DHS would provide voluntary foster care services through age 20

The Department of Human Services would provide extended foster care services, and eligible individuals could choose whether to participate. Services would cover people under 21 who were in DHS custody at age 18, or who entered guardianship or adoption at age 16 or older and no longer receive care from a parent or guardian. A person must be finishing high school or an equivalent program, attending postsecondary or vocational school, taking part in an employment-support activity, or working at least 80 hours per month. A person unable to meet those activities because of a medical condition must have regularly updated information in the case plan and follow the Department's recommended treatment. The Department must make rules and seek available funding to carry out the services. The act states both that it takes effect July 1, 2026, and that its emergency provisions take effect after passage and approval, so the start date is unclear.

The Department could share adoption information needed to keep care continuous for an adoptee who wants extended foster care services or to perform related duties. The provision covers Department-held adoption information about adoptees seeking extended foster care services and information needed for the Department's duties under the adoption assistance law. The information shared must be necessary for continuity of care or for carrying out the Department's legal duties. Other adoption records would remain subject to the law's confidentiality rules and authorized disclosure limits. The same unclear effective-date language applies: the act lists July 1, 2026, and also says the emergency provisions take effect after passage and approval.

Some people receiving adoption assistance could continue payments until age 21 if they meet listed education, work, or medical conditions. This applies to an individual who was at least 16 before the adoption assistance agreement took effect and who is covered by an adoption assistance agreement. The individual must be finishing secondary education, attending postsecondary or vocational school, taking part in an employment-support activity, or working at least 80 hours per month. A person unable to meet those activities because of a medical condition must have regularly updated information in the case plan. The text also says payments cannot continue when adoptive parents are no longer legally responsible for support or the child no longer receives financial support from them. The payment continuation applies to adoption assistance agreements other than agreements covered by the separate transition rule for agreements entered before the act's effective date.