87R1989 MCK-D
By: J. Johnson of Harris H.B. No. 575
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.