81R25691 MCK-F
 
  By: West, et al. S.B. No. 1411
 
  Substitute the following for S.B. No. 1411:
 
  By:  Rose C.S.S.B. No. 1411
 
 
 
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
  last 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 last 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 last day of the
  month in which the child attains the age of 22; and
               (2)  Subsections (a-1)(2) through (5) until the last
  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 or the department [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 or the department [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 or the department 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, with whom the child resides for at
  least six consecutive months after the person becomes licensed by
  the department or verified by a licensed child-placing agency or
  the department 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" means a person related to a foster
  child by consanguinity or affinity.
         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 nonrecurring 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 nonrecurring expenses under this subsection
  may not exceed $2,000.
         Sec. 264.853.  RULES. 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; and
               (2)  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).
         Sec. 264.854.  MAXIMUM PAYMENT AMOUNT.  The executive
  commissioner shall set the maximum monthly amount of assistance
  payments under a permanency care assistance agreement in an amount
  that does not exceed the amount of the monthly foster care
  maintenance payment the department would pay to a foster care
  provider caring for the child for whom the kinship provider is
  caring.
         Sec. 264.855.  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 last 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. 264.856.  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.
         Sec. 264.857.  DEADLINE FOR NEW AGREEMENTS. The department
  may not enter into a permanency care assistance agreement after
  August 31, 2017. The department shall continue to make payments
  after that date under a permanency care assistance agreement
  entered into on or before August 31, 2017, according to the terms of
  the agreement.
         SECTION 6.  Not later than April 1, 2010, 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.  (a)  Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this
  section, this Act takes effect September 1, 2009.
         (b)  Sections 162.3041 and 264.101, Family Code, as amended
  by this Act, and Section 264.855, Family Code, as added by this Act,
  take effect October 1, 2010.