Effective Date of Rule: Thirty-one days after filing.

     Purpose: To clarify eligibility for extended foster care, participation and documentation requirements and expectations for youth participating in the program. ESHB 2592 enables Washington state to access a federal match of funds under 2008 federal legislation "Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act." The act provides an option permitting states to use Title IV-E foster care funds for youth who wish to pursue secondary or post-secondary education programs from age eighteen up to twenty-one years old. ESHB 2592 authorizes continued extended foster care services for youth ages eighteen to twenty-one years to complete a postsecondary academic or postsecondary vocational education program. Because of the range and complexity of delivering foster care and legal services relating to this program, children's administration has collaborated with advocates, judicial officers, legal counsel for children and the department, service providers, youth, foster parents, JRA, DDD, others in developing the proposed WACs to govern the program.

     Citation of Existing Rules Affected by this Order: Amending WAC 388-25-0110 and 388-148-0010.

     Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 74.13.031 and 13.34.267.

     Other Authority: 2008 Federal legislation "Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act."

      Adopted under notice filed as WSR 13-03-021 on January 7, 2013.

     Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 24, Amended 2, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

     Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

     Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's Own Initiative: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

     Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

     Number of Sections Adopted Using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0;      Pilot Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 24, Amended 2, Repealed 0.

     Date Adopted: March 21, 2013.

Katherine I. Vasquez

Rules Coordinator

     Reviser's note: The material contained in this filing exceeded the page-count limitations of WAC 1-21-040 for appearance in this issue of the Register. It will appear in the 13-09 issue of the Register.