BILL REQ. #:  H-1880.1 

READ FIRST TIME 02/17/11.   

     AN ACT Relating to extended foster care services; and creating new sections.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The Washington state legislature has consistently provided national leadership on safe housing and support to foster youth transitioning out of foster care. Since 2004, the legislature has addressed the needs of foster youth aging out of care with the independent youth housing program (2004), foster care to twenty-one (2006), and Washington's alignment with the federal fostering connections act (2009). As a result of this national leadership to provide safe and basic housing to youth aging out of foster care, the programs have demonstrated the significant cost benefit to providing safe housing to our youth exiting foster care.
     The United States congress passed the fostering connections to success and increasing adoptions act of 2008 in order to give states another financial tool to continue to provide foster care services to dependent youth who turn eighteen years old while in foster care. However, substantially declining revenues have resulted in markedly decreased funds for states to use to meet the federal requirements necessary to help these youth. Current fiscal realities require that the scope of programs must be narrowed.
     The Washington state legislature intends to serve, within the resources available, the maximum number of foster youth who are legally dependent on the state and who reach the age of eighteen while still in foster care. The legislature intends to provide these youth continued foster care services to support basic and healthy transition into adulthood. The legislature recognizes the extremely poor outcomes of unsupported foster youth aging out of the foster care system and is committed to ensuring that those foster youth who engage in positive, age-appropriate activities, including higher education and employment, receive the support that all Washington youth need to transition into independence and self-sufficiency. It is the intent of the legislature to fully engage in the fostering connections act by supporting foster youth to age nineteen with the goal of increasing support to age twenty-one as resources become available.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   The department of social and health services shall, within existing resources, develop a plan to implement the provisions of the fostering connections act to provide foster care services for youth up to the age of twenty-one years. The department shall consult with representatives from the department of commerce, the administrative office of the courts, and other appropriate agencies. The department shall present a report to the legislature no later than December 31, 2011.