Foster youth in transition program - established

The foster youth in transition program is established in the state department to be implemented in county departments throughout the state to provide extended child welfare services to eligible youth eighteen years of age or older but less than twenty-one years of age, or such greater age of foster care eligibility as required by federal law. Each county department shall make the transition program available to eligible youth on a voluntary basis. The child welfare services provided through the transition program must be client-directed and developmentally appropriate, as set forth in a voluntary services agreement developed and entered into pursuant to section 19-7-306 and, when required, overseen by the juvenile court in a youth in transition proceeding brought pursuant to this part 3. The state department is encouraged to submit, as part of the annual budget process, a request for increased appropriations to fund the increased caseload for the transition program.