H.B. No. 700
AN ACT
relating to the Preparation for Adult Living Program and other
services for foster children transitioning to independent living.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 264.121, Family Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a), (a-2), (a-6), (e-1), and (g) and adding
Subsections (a-7) and (e-4) 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 the youth
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;
(4) addressing barriers to participation in the
Preparation for Adult Living Program for a youth who has a
disability by making appropriate accommodations that allow the
youth to meaningfully participate in the program; and
(5) documenting in the youth's case file any
accommodations made under Subdivision (4).
(a-2) The experiential life-skills training under
Subsection (a-1) must include:
(1) a financial literacy education program developed
in collaboration with the Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner
and the State Securities Board that:
(A) includes instruction on:
(i) obtaining and interpreting a credit
score;
(ii) protecting, repairing, and improving a
credit score;
(iii) avoiding predatory lending
practices;
(iv) saving money and accomplishing
financial goals through prudent financial management practices;
(v) using basic banking and accounting
skills, including balancing a checkbook;
(vi) using debit and credit cards
responsibly;
(vii) understanding a paycheck and items
withheld from a paycheck;
(viii) understanding the time requirements
and process for filing federal taxes;
(ix) protecting financial, credit, and
personally identifying information in personal and professional
relationships and online;
(x) forms of identity and credit theft; and
(xi) using insurance to protect against the
risk of financial loss; and
(B) assists a youth who has a source of income to:
(i) establish a savings plan and, if
available, a savings account that the youth can independently
manage; and
(ii) prepare a monthly budget that includes
the following expenses:
(a) rent based on the monthly rent for
an apartment advertised for lease during the preceding month;
(b) utilities based on a reasonable
utility bill in the area in which the youth resides;
(c) telephone service based on a
reasonable bill for telephone service in the area in which the youth
resides;
(d) Internet service based on a
reasonable bill for Internet service in the area in which the youth
resides; and
(e) other reasonable monthly
expenses; and
(2) for youth who are 17 years of age or older, lessons
related to:
(A) insurance, including applying for and
obtaining automobile insurance and residential property insurance,
including tenants insurance; [and]
(B) civic engagement, including the process for
registering to vote, the places to vote, and resources for
information regarding upcoming elections; and
(C) the documents the youth is required to
receive under Subsection (e-1) prior to being discharged from
foster care and how those documents may be used.
(a-6) The department, in coordination with the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board [stakeholders], shall establish a
work group to develop a plan to ensure that foster youth who
complete [standardize] the standardized curriculum for the
Preparation for Adult Living Program are eligible to receive
college credit for completing the program. The work group must
include representatives from urban and rural institutions of higher
education, as defined by Section 61.003, Education Code. In
developing its evidence-based recommendations, the work group
shall consider the feasibility of implementing each
recommendation, a foster youth's access to the Preparation for
Adult Living Program, and the average length of time a foster youth
will remain in a placement [that ensures that youth 14 years of age
or older enrolled in the program receive relevant and
age-appropriate information and training]. The department shall
report the plan to the legislature not later than November
[December] 1, 2022 [2018]. This subsection expires September 1,
2023.
(a-7) The department shall ensure that before a youth leaves
foster care, each youth who is 14 years of age or older has an e-mail
address through which the youth may receive encrypted copies of
personal documents and records.
(e-1) If, at the time a youth is discharged from foster
care, the youth is at least 18 years of age or has had the
disabilities of minority removed, the department shall provide to
the youth, not later than the 30th day before the date the youth is
discharged from foster care, the following information and
documents unless the youth already has the information or document:
(1) the youth's birth certificate;
(2) the youth's immunization records;
(3) the information contained in the youth's health
passport;
(4) a personal identification certificate under
Chapter 521, Transportation Code;
(5) a social security card or a replacement social
security card, if appropriate; and
(6) a Medicaid card or other proof of the youth's
enrollment in Medicaid or an insurance card from a health plan that
provides health coverage to foster youth[, if appropriate].
(e-4) The youth's caseworker shall:
(1) assist the youth with developing a plan for
keeping the documents described by Subsection (e) in a safe place;
and
(2) inform the youth about the documents the youth is
required to receive before the date the youth is discharged from
foster care.
(g) For a youth taking prescription medication, the
department shall ensure that the youth's transition plan includes
provisions to assist the youth in managing the use of the medication
and in managing the child's long-term physical and mental health
needs after leaving foster care, including:
(1) provisions that inform the youth about:
(A) [(1)] the use of the medication;
(B) [(2)] the resources that are available to
assist the youth in managing the use of the medication; and
(C) [(3)] informed consent and the provision of
medical care in accordance with Section 266.010(l); and
(2) for each youth who is 17 years of age or older and
preparing to leave foster care, a program supervised by a health
care professional to assist the youth with independently managing
the youth's medication.
SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 264, Family Code, is
amended by adding Section 264.1214 to read as follows:
Sec. 264.1214. HOUSING FOR HOMELESS YOUTH AGING OUT OF
FOSTER CARE. (a) For a youth who will voluntarily enter extended
foster care on the youth's 18th birthday, the youth's caseworker
shall, not later than six months before the youth's 18th birthday,
complete any necessary transitional living or supervised
independent living paperwork to ensure the youth has housing on the
date the youth enters extended foster care. Not later than the 90th
day before the youth's 18th birthday, the caseworker shall review
the qualifications and requirements for the youth's housing.
(b) If a youth intends to continue living with the youth's
substitute care provider after the youth's 18th birthday, the
department shall waive any background check otherwise required for
the youth to remain living with the substitute care provider.
(c) For a youth who continues living with the youth's
substitute care provider after the youth's 18th birthday, the youth
may share a bedroom with another youth who is 16 years of age or
older provided the age difference between the youths does not
exceed two years.
(d) A substitute care provider who prohibits a youth from
living in the facility after the youth's 18th birthday shall notify
the youth's caseworker of that fact:
(1) not later than:
(A) the 90th day before the youth's 18th birthday
if the facility is a foster home; or
(B) six months before the youth's 18th birthday
if the facility is a cottage family home or general residential
operation; or
(2) as soon as possible if the youth is placed in a
foster home, cottage family home, or general residential operation
less than six months before the youth's 18th birthday.
(e) After receiving notice under Subsection (d), the
youth's caseworker shall verbally communicate with the youth about
the youth's living arrangements and document the substance of the
communication in the youth's case file.
(f) The department shall assist a youth living in a
supervised independent living program arrangement to develop a
rental history by allowing the youth to cosign the lease for the
youth's housing provided the property owner does not object.
(g) The department by rule shall establish a protocol that
may be implemented for a youth to prevent the youth from aging out
of a residential treatment center. The protocol, if implemented,
must be implemented not later than the youth's 17th birthday or at
the time the youth is placed in a residential treatment center after
the youth's 17th birthday.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 700 was passed by the House on May 6,
2021, by the following vote: Yeas 146, Nays 0, 1 present, not
voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
No. 700 on May 28, 2021, by the following vote: Yeas 138, Nays 9, 1
present, not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 700 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 24, 2021, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays
0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor