Pilot Program for Youth in Foster Care

The bill creates the fostering success pilot program (pilot program) in the department of human services (department). The pilot program is a 2-part program, which includes:

• The supplemental support for foster students program (supplemental support program), which awards $2,000 scholarships annually to a foster care provider, kinship foster care provider, or a non-certified kinship care provider (provider) who cares for a youth in the legal custody of a county department of human or social services until the youth graduates from high school; and
• The milestone incentives program (milestone program), which awards $1,000 to a youth for successfully graduating from high school.

On or before September 30, 2025, subject to available appropriations, the department shall contract with a third-party administrator (administrator) to develop, implement, and administer the pilot program. The department shall contract with an administrator that is:

• A nonprofit organization;
• Experienced working with students and families; and
• Experienced administering student scholarship and grant programs.

On or before December 31, 2025, subject to available appropriations, the department shall establish a timeline for:

• Announcing the pilot program;
• Accepting applications from youth and their providers; and
• Selecting youth and their providers to participate in the pilot program.

The department shall select youth and provider participants in the order of applications received. A youth and their provider selected to participate in the pilot program must participate in the supplemental support program and the milestone program.

The administrator may contract with one or more private entities to develop and implement a system to establish scholarship accounts that allows payment to qualifying vendors by electronic means from an online portal.

The administrator shall:

• Ensure that the scholarship account is accessible through an online portal for the provider to facilitate payments to a qualifying vendor for the supplemental support program;
• Ensure the transfer of scholarship funds from the online portal directly to a qualifying vendor without direct access to scholarship funds by a provider; and
• Distribute money to each scholarship account.

The administrator shall ensure that a youth has sole access to the milestone program award funds. There are no restrictions on how the youth may use the milestone program award funds.

On or before July 1, 2028, the administrator shall administer a survey to youth and their providers to receive feedback on the pilot program.

On or before October 31, 2028, the administrator shall report to the department the following information:

• The number of participants selected for the pilot program;
• The amount of money awarded through the pilot program;
• The survey results from youth and their providers; and
• How the pilot program affected the youth's performance in school.

On or before December 31, 2028, the department shall submit a report summarizing the information collected from the survey to the education committees of the house of representatives and senate, the health and human services committees of the house of representatives and senate, or their successor committees.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)