Ala. Admin. Code r. 660-5-48-.04

Current through Register Vol. 43, No. 1, October 31, 2024

Section 660-5-48-.04 - Program Development

(1)Program Components shall include:

(a)Control over their future, by involving the youth in an Individualized Service Plan. Their involvement in planning steps and goals to be achieved will help to assess and identify skill they need for life. Through the provision of such services as life skill development groups and youth advisory councils each individual has the opportunity to meet and learn from others while developing social skills. They are then empowered to directly participate in helping to designing activities that will help prepare them for self-sufficiency.

(b)Competency includes the educational attainment and life skills development that are provided through Independent Living Services

(c)Permanency includes helping the youth develop a network of reliable and responsible individuals who instill the youth with a sense of continuity and belonging and will serve as resources for assistance with problems encountered in the future.

(d)Usefulness can be fostered in youth by allowing them to provide services that benefit others while providing them opportunities to practice skills, gain valuable experience and develop relationships within the community. County Departments shall develop partnerships to promote volunteer and employment opportunities for youth in their community.

(2)Provision of Independent Living Services.

(a) Independent Living Services shall occur concurrently with continued effort to achieve permanency. Independent Living Services shall be directed toward achieving the following outcomes:

1. Improved attainment of education and employment; and

2. Avoidance of dependency, homelessness, non-martial childbirth, incarceration, and other high-risk behaviors.

(b) Placement Resources. Transitioning from the dependence of childhood to living independently as an adult is a process requiring a decrease in adult supervision. Two types of resources that may assist in this transition are:

1. Transitional living which is an alternative living arrangement that provides foster youth (ages 17 through 20) with opportunities to practice independent living skills in a variety of on-campus settings with decreasing degrees of care and supervision; and

2. Independent Living which is an alternative living arrangement whereby the youth lives in community based housing rather than in a foster home or on a group home campus. Ideally, this allows the youth the opportunity to continue the decreased care and supervision so that the youth will ultimately be responsible for their own care and will ultimately be prepared to live on their own in the same location when DHR no longer holds custody.

3.Placement Criteria. The youth must be between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one years of age before transitional or independent living can be considered. The court must approve the change in placement when transitional or independent living is determined appropriate; or if there is no court involvement, the parent/legal custodian must consent to the placement unless the youth is 19 years of age. Additional criteria is to be considered by the Individualized Services Planning Team to assess the potential success of the placements

4. Individualized Service Planning Requirement. Decisions and plans for living will be made by the Individual Service Planning (ISP) Team. Prior to foster youth moving into any licensed or approved transitional or independent living setting the team will assess the plan and give approval to implementing the plan. If a youth living arrangements are in need of a change or change due to an emergency, the ISP team shall meet within 72 hours to review the need for the change and to review and revise the youth's plan.

Author: Jerome Webb

Ala. Admin. Code r. 660-5-48-.04

New Rule: Filed July 8, 2002; effective August 12, 2002.

Statutory Authority: Consolidate Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA, P. L. 99-272); Foster Care Independence Act of 1999 (Chafee Act, P. L. 106-169); R.C. v Hornsby, No 88-H-1170-N, Consent Decree (M.D. Ala. Approved December 18, 1991).