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