|
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
relating to the Department of Family and Protective Services |
|
enrolling certain foster children in the Preparation for Adult |
|
Living Program. |
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
SECTION 1. Section 264.121(a), Family Code, is amended to |
|
read as follows: |
|
(a) The department shall address the unique challenges |
|
facing foster children in the conservatorship of the department who |
|
must transition to independent living by: |
|
(1) expanding efforts to improve transition planning |
|
and increasing the availability of transitional family group |
|
decision-making to all youth age 14 or older in the department's |
|
permanent managing conservatorship, including enrolling all [the] |
|
youth who have been in the department's conservatorship for at |
|
least four years after the youth's 10th birthday in the Preparation |
|
for Adult Living Program [before the age of 16]; |
|
(2) coordinating with the commission to obtain |
|
authority, to the extent allowed by federal law, the state Medicaid |
|
plan, the Title IV-E state plan, and any waiver or amendment to |
|
either plan, necessary to: |
|
(A) extend foster care eligibility and |
|
transition services for youth up to age 21 and develop policy to |
|
permit eligible youth to return to foster care as necessary to |
|
achieve the goals of the Transitional Living Services Program; and |
|
(B) extend Medicaid coverage for foster care |
|
youth and former foster care youth up to age 21 with a single |
|
application at the time the youth leaves foster care; and |
|
(3) entering into cooperative agreements with the |
|
Texas Workforce Commission and local workforce development boards |
|
to further the objectives of the Preparation for Adult Living |
|
Program. The department, the Texas Workforce Commission, and the |
|
local workforce development boards shall ensure that services are |
|
prioritized and targeted to meet the needs of foster care and former |
|
foster care children and that such services will include, where |
|
feasible, referrals for short-term stays for youth needing housing. |
|
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021. |