Chairman Knaperek stated that she wanted a complete understanding of how this will work. She explained that two groups of children will be served. She referred to statute, which indicates that they may establish a program rather than shall and this is due to the federal funding.
Application has to be made for the transitional living dollars.
Bruce Liggett, Assistant Director, Department of Economic Services , stated that the Department supports full implementation of the Independent Living Program. He stated that there is a huge need for these types of services to help youth transition from foster care towards self-sufficiency. He explained that this is a rare opportunity to implement a program without any additional State costs and do something really important for our youth. In response to inquiry from Representative Daniels, Mr. Liggett explained that this was just passed in December of 1999 and had this happened sooner, it may have been an agency bill. In response to inquiry from Representative Anderson, Mr. Liggett explained that he was unaware of how many other states were taking this opportunity to implement similar programs.