Extended out-of-home care to 21 years of age for persons who are completing secondary education, enrolled in postsecondary or vocational education, participating in an employment program or activity, employed at least part-time, or incapable of doing any of those activities due to a medical condition, providing an exemption from emergency rule procedures, providing an exemption from rule-making procedures, and granting rule-making authority. (FE)

What it would have done

Summary by the Legislative Reference Bureau, the Legislature's nonpartisan drafting office. It's their wording, not ours.

This bill permits a child to remain in a foster home, group home, or residential care center for children and youth, in the home of a relative, or in a supervised independent living arrangement (out-of-home care) until the child attains 21 years of age if the child 1) is a full-time student at a secondary school or its vocational or technical equivalent and is reasonably expected to complete the program before reaching 21 years of age; 2) is enrolled in an institution that provides postsecondary or vocational education; 3) is participating in a program or activity designed to promote, or remove barriers to, employment; 4) is employed for at least 80 hours per month; or 5) is incapable of doing any of those activities due to a medical condition, which incapacity is supported by regularly updated information in the child's permanency plan. The bill also permits a relative, guardian, or adoptive parent of such a child to continue receiving kinship care payments, subsidized guardianship payments, or adoption assistance for the care and maintenance of such a child until the child attains 21 years of age.

Under current law, the federal Department of Health and Human Services provides foster care and adoption assistance under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act for the care of persons under 18 years of age and, at the option of a state, for persons under 19, 20, or 21 years of age, as a state may elect, who are 1) completing secondary education or a program leading to an equivalent credential; 2) enrolled in an institution that provides postsecondary or vocational education; 3) participating in a program or activity designed to promote, or remove barriers to, employment; 4) employed for at least 80 hours per month; or 5) incapable of doing any of those activities due to a medical condition, which incapacity is supported by regularly updated information in the child's case plan. Currently, this state permits a person to remain in out-of-home care until he or she has attained 19 years of age, if he or she is is a full-time student at a secondary school or its vocational or technical equivalent and is reasonably expected to complete the program before reaching 19 years of age, and permits a person to remain in out-of-home care until he or she has attained 21 years of age, if he or she is a full-time student at a secondary school or its vocational or technical equivalent and if an individualized education program, which is a program under which special education and related services are provided to a person with a disability, is in effect for the person.

Who's behind it

7 lawmakers are its authors⁠. All 7 are Democrats.

1 more lawmaker signed on in support⁠.