SLS 18RS-448 ORIGINAL
2018 Regular Session
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 10
BY SENATOR BARROW
CHILDREN. Requests the Department of Children and Family Services to study extending
the age of foster care to age twenty-one.
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2 To urge and request the Department of Children and Family Services to study the feasibility
3 of extending the age of foster care to twenty-one and to submit a report of its
4 recommendations to the legislature no later than February 1, 2019.
5 WHEREAS, R.S. 36:477(B)(1) states that the office of children and family services
6 shall provide for the public child welfare functions of the state, including but not limited to
7 making permanent plans for foster children and meeting their daily maintenance needs of
8 food, shelter, clothing, necessary physical medical services, school supplies, and incidental
9 personal needs, and adoption placement services for foster children freed for adoption; and
10 WHEREAS, P.L. 110-351, The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing
11 Adoptions Act of 2008 (FCA) was signed into law on October 7, 2008, allowing states to
12 receive federal Title IV-E reimbursement for costs associated with supports for young people
13 to remain in foster care up to age twenty-one; and
14 WHEREAS, approximately twenty-five states and the District of Columbia have
15 extended foster care beyond age eighteen under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act, as
16 enacted by the FCA; and
17 WHEREAS, approximately twenty-six thousand youth who age out of foster care at
18 age eighteen face significant challenges in meeting their healthcare, education, housing,
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SLS 18RS-448 ORIGINAL
1 employment, and emotional needs; and
2 WHEREAS, while twenty-five states currently extend foster care through FCA, a
3 majority of states do allow for state-funded extended foster care, or extended services to
4 youth beyond the age of eighteen, such as transitional living services, housing, and
5 educational assistance; and
6 WHEREAS, national studies continue to document that one in four youth who age
7 out of foster care are homeless within one year after exiting the foster care system; and
8 WHEREAS, with the discontinuance of the young adult program in July 2013, youth
9 in Louisiana age out of foster care at age eighteen, with little to no support from the state.
10 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
11 urge and request the Department of Children and Family Services to study the feasibility of
12 extending foster care to age twenty-one to youth in Louisiana and to submit a report of its
13 findings and policy recommendations to the governor and legislature no later than February
14 1, 2019.
15 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that in conducting this study, the Department of
16 Children and Family Services shall convene a panel of experts to provide guidance on this
17 matter that shall be comprised of the following members:
18 (1) The secretary of the Department of Children and Family Services, or his
19 designee.
20 (2) The assistant secretary of the Department of Children and Family Services,
21 division of child welfare, or his designee.
22 (3) A foster care supervisor or foster care worker within the Department of Children
23 and Family Services, division of child welfare.
24 (4) The assistant secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health, office of
25 behavioral health, or his designee.
26 (5) The medicaid director of the Louisiana Department of Health, or his designee.
27 (6) The executive director of the Louisiana Housing Corporation, or his designee.
28 (7) The executive director of the Louisiana Workforce Commission, or his designee.
29 (8) The state superintendent of education, or his designee.
30 (9) The executive director of the Children's Cabinet, or his designee.
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SLS 18RS-448 ORIGINAL
1 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the secretary of the Department of Children and
2 Family Services or his designee shall serve as the chair of the panel and lead the study.
3 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Children and Family Services
4 shall develop findings and recommendations concerning the costs and benefits of extending
5 foster care to age twenty-one and the feasibility of implementation and shall submit its
6 findings and recommendation in the form of a written report to the governor and legislature
7 by February 1, 2019.
8 BE IT FURTHERED RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
9 the Department of Children and Family Services.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Christine Arbo Peck.
DIGEST
SCR 10 Original 2018 Regular Session Barrow
Requests the Department of Children and Family Services to study the feasibility of
extending the age of foster care to twenty-one and to submit a report of its recommendations
to the legislature no later than February 1, 2019.
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