1. (a)

   1. (1) The purpose of Transitional Youth Services (TYS) is to better prepare youth in Division of Children and Family Services custody, who are in an out-of-home placement or whose adoption or guardianship is finalized at sixteen (16) years of age or after, for successful transition to adulthood and to ensure that youth have access to an array of resources.
   2. (2) The Division of Children and Family Services shall ensure that each youth in foster care who reaches fourteen (14) years of age, or who enters foster care at or after fourteen (14) years of age, shall be provided the opportunity to take an active role in planning for his or her future.
   3. (3) Youth entering foster care between the ages of fourteen (14) and eighteen (18) will be immediately referred to the Transitional Services Coordinator (TSC).

2. (b) The Division of Children and Family Services shall:

   1. (1) Provide the youth with the opportunity to be actively engaged in all case/client plans impacting his or her future, including, but not limited to a transitional plan and a life plan;
   2. (2) Empower the youth with information regarding all available services and options and provide the youth with the opportunity to participate in services tailored to his or her individual needs and designed to enhance his or her ability to acquire the skills necessary to successfully enter adulthood;
   3. (3) Assist the youth in developing and maintaining healthy relationships and life connections with nurturing adults who can be a resource and positive guiding influence in his or her life after leaving foster care;
   4. (4) Provide the youth with basic information and documentation regarding his or her biological family and personal history;

   5. (5)

      1. (A) Provide the youth with information that relates to the healthcare needs of youth aging out of foster care, including options for health insurance after exiting care and the importance of designating another individual to make healthcare treatment decisions on behalf of the youth, if he or she becomes unable to participate in such decisions and does not have, or does not want, a relative who would otherwise be authorized to make such decisions;
      2. (B) Provide the youth with the option to execute a healthcare power of attorney, healthcare proxy, or other similar document recognized under state law; and
   6. (6) Inform the youth of his or her right to stay in care until age twenty-one (21).

3. (c)

   1. (1) Each youth shall be given the opportunity to create a transitional plan which encompasses all the life skills, resources, and future-planning for the youth’s successful transition into adult life.
   2. (2) The transition plan will be created with the support of the youth’s transitional team which will consist of adults whom the youth identifies as significant.
   3. (3) The youth’s primary Family Service Worker shall be responsible for the coordination of the youth’s transitional team and is responsible for the transitional plan and case plan as reflected in the court report.
   4. (4) The Transitional Services Coordinator is an appropriate support for some of the youth’s transitional plans and may serve on the transitional team if appropriate.
   5. (5) Because APPLA is the least permanent goal for a youth, the case plan and transitional plan shall address life connections.

4. (d)

   1. (1) The transitional plan shall allow for client protection.
   2. (2) If a youth is identified as legally impaired and likely to become endangered, the transitional plan shall include automatic referrals to the Division of Developmental Disabilities Services and/or Adult Protective Services as appropriate.
   3. (3) For youth with significant mental health issues, the transitional plan shall consider appropriate referrals and applications for postcare services (e.g., adult Social Security Insurance).
   4. (4) The youth and his or her attorney shall have the right to attend all staffings and to fully participate in the development of the transitional plan, to the extent that the youth is able to participate medically and developmentally.

5. (e) Chafee services.

   1. (1)

      1. (A) Each youth in Department of Human Services custody, fourteen (14) years of age or older, is eligible for Chafee services.
      2. (B) All Chafee services are voluntary.
      3. (C) Services provided are primarily education-oriented and training-oriented and are intended to keep youth in school while they obtain life skills and participate in other life preparation activities and plans to promote a successful transition to adulthood.

   2. (2) Chafee provides support for three (3) groups of the foster care population:

      1. (A) Youth in foster care, beginning at fourteen (14) years of age and continuing until the youth completes high school or other secondary educational program, may receive services such as life skills assessment, basic life skills training, and other services such as tutoring that can be approved on a case-by-case basis;
      2. (B) Youth may choose to remain in care until the age of twenty-one (21) and are eligible for Chafee services if they meet any of the following conditions:

6. (i) Youth is completing secondary education or a program leading to an equivalent credential;

   1. (ii) Youth is enrolled in an institution which provides post-secondary or vocational education;

      1. (iii) Youth is participating in a program or activity designed to promote, or remove barriers to, employment;

         1. (iv) Youth is employed for at least eighty (80) hours per month; and
         2. (v) Youth is incapable of doing any of the above described activities due to a medical condition, which incapability is supported by regularly updated information in the case plan; and
      2. (C) If a youth was in foster care on his or her eighteenth birthday, and the foster care case is closed, he or she will be eligible for after care services and support until twenty-one (21) years of age.

   2. (3)

      1. (A) Chafee also provides support for youth whose adoption or guardianship is finalized at sixteen (16) years of age or older.
      2. (B) Such youth are eligible for ETV (education training voucher) and may attend youth development activities and life skills classes.

   3. (4)

      1. (A) Assessments begin at fourteen (14) years of age and transitional services may begin at fourteen (14) years of age for youth already in foster care.
      2. (B) In cases where a youth younger than fourteen (14) years of age needs life skills training, the Director of the Division of Children and Family Services or designee may grant a waiver for services.

   4. (5)

      1. (A) The Division of Children and Family Services shall provide, either directly or through contract, those services identified in the life skills assessment that are indicated to help the youth achieve independence.
      2. (B) The case plan and/or transition plan must identify and address the specific skill needs of each youth.

      3. (C)

         1. (i) Each youth fourteen (14) to seventeen (17) years of age receiving transitional services shall be assessed annually using an appropriate life skills assessment tool.
         2. (ii) However, an individualized assessment shall be conducted every six (6) months to determine the youth’s progress in acquiring basic life skills and the skills necessary for a successful transition to adulthood.
      4. (D) Basic life skills will be assessed at each staffing held for a youth fourteen (14) years of age and older.
      5. (E) When the youth turns eighteen (18) years of age, assessments will be highly individualized.
   5. (6) If a youth was in foster care on or after his or her sixteenth birthday and was adopted before his or her eighteenth birthday, he or she will be eligible for services until his or her twenty-first birthday.
   6. (7) While incarcerated youth (prison, jail, Division of Youth Services custody) are ineligible for Chafee funding, the youth shall still be given the opportunity to plan for his or her future.
   7. (8) Opportunities shall be available for each foster parent caring for, or interested in caring for, a youth fourteen (14) years of age or older, and each Family Service Worker responsible for any youth, age fourteen (14) years of age or older, in helping youth acquire basic life skills.

   8. (9) Within thirty (30) days after the youth leaves foster care, the Division of Children and Family Services shall provide the youth the following:

      1. (A) A full accounting of all funds held by the department to which he or she is entitled;
      2. (B) Information on how to access the funds; and
      3. (C) When the funds will be available.

Codification Notes: This section as promulgated prior to codification into the Code of Arkansas Rules provided as follows: "01/2011"