83R6200 YDB-F
	By: Uresti	S.B. No. 886

	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	relating to extended foster care for certain young adults and the
	extended jurisdiction of a court in a suit affecting the
	parent-child relationship involving those young adults.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Sections 263.601(1), (3-a), and (4), Family
	Code, are amended to read as follows:
	(1)  "Extended foster [Foster] care" means a
	[voluntary] residential living arrangement in which a young adult
	voluntarily delegates to the department responsibility for the
	young adult's placement and care and in which the young adult
	resides with a foster parent or other residential services
	[child-care] provider that is:
	(A)  licensed or approved by the department or
	verified by a licensed or certified child-placing agency; and
	(B)  paid under a contract with the department.
	(3-a)  "Trial independence [period]" means the status
	assigned to a young adult under Section 263.6015 [a period of not
	less than six months, or a longer period as a court may order not to
	exceed 12 months, during which a young adult exits foster care with
	the option to return to foster care under the continuing extended
	jurisdiction of the court].
	(4)  "Young adult" means a person [between 18 and 21
	years of age] who[:
	[(A)]  was in the conservatorship of the
	department on the day before the person's 18th birthday[; and
	[(B)     after the person's 18th birthday, resides in
	foster care or receives transitional living services from the
	department].
	SECTION 2.  Subchapter G, Chapter 263, Family Code, is
	amended by adding Section 263.6015 to read as follows:
	Sec. 263.6015.  TRIAL INDEPENDENCE. (a) A young adult is
	assigned trial independence status when the young adult:
	(1)  does not enter extended foster care at the time of
	the young adult's 18th birthday; or
	(2)  exits extended foster care before the young
	adult's 21st birthday.
	(b)  Except as provided by Subsection (c), a court order is
	not required for a young adult to be assigned trial independence
	status. Trial independence is mandatory for a period of at least
	six months beginning on:
	(1)  the date of the young adult's 18th birthday for a
	young adult described by Subsection(a)(1); or
	(2)  the date the young adult exits extended foster
	care.
	(c)  A court may order trial independence status extended for
	a period that exceeds the mandatory period under Subsection (b) but
	does not exceed one year from the date the period under Subsection
	(b) commences.
	(d)  Except as provided by Subsection (e), a young adult who
	enters or reenters extended foster care after a period of trial
	independence must complete a new period of trial independence as
	provided by Subsection (b)(2).
	(e)  The trial independence status of a young adult ends on
	the young adult's 21st birthday.
	SECTION 3.  Sections 263.602(a), (b), (f), and (g), Family
	Code, are amended to read as follows:
	(a)  Except as provided by Subsection (f), a [A] court that
	had [continuing, exclusive] jurisdiction over a young adult on the
	day before the young adult's 18th birthday continues to have
	extended jurisdiction over the young adult and shall retain the
	case on the court's docket while the young adult is [remains] in
	extended foster care and during [a] trial independence as [period]
	described by Section 263.6015 [this section].
	(b)  A court with extended jurisdiction over a young adult
	[who remains] in extended foster care shall conduct extended foster
	care review hearings every six months for the purpose of reviewing
	and making findings regarding:
	(1)  whether the young adult's living arrangement is
	safe and appropriate and whether the department has made reasonable
	efforts to place the young adult in the least restrictive
	environment necessary to meet the young adult's needs;
	(2)  whether the department is making reasonable
	efforts to finalize the permanency plan that is in effect for the
	young adult, including a permanency plan for independent living;
	(3)  whether, for a young adult whose permanency plan
	is independent living:
	(A)  the young adult participated in the
	development of the plan of service;
	(B)  the young adult's plan of service reflects
	the independent living skills and appropriate services needed to
	achieve independence by the projected date; and
	(C)  the young adult continues to make reasonable
	progress in developing the skills needed to achieve independence by
	the projected date; and
	(4)  whether additional services that the department is
	authorized to provide are needed to meet the needs of the young
	adult.
	(f)  Unless the court extends its jurisdiction over a young
	adult beyond the end of trial independence as provided by Section
	263.6021(a) or 263.603(a), the court's [A court with] extended
	jurisdiction over a young adult as described in Subsection (a)
	terminates on [shall continue to have jurisdiction over the young
	adult and shall retain the case on the court's docket until] the
	earlier of:
	(1)  the last day of the month in which trial
	independence ends [:
	[(A)     sixth month after the date the young adult
	leaves foster care; or
	[(B)     12th month after the date the young adult
	leaves foster care if specified in a court order, for the purpose of
	allowing the young adult to pursue a trial independence period]; or
	(2)  the young adult's 21st birthday.
	(g)  A court with extended jurisdiction described by this
	section is not required to conduct periodic hearings described in
	this section for a young adult during [a] trial independence
	[period] and may not compel a young adult who has elected to not
	enter or has exited extended foster care to attend a court hearing.
	A court with extended jurisdiction during trial independence may,
	at the request of a young adult, conduct a hearing described by
	Subsection (b) or by Section 263.6021 to review any transitional
	living services the young adult is receiving during trial
	independence.
	SECTION 4.  Sections 263.6021(a) and (b), Family Code, are
	amended to read as follows:
	(a)  Notwithstanding Section 263.602, a court that had
	[continuing, exclusive] jurisdiction over a young adult on the day
	before the young adult's 18th birthday may, at the young adult's
	request, render an order that extends the court's jurisdiction
	beyond the end of [a] trial independence [period] if the young adult
	receives transitional living services from the department.
	(b)  Unless the young adult reenters extended foster care
	before the end of the court's extended jurisdiction described by
	Subsection (a), the [The] extended jurisdiction of the court under
	this section terminates on the earlier of:
	(1)  the young adult's 21st birthday; or
	(2)  the date the young adult withdraws consent to the
	extension of the court's jurisdiction in writing or in court.
	SECTION 5.  Section 263.603, Family Code, is amended by
	adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
	(d)  Notwithstanding any other provision of this subchapter,
	a young adult for whom a guardian is appointed and qualifies is not
	considered to be in extended foster care or trial independence and
	the court's jurisdiction ends on the date the guardian for the young
	adult is appointed and qualifies unless the guardian requests the
	extended jurisdiction of the court under Section 263.604.
	SECTION 6.  The changes in law made by this Act to Subchapter
	G, Chapter 263, Family Code, apply to a suit affecting the
	parent-child relationship that is:
	(1)  filed on or after the effective date of this Act;
	and
	(2)  pending in a trial court on the effective date of
	this Act, regardless of the date on which the suit was filed.
	SECTION 7.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.