(A) Each public children services agency
(PCSA) shall, when requested, provide services and support to former foster
care recipients, who emancipated from agency custody due to attaining eighteen
years of age. A PCSA shall evaluate the strengths and needs of the young adult
to determine the services to be offered. The services and supports are to
complement the young adult's own efforts to achieve self- sufficiency and to
assure that the program participant recognizes and accepts their personal
responsibility for preparing for and then making the transition from
adolescence to adulthood. The services and supports shall be available until
the young adult's twenty-first birthday.
(B) Before a PCSA provides services to a
young adult between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one, the PCSA shall explore
and coordinate services with other community resources. The PCSA shall
coordinate with ODJFS programs and other community resources including, but not
limited to the following:
(1)
Bridges.
(2) Comprehensive case
management and employment program (CCMEP).
(3) Other local community
resources.
(C) Based on
the evaluation required by paragraph (A) of this rule, the PCSA and the young
adult shall develop a mutually agreed
upon plan
in SACWIS for the provision of services. The plan
shall clearly outline the responsibilities of the young adult and the PCSA.
A copy
of the plan shall be signed by the young adult and a representative of
the agency.
(D) The PCSA shall
include or update contact information in the plan in
SACWIS on any of the youth's connections with significant others, such as
former foster parents, friends, mentors and extended family members. The
contact information shall include names, addresses and phone numbers, whenever
known and shall be documented in the state automated child welfare information
system (SACWIS).
(E) The PCSA shall
make available the following independent living services to young adults aged
eighteen to twenty-one including, but not limited to:
(1) Academic support including:
(a) Academic counseling.
(b) Preparation for a GED.
(c) Assistance in applying for or studying
for a GED exam.
(d)
Tutoring.
(e) Help with
homework.
(f) Study skills
training.
(g) Literacy
training.
(h) Help accessing
educational resources.
(2) Post secondary educational support
including:
(a) Classes for test
preparation.
(b) Counseling about
college.
(c) Information about
financial aid and scholarships.
(d)
Help completing college or loan applications.
(e) Tutoring while in college.
(3) Career preparation including:
(a) Vocational and career assessment, career
exploration and planning, guidance in setting and assessing vocational and
career interests and skills and help in matching interests and abilities with
vocational goals.
(b) Job seeking
and job placement support, identifying potential employers, writing resumes,
completing job applications, developing interview skills, job shadowing,
receiving job referrals, using career resource libraries, understanding
employee benefits coverage, and securing work permits.
(c) Retention support and job
coaching.
(d) Learning how to work
with employers and other employees.
(e) Understanding workplace values such as
timeliness and appearance.
(f)
Understanding authority and customer relationships.
(4) Employment programs or vocational
training including:
(a)
Youth's participation in an apprenticeship,
internship, or summer employment program.
(b)
Youth's
participation in vocational or trade programs and the receipt of training in
occupational classes for such skills as cosmetology, auto mechanics, building
trades, nursing, computer science, and other current or emerging employment
sectors.
(5) Budget and
financial management including:
(a) Living
within a budget.
(b) Opening and
using a checking/ savings account.
(c) Balancing a checkbook.
(d) Developing consumer awareness and smart
shopping skills.
(e) Accessing
information about credit, loans and taxes.
(f) Filling out tax forms.
(6) Housing, education and home
management including:
(a) Assistance or
training in locating and maintaining housing, filling out a rental application
and acquiring a lease, handling security deposits and utilities, understanding
practice for keeping a healthy and safe home, understanding tenants rights and
responsibilities, and handling landlord complaints.
(b) Lessons in food preparation, laundry,
housekeeping, living cooperatively, meal planning, grocery shopping and basic
maintenance and repairs and driving instructions.
(7) Health education and risk prevention
including:
(a) Hygiene, nutrition, fitness and
exercise, and first aid information.
(b) Medical and dental care benefits, health
care resources and insurance, prenatal care and maintaining personal medical
records.
(c) Sex education,
abstinence education, and HIV prevention, education and information about
sexual development and sexuality, pregnancy prevention and family planning and
sexually transmitted diseases and AIDS, substance abuse prevention and
intervention, including education and information about the effects and
consequences of substance use (alcohol, drugs, tobacco) and substance avoidance
and intervention.
(8)
Mentoring including matched with a screened and trained adult for a one-on-one
relationship involving the two meeting on a regular basis. Mentoring can be
short-term, but may also support the development of a long-term
relationship:
(9) Supervision
services for a young adult living in a supervised independent living
arrangement including a young adult living independently under a supervised
arrangement that is paid for or provided by the county agency. A young adult in
supervised independent living is not supervised twenty-four hours a day by an
adult and often is provided with increased responsibilities, such as paying
bills, assuming leases, and working with a landlord, while under the
supervision of an adult.
(10) Room
and board financial assistance including room and board financial assistance
that is a payment paid for or provided by the county agency for room and board,
rent deposits, utilities, and other household start-up expenses.
(11) Education financial assistance including
educational financial assistance that is a payment paid for or provided by the
county agency for education or training, allowances to purchase textbooks,
uniforms, computers, and other educational supplies; tuition assistance;
scholarships; payment for educational preparation and support services, and
payment for GED and other educational tests. The financial assistance also
includes vouchers for tuition or vocational education or tuition waiver
programs paid for or provided by the county agency.
(12) Other financial assistance including
financial assistance for any other payments made or provided by the county
agency to help the youth live independently.
(F) The PCSA may only use up to thirty per
cent of its Chafee federal independent living allocation for room and board
pursuant to rule
5101:9-6-35 of
the Administrative Code for eighteen to twenty-one year old youth who
emancipated. Bridges participants receiving Title IV-E maintanence are not
eligible for the Chafee room and board allocation. Room and board may include
but is not limited to:
(1) Assistance with
rent.
(2) Initial rent
deposit.
(3) Utilities.
(4) Utility deposits.
(G) Under no circumstances shall the PCSA use
any of its independent living allocation for room and board for youth under the
age of eighteen or past the young adult's twenty-first birthday.
(H) PCSAs shall report applicable independent
living services information for young adults as required in rule
5101:2-33-70
of the Administrative Code, according to the statewide automated child welfare
information system (SACWIS) reporting requirements.
(I) The PCSA shall provide a copy of the
agency's grievance policy as required by rule
5101:2-33-20
of the Administrative Code to each young adult requesting independent living
services from the agency.
(J) The
PCSA shall ensure that youth who have reached age nineteen or twenty-one are
participating in state and federal studies in accordance with the Ohio
department of job and family services (ODJFS). The PCSA shall inform the youth:
(1) How to access the survey.
(2) The benefits of participating in the
survey include:
(a) Increase youth financial
self-sufficiency.
(b) Improve youth
educational, academic or vocational attainment.
(c) Increase youth connections with
adults.
(d) Reduce homelessness
among youth.
(e) Reduce high-risk
behavior among youth.
(f) Improve
youth access to health insurance.
(3) They may be eligible for an incentive
once they complete the survey.