By: Uresti S.B. No. 886
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to extended foster care for certain young adults and the
extended jurisdiction of a court in a suit affecting the
parent-child relationship involving those young adults.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subdivisions (1), (3-a), and (4), Section
263.601, Family Code, are amended to read as follows:
(1) "Extended foster [Foster] care" means a
[voluntary] residential living arrangement in which a young adult
voluntarily delegates to the department responsibility for the
young adult's placement and care and in which the young adult
resides with a foster parent or other residential services
[child-care] provider that is:
(A) licensed or approved by the department or
verified by a licensed or certified child-placing agency; and
(B) paid under a contract with the department.
(3-a) "Trial independence [period]" means the status
assigned to a young adult under Section 263.6015 [a period of not
less than six months, or a longer period as a court may order not to
exceed 12 months, during which a young adult exits foster care with
the option to return to foster care under the continuing extended
jurisdiction of the court].
(4) "Young adult" means a person [between 18 and 21
years of age] who[:
[(A)] was in the conservatorship of the
department on the day before the person's 18th birthday[; and
[(B) after the person's 18th birthday, resides in
foster care or receives transitional living services from the
department].
SECTION 2. Subchapter G, Chapter 263, Family Code, is
amended by adding Section 263.6015 to read as follows:
Sec. 263.6015. TRIAL INDEPENDENCE. (a) A young adult is
assigned trial independence status when the young adult:
(1) does not enter extended foster care at the time of
the young adult's 18th birthday; or
(2) exits extended foster care before the young
adult's 21st birthday.
(b) Except as provided by Subsection (c), a court order is
not required for a young adult to be assigned trial independence
status. Trial independence is mandatory for a period of at least
six months beginning on:
(1) the date of the young adult's 18th birthday for a
young adult described by Subsection (a)(1); or
(2) the date the young adult exits extended foster
care.
(c) A court may order trial independence status extended for
a period that exceeds the mandatory period under Subsection (b) but
does not exceed one year from the date the period under Subsection
(b) commences.
(d) Except as provided by Subsection (e), a young adult who
enters or reenters extended foster care after a period of trial
independence must complete a new period of trial independence as
provided by Subsection (b)(2).
(e) The trial independence status of a young adult ends on
the young adult's 21st birthday.
SECTION 3. Subsections (a), (b), (f), and (g), Section
263.602, Family Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) Except as provided by Subsection (f), a [A] court that
had [continuing, exclusive] jurisdiction over a young adult on the
day before the young adult's 18th birthday continues to have
extended jurisdiction over the young adult and shall retain the
case on the court's docket while the young adult is [remains] in
extended foster care and during [a] trial independence as [period]
described by Section 263.6015 [this section].
(b) A court with extended jurisdiction over a young adult
[who remains] in extended foster care shall conduct extended foster
care review hearings every six months for the purpose of reviewing
and making findings regarding:
(1) whether the young adult's living arrangement is
safe and appropriate and whether the department has made reasonable
efforts to place the young adult in the least restrictive
environment necessary to meet the young adult's needs;
(2) whether the department is making reasonable
efforts to finalize the permanency plan that is in effect for the
young adult, including a permanency plan for independent living;
(3) whether, for a young adult whose permanency plan
is independent living:
(A) the young adult participated in the
development of the plan of service;
(B) the young adult's plan of service reflects
the independent living skills and appropriate services needed to
achieve independence by the projected date; and
(C) the young adult continues to make reasonable
progress in developing the skills needed to achieve independence by
the projected date; and
(4) whether additional services that the department is
authorized to provide are needed to meet the needs of the young
adult.
(f) Unless the court extends its jurisdiction over a young
adult beyond the end of trial independence as provided by Section
263.6021(a) or 263.603(a), the court's [A court with] extended
jurisdiction over a young adult as described in Subsection (a)
terminates on [shall continue to have jurisdiction over the young
adult and shall retain the case on the court's docket until] the
earlier of:
(1) the last day of the month in which trial
independence ends[:
[(A) sixth month after the date the young adult
leaves foster care; or
[(B) 12th month after the date the young adult
leaves foster care if specified in a court order, for the purpose of
allowing the young adult to pursue a trial independence period]; or
(2) the young adult's 21st birthday.
(g) A court with extended jurisdiction described by this
section is not required to conduct periodic hearings described in
this section for a young adult during [a] trial independence
[period] and may not compel a young adult who has elected to not
enter or has exited extended foster care to attend a court hearing.
A court with extended jurisdiction during trial independence may,
at the request of a young adult, conduct a hearing described by
Subsection (b) or by Section 263.6021 to review any transitional
living services the young adult is receiving during trial
independence.
SECTION 4. Subsections (a) and (b), Section 263.6021,
Family Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) Notwithstanding Section 263.602, a court that had
[continuing, exclusive] jurisdiction over a young adult on the day
before the young adult's 18th birthday may, at the young adult's
request, render an order that extends the court's jurisdiction
beyond the end of [a] trial independence [period] if the young adult
receives transitional living services from the department.
(b) Unless the young adult reenters extended foster care
before the end of the court's extended jurisdiction described by
Subsection (a), the [The] extended jurisdiction of the court under
this section terminates on the earlier of:
(1) the young adult's 21st birthday; or
(2) the date the young adult withdraws consent to the
extension of the court's jurisdiction in writing or in court.
SECTION 5. Section 263.603, Family Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of this subchapter,
a young adult for whom a guardian is appointed and qualifies is not
considered to be in extended foster care or trial independence and
the court's jurisdiction ends on the date the guardian for the young
adult is appointed and qualifies unless the guardian requests the
extended jurisdiction of the court under Section 263.604.
SECTION 6. The changes in law made by this Act to Subchapter
G, Chapter 263, Family Code, apply to a suit affecting the
parent-child relationship that is:
(1) filed on or after the effective date of this Act;
and
(2) pending in a trial court on the effective date of
this Act, regardless of the date on which the suit was filed.
SECTION 7. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.