) the date] the child attains the age of 18. The department shall continue to pay the cost of foster care for a child after the month in which the child attains the age of 18 as long as the child is:

(1) regularly attending[; or

[(2) the date the child graduates from] high school or [ceases to be] enrolled in a [secondary school in a] program leading toward a high school diploma or high school equivalency certificate;

(2) regularly attending an institution of higher education or a postsecondary vocational or technical program;

(3) participating in a program or activity that promotes, or removes barriers to, employment;

(4) employed for at least 80 hours a month; or

(5) incapable of performing the activities described by Subdivisions (1) through (4) due to a documented medical condition.

(a-2) The department shall continue to pay the cost of foster care under:

(1) Subsection (a-1)(1) until the first day of the month in which the child attains the age of 22; and

(2) Subsections (a-1)(2) through (5) until the first day of the month the child attains the age of 21.

(d) The executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission may adopt rules that establish criteria and guidelines for the payment of foster care, including medical care, for a child and for providing care for a child after the child becomes 18 years of age if the child meets the requirements for continued foster care under Subsection (a-1) [is regularly attending an institution of higher education or a vocational or technical program].

SECTION 3. Sections 264.751(1) and (3), Family Code, are amended to read as follows:

(1) "Designated caregiver" means an individual who has a longstanding and significant relationship with a child for whom the department has been appointed managing conservator and who:

(A) is appointed to provide substitute care for the child, but is not licensed by the department or verified by a licensed child-placing agency [certified] to operate a foster home, foster group home, agency foster home, or agency foster group home under Chapter 42, Human Resources Code; or

(B) is subsequently appointed permanent managing conservator of the child after providing the care described by Paragraph (A).

(3) "Relative caregiver" means a relative who:

(A) provides substitute care for a child for whom the department has been appointed managing conservator, but who is not licensed by the department or verified by a licensed child-placing agency [certified] to operate a foster home, foster group home, agency foster home, or agency foster group home under Chapter 42, Human Resources Code; or

(B) is subsequently appointed permanent managing conservator of the child after providing the care described by Paragraph (A).

SECTION 4. Subchapter I, Chapter 264, Family Code, is amended by adding Section 264.760 to read as follows:

Sec. 264.760. ELIGIBILITY FOR FOSTER CARE PAYMENTS AND PERMANENCY CARE ASSISTANCE. Notwithstanding any other provision of this subchapter, a relative or other designated caregiver who becomes licensed by the department or verified by a licensed child-placing agency to operate a foster home, foster group home, agency foster home, or agency foster group home under Chapter 42, Human Resources Code, may receive foster care payments in lieu of the benefits provided by this subchapter, beginning with the first month in which the relative or other designated caregiver becomes licensed or is verified.

SECTION 5. Chapter 264, Family Code, is amended by adding Subchapter K to read as follows:

SUBCHAPTER K. PERMANENCY CARE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

Sec. 264.851. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:

(1) "Foster child" means a child who is or was in the temporary or permanent managing conservatorship of the department.

(2) "Kinship provider" means a relative of a foster child or another adult with a longstanding and significant relationship with a foster child before the child was placed with the person by the department and with whom the child resides for at least six consecutive months while the person becomes licensed by the department or verified by a licensed child-placing agency to provide foster care.

(3) "Permanency care assistance agreement" means a written agreement between the department and a kinship provider for the payment of permanency care assistance benefits as provided by this subchapter.

(4) "Permanency care assistance benefits" means monthly payments paid by the department to a kinship provider under a permanency care assistance agreement.

(5) "Relative" has the meaning assigned by Section 264.751.

Sec. 264.852. PERMANENCY CARE ASSISTANCE AGREEMENTS. (a) The department shall enter into a permanency care assistance agreement with a kinship provider who is eligible to receive permanency care assistance benefits.

(b) The department may enter into a permanency care assistance agreement with a kinship provider who is the prospective managing conservator of a foster child only if the kinship provider meets the eligibility criteria under federal and state law and department rule.

(c) A court may not order the department to enter into a permanency care assistance agreement with a kinship provider unless the kinship provider meets the eligibility criteria under federal and state law and department rule, including requirements relating to the criminal history background check of a kinship provider.

(d) A permanency care assistance agreement may provide for reimbursement of the expenses a kinship provider incurs in obtaining permanent managing conservatorship of a foster child, including attorney's fees and court costs. The reimbursement of the expenses under this subsection may not exceed $2,000.

Sec. 264.853. RULES. (a) The executive commissioner shall adopt rules necessary to implement the permanency care assistance program. The rules must:

(1) establish eligibility requirements to receive permanency care assistance benefits under the program;

(2) provide for the amount of permanency care assistance payments under the program; and

(3) ensure that the program conforms to the requirements for federal assistance as required by the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (Pub. L. No. 110-351).

(b) In adopting rules regarding permanency care assistance payments, the executive commissioner shall ensure that permanency care assistance payments do not exceed the monetary assistance available for a foster care provider caring for the child for whom the kinship provider is caring.

Sec. 264.854. CONTINUED ELIGIBILITY FOR PERMANENCY CARE ASSISTANCE BENEFITS AFTER AGE 18. If the department first entered into a permanency care assistance agreement with a foster child's kinship provider after the child's 16th birthday, the department may continue to provide permanency care assistance payments until the first day of the month of the child's 21st birthday, provided the child is:

(1) regularly attending high school or enrolled in a program leading toward a high school diploma or high school equivalency certificate;

(2) regularly attending an institution of higher education or a postsecondary vocational or technical program;

(3) participating in a program or activity that promotes, or removes barriers to, employment;

(4) employed for at least 80 hours a month; or

(5) incapable of any of the activities described by Subdivisions (1) through (4) due to a documented medical condition.

Sec. 264.855. APPROPRIATION REQUIRED. The department is not required to provide permanency care assistance benefits under this subchapter unless the department is specifically appropriated money for purposes of this subchapter.

SECTION 6. Not later than December 1, 2009, the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission shall adopt rules to implement and administer the permanency care assistance program under Subchapter K, Chapter 264, Family Code, as added by this Act.

SECTION 7. If before implementing any provision of this Act a state agency determines that a waiver or authorization from a federal agency is necessary for implementation of that provision, the agency affected by the provision shall request the waiver or authorization and may delay implementing that provision until the waiver or authorization is granted.

SECTION 8. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.