10609.4. (Amended by Stats. 2022, Ch. 50, Sec. 40.)

(a) On or before July 1, 2000, the State Department of Social Services, in consultation with county and state representatives, foster youth, and advocates, shall do both of the following:

(1) Develop statewide standards for the implementation and administration of the Independent Living Program established pursuant to the federal Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (Public Law 99-272).

(2) Define the outcomes for the Independent Living Program and the characteristics of foster youth enrolled in the program for data collection purposes.

(b) Consistent with federal law and reporting requirements, each county department of social services shall submit to the department an annual Independent Living Program report, which shall include the following:

(1) An accounting of federal and state funds expended for implementation of the program. A county shall spend no more than 30 percent of federal Independent Living Program funds on housing. Expenditures shall be related to the specific purposes of the program. It is the intent of the Legislature that the department, in consultation with counties, shall develop a process for reporting that satisfies federal law and reporting requirements. Program purposes may include, but are not limited to, all of the following:

(A) Enabling participants to seek a high school diploma or its equivalent or to take part in appropriate vocational training, and providing job readiness training and placement services, or building work experience and marketable skills, or both.

(B) Providing training in daily living skills, budgeting, locating and maintaining housing, and career planning.

(C) Providing for individual and group counseling.

(D) Integrating and coordinating services otherwise available to participants.

(E) Providing each participant with a written transitional independent living plan that will be based on an assessment of the participant’s needs, that includes information provided by persons who have been identified by the participant as important to the participant in cases in which the participant has been in out-of-home placement for six months or longer from the date the participant entered foster care, consistent with the participant’s best interests, and that will be incorporated into their case plan.

(F) Providing participants who are within 90 days of attaining 18 years of age, or older as the state may elect under Section 475(8)(B)(iii) of the federal Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 675(8)(B)(iii)), including those former foster care youth receiving Independent Living Program Aftercare Services, the opportunity to complete the exit transition plan as required by paragraph (16) of subdivision (f) of Section 16501.1.

(G) Providing participants with other services and assistance designed to improve independent living.

(H) Convening persons who have been identified by the participant as important to them for the purpose of providing information to be included in their written transitional independent living plan.

(2) Counties shall ensure timely and accurate data entry into the statewide child welfare information system for all youth receiving services pursuant to this section.

(3) Counties shall ensure that eligible foster care youth continue to receive information about, and are provided with an opportunity to complete, the National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD) survey, based on an updated process that shall be developed jointly by the department, in consultation with counties to ensure maximum participation in the survey completion and compliance with federal requirements, as follows:

(A) Counties shall provide information to the youth about the NYTD survey within 60 days prior to the date the current or former foster youth is required to be offered the survey.

(B) Within 45 days following the youth in foster care turning 17 years of age, counties shall ensure that each youth has an opportunity to complete the NYTD survey as required by federal law.

(C) Counties shall contact the youth who completed the survey at age 17, in order to request that they complete the followup survey before their 19th and 21st birthdays.

(D) Counties shall provide opportunities for current and former eligible foster youth to take the NYTD survey online at child welfare services and probation offices.

(d) In consultation with the department, a county may use different methods and strategies to achieve the standards and outcomes of the Independent Living Program developed pursuant to subdivision (a).

(e) In consultation with the County Welfare Directors Association, the California Youth Connection, and other stakeholders, the department shall develop and adopt emergency regulations, no later than July 1, 2012, in accordance with Section 11346.1 of the Government Code that counties shall be required to meet when administering the Independent Living Program and that are achievable within existing program resources and any federal funds available for case management and case plan review functions for nonminor dependents, as provided for in the federal Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-351). The initial adoption of emergency regulations and one readoption of the initial regulations shall be deemed to be an emergency and necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety, or general welfare. Initial emergency regulations and the first readoption of those regulations shall be exempt from review by the Office of Administrative Law. The initial emergency regulations and the first readoption of those regulations authorized by this subdivision shall be submitted to the Office of Administrative Law for filing with the Secretary of State and each shall remain in effect for no more than 180 days.

(f) The department, in consultation with representatives of the Legislature, the County Welfare Directors Association, the Chief Probation Officers of California, the Judicial Council, representatives of tribes, the California Youth Connection, former foster youth, child advocacy organizations, labor organizations, dependency counsel for children, juvenile justice advocacy organizations, foster caregiver organizations, and researchers, shall review and develop modifications needed to the Independent Living Program to also serve the needs of nonminor dependents, as defined in subdivision (v) of Section 11400, eligible for services pursuant to Section 11403. These modifications shall include the exit transition plan required to be completed within the 90-day period immediately prior to the date the nonminor participant attains the age that would qualify the participant for federal financial participation, as described in Section 11403, pursuant to Section 675(5)(H) of Title 42 of the United States Code. Notwithstanding the Administrative Procedure Act, Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, through June 30, 2012, the department shall prepare for implementation of the applicable provisions of this section by publishing all-county letters or similar instructions from the director by October 1, 2011, to be effective January 1, 2012.

(g) Beginning in the 2011–12 fiscal year and for each fiscal year thereafter, funding and expenditures for programs and activities required under this section shall be in accordance with the requirements provided in Sections 30025 and 30026.5 of the Government Code.