BP BHEAD INT S [atlas:bill]

AN ACT Relating to teen parent eligibility for temporary assistance for needy families; amending RCW 74.12.255, 74.04.0052, and 74.08A.380; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that there is an abundance of scientific, medical, educational, and psychosocial evidence demonstrating the negative effects of unmarried minor teen childbearing on mother and baby.

Infants born to unmarried minor teens are significantly more likely to have low birth weight and related health problems, trouble in school, and trouble with the criminal justice system. Girls born to unmarried minor teen parents are more likely to become teen parents themselves. The teen parents, the infant, and in many cases society itself pay the price for such unsupported and ill-prepared childbirth.

The legislature is concerned with the well-being of minor teen parents and their infants and children, including their living situation, and their educational and employment needs. Therefore, the legislature intends that unmarried minor teen parents applying for public assistance meet standards of safety, education, and responsible behavior. The legislature intends that, in cases where these teen parents are uncooperative with the standards, the minor parent head of the assistance unit and the minor parent's child or children be denied public assistance benefits until cooperation with legal requirements for temporary assistance for needy families for teens is achieved. The legislature intends that, during the period of noncompliance, children of uncooperative minor teen parents be ineligible for assistance, including child-only benefits.

Sec. 2. RCW 74.12.255 and 1997 c 58 s 501 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) The department shall determine, after consideration of all relevant factors and in consultation with the applicant, the most appropriate living situation for applicants under eighteen years of age, unmarried, and either pregnant or having a dependent child or children in the applicant's care. An appropriate living situation shall include a place of residence that is maintained by the applicant's parents, parent, legal guardian, or other adult relative as their or his or her own home and that the department finds would provide an appropriate supportive living arrangement. It also includes a living situation maintained by an agency that is licensed under chapter 74.15 RCW that the department finds would provide an appropriate supportive living arrangement. Grant assistance shall not be provided under this chapter to the teen parent and his or her child or children if the applicant does not reside in the most appropriate living situation, as determined by the department.

(2) An unmarried minor parent or pregnant minor applicant residing in the most appropriate living situation, as provided under subsection (1) of this section, is presumed to be unable to manage adequately the funds paid to the minor or on behalf of the dependent child or children and, unless the minor provides sufficient evidence to rebut the presumption, shall be subject to the protective payee requirements provided for under RCW 74.12.250 and 74.08.280.

(3) The department shall consider any statements or opinions by either parent of the unmarried minor parent or pregnant minor applicant as to an appropriate living situation for the minor and his or her children, whether in the parental home or other situation. If the parents or a parent of the minor request, they or he or she shall be entitled to a hearing in juvenile court regarding designation of the parental home or other relative placement as the most appropriate living situation for the pregnant or parenting minor.

The department shall provide the parents or parent with the opportunity to make a showing that the parental home, or home of the other relative placement, is the most appropriate living situation. It shall be presumed in any administrative or judicial proceeding conducted under this subsection that the parental home or other relative placement requested by the parents or parent is the most appropriate living situation. This presumption is rebuttable.

(4) In cases in which the minor is unmarried and unemployed, the department shall, as part of the determination of the appropriate living situation, make an affirmative effort to provide current and positive information about adoption including referral to community-based organizations for counseling and provide information about the manner in which adoption works, its benefits for unmarried, unemployed minor parents and their children, and the meaning and availability of open adoption.

(5) For the purposes of this section, "most appropriate living situation" shall not include a living situation including an adult male who fathered the qualifying child and is found to meet the elements of rape of a child as set forth in RCW 9A.44.079.

Sec. 3. RCW 74.04.0052 and 1997 c 58 s 502 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) The department shall determine, after consideration of all relevant factors and in consultation with the applicant, the most appropriate living situation for applicants under eighteen years of age, unmarried, and pregnant who are eligible for general assistance as defined in RCW 74.04.005(6)(a)(ii)(A). An appropriate living situation shall include a place of residence that is maintained by the applicant's parents, parent, legal guardian, or other adult relative as their or his or her own home and that the department finds would provide an appropriate supportive living arrangement. It also includes a living situation maintained by an agency that is licensed under chapter 74.15 RCW that the department finds would provide an appropriate supportive living arrangement. Grant assistance shall not be provided under this chapter to the teen parent and his or her child or children if the applicant does not reside in the most appropriate living situation, as determined by the department.

(2) A pregnant minor residing in the most appropriate living situation, as provided under subsection (1) of this section, is presumed to be unable to manage adequately the funds paid to the minor or on behalf of the dependent child or children and, unless the minor provides sufficient evidence to rebut the presumption, shall be subject to the protective payee requirements provided for under RCW 74.12.250 and 74.08.280.

(3) The department shall consider any statements or opinions by either parent of the unmarried minor parent or pregnant minor applicant as to an appropriate living situation for the minor, whether in the parental home or other situation. If the parents or a parent of the minor request, they or he or she shall be entitled to a hearing in juvenile court regarding designation of the parental home or other relative placement as the most appropriate living situation for the pregnant or parenting minor.

(4) In cases in which the minor is unmarried and unemployed, the department shall, as part of the determination of the appropriate living situation, provide information about adoption including referral to community-based organizations providing counseling.

Sec. 4. RCW 74.08A.380 and 1997 c 58 s 503 are each amended to read as follows:

All applicants under the age of eighteen years who are approved for assistance and, within one hundred eighty days after the date of federal certification of the Washington temporary assistance for needy families program, all unmarried minor parents or pregnant minor applicants shall, as a condition of receiving benefits, actively progress toward the completion of a high school diploma or a GED. Unmarried minor teen parents who do not cooperate with this requirement shall, during the period of noncooperation, be ineligible for grant assistance and their children shall be ineligible for child-only grant assistance.