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.