Federal Disability Benefits for Foster Care Youth

Clarified that ALL federal benefits, including survivor and disability benefits, must be reserved specifically for the individual child or youth, preventing them from being used to pay general foster care costs.

Added a requirement for counties to document why a child is determined not to be reasonably expected to meet eligibility criteria for federal benefits.

Strengthened the requirement for counties to identify children as having a disability for state and federal reporting purposes when they are likely to be eligible for federal benefits.

Corrected several typos and formatting errors in the statute text, such as fixing 'STA TES' to 'STATES' and 'PURSUANTTOSUBSECTION' to 'PURSUANT TO SUBSECTION'.

Removed definitions for 'Cost of Care,' 'Federal Supplemental Security Income,' and 'Federal survivor benefits' that were present in the previous version.

Deleted a specific requirement for county departments to refer children under six years old to the department for out-of-home placement.

Added new Senate sponsors and updated the reading date to May 6, 2026.

Added a new mandate requiring county departments to refer children under six placed out-of-home to an agency for developmental screening within 45 days.

Updated the bill header to reflect the 'Revised' status and amendments adopted on second reading in the second house.

Changed the committee listing to include Senate committees alongside House committees.

Added new names to the list of House sponsors (Bacon, Boesenecker, Bradley, Carter, Duran, English, Jackson, Joseph, Keltie, Lieder, Lindsay, McCluskie, McCormick, Nguyen, Phillips, Ricks, Rutinel, Sirota, Smith, Stewart K., Story, and Weinberg).

Updated the header title from 'ENGROSSED' to 'REENGROSSED' and clarified that the version includes all amendments adopted in the House of Introduction.

Inserted a specific date (April 27, 2026) and label ('3rd Reading Unamended') into the bill summary notice.

Deleted specific text requiring county departments to initiate Federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) applications for eligible children and youth within a certain timeframe, removing detailed procedural steps for this process.

Replaced the specific mention of 'receiving' SSI with 'may qualify based on disability' to clarify that the intent is to identify potential eligibility rather than confirm current receipt.

Added 'survivor benefits' and 'disability benefits' to the list of federal benefits that must be set aside for children in foster care.

Modified the developmental screening trigger to apply when a county department is granted custody or authority for out-of-home placement of a child under six years old.

Added a requirement that the initial medical intake for children six years old or older must include an evaluation of growth, development, physical or behavioral health issues relevant to SSI requirements.

Added a new subsection requiring the initiation of the SSI application process within a specific timeframe if the county determines a child may be eligible.