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Effective: 01/08/2026

C12.6 Transition Planning for Youth Age 17 and Older

Legal Authority

Introduction

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Formal transition planning is provided to all committed youth beginning at age seventeen (17). This planning and associated services are designed to help youth successfully transition from foster care to adulthood.​​​​​​

Practice Guidance

​

  • Transition planning is essential to ensure youth have the necessary information to make informed decisions about their future, transition to adulthood, wellbeing, and other aspects of their case and permanency planning. Youth should be well supported in this process. 
  • Transition planning meetings are strength-based, youth-driven, personalized, and should be as detailed as the youth desires.
  • While early transition planning can be incorporated into the case planning conference, the transition planning meeting ninety (90) days before the youth’s eighteenth (18th) birthday and before exit from out-of-home care (OOHC) should be face-to-face and dedicated solely to transition planning. 
  • The participants for a case planning conference may differ from those invited to attend the ninety (90) day transition plan meeting.
  • Empowering youth to inform and determine their service provision, transition planning, and future is a core principle.
  • Videoconferencing technology may be used for the initial transition planning and annual meetings for youth who live more than sixty (60) miles from the office. However, transition planning meetings must be conducted face-to-face ninety (90) days before the eighteenth (18th) and twenty-first (21st) birthdays. 
  • For a young adult who may transition from foster care upon or after reaching the age of eighteen (18), permanency may not be achieved through reunification, adoption, or placement with relatives. However, these youth still need lifelong supportive connections. It is essential to the youth’s success to assist them in identifying those stable, reliable, and supportive adults who will continue to provide various supports through and beyond transition from OOHC.
  • When relationships with significant adults have developed based on the youth being in OOHC, it is necessary to determine whether those supportive relationships will continue once the youth exits care. It is important to identify significant adults in the youth’s life who may serve as mentors or lifelong connections, and to include these adults in transition planning. This may consist of family members, teachers, current or former foster parents, employers, former coaches, parents of friends, or others who have been influential in the youth’s life. 
  • A Permanency Pact is a defined and verbalized commitment by the youth and a supportive adult that provides structure and a safety net for the youth through a long-term and supportive relationship, as well as clarity regarding the expectations of the relationship. A Permanency Pact creates a formalized, facilitated process to connect youth in foster care with a supportive adult. The process of developing a Permanency Pact has proven successful in clarifying the relationship and identifying mutual expectations. A committed, caring adult may provide a lifeline for a youth after transition from care. 
  • Many youth transitioning from OOHC have relationships with family members that may not always support their well-being. This may be addressed in transition planning, allowing youth to work with service providers, while still in OOHC, on embracing positive and supportive aspects of those relationships, while also developing a plan and skills to set healthy boundaries.  
  • Transitional services should be provided according to the developmental needs and differing stages of independence of the youth. Services should not be seen as a single event, but rather as a series of activities designed over time to support the youth in attaining a level of self-sufficiency that allows for a productive adult life.
  • Resources for youth aged seventeen (17) and older include:
    • The Life Skills Reimagined LYFT Learning curriculum;
    • Youth Development Funds, as described in SOP C12.3 Normalcy and Youth Development Funds;
    • Education assistance, which may be in the form of tuition waivers or education training vouchers; and 
    • Aftercare services, case management, and assistance with room and board following transition from OOHC until age twenty-three (23).
  • ​Medicaid benefits continue until age twenty-six (26) for youth who were enrolled in Medicaid and in foster care upon attaining either age eighteen (18) (or older if on extended commitment and qualifying for Title IV-E foster care benefits);
  • Youth without legal status are ineligible for continued Medicaid after exiting care;​
  • Federal law requires youth to be provided with information. 


Procedure

​The SSW: 
  1. Follows procedures in SOP C7.17 Ongoing Case Planning​;
  2. Permits a child age fourteen (14) and older to designate up to two (2) additional people to participate in the case planning conference, one (1) of whom may be designated as the child’s advisor, and when necessary, to advocate concerning the application of the reasonable and prudent parent standard (RPPS), as outlined in SOP C7.28 Normalcy for Children and Youth in Out of Home Care​ (Section 475 (1) (B) of the Social Security act); 
  3. Provides youth with information about their rights at each case planning conference, including how to access that information and other resources on the KY RISE website or mobile app;
  4. Provides youth aged fourteen (14) and over with a list of programs and services that will help prepare them for the transition to successful adulthood, and which are documented in the case plan;
  5. Provides youth with information about designating a power of attorney (POA) for health care in the event the youth is incapable of making decisions for themselves;    
  6. Ensures that the youth is a primary contributor, understands, and signs the plan; 
  7. Refers committed youth aged sixteen (16) and older to the transitional living specialist (r);
  8. Works in partnership with the T​LS to ensure that formal transition planning begins at age seventeen (17); 
  9. Participates in all transition meetings in-person, by phone, or virtually;
  10. Requests FSOS participation in transition meetings if unable to attend;
  11. Reviews the transition plan in the case planning conference and subsequent periodic reviews for all youth aged seventeen (17) and older; 
  12. Supports the youth in making well-informed decisions about their future, transition to adulthood, wellbeing, and other aspects of their case and permanency planning;
  13. Notifies the TLS of regularly scheduled case planning conferences for the youth; 
  14. Participates in transition planning meetings for youth aged seventeen (17) and older scheduled by the TLS; 
  15. Ensures that youth have a state-issued identification (ID) at age sixteen (16), following procedures in SOP C12.19 State ID and Drivers License for Youth in Care; 
  16. Assists youth age fifteen (15) and older who will have the opportunity to drive with obtaining an instructional permit or driver’s license following procedures in SOP C12.19 State ID and Drivers License for Youth in Care, including referring to the TLS for participation in the Driver Readiness program;
  17. Supports youth in extending commitment or returning to care following procedures in SOP C12.12 Extended Commitment and Youth Returning to Care​ when that is the youth’s desire;
  18. Follows all procedures in SOP C12.13 Exit from Out-of-Home Care (OOHC) at Age 18 or Older when a youth wishes to transition at age eighteen (18) or older, including providing necessary documents, free of charge, to include the following:
    1. ​An official birth certificate;
    2. Social Security card;
    3. Health insurance information;
    4. A state-issued ID card; 
    5. 'A copy of the youth’s DCBS case history, including medical records, family medical history, and placement history; and
    6. Custody verification letter.
The Transitional Living Specialist (TLS):
  1. Provides consultation and guidance to the SSW on meeting the needs of youth aged seventeen (17) and older;
  2. Initiates formal transition planning for youth beginning at age seventeen (17);
  3. Schedules and facilitates transition planning meetings within forty-five (45) days after a youth turns age seventeen (17) and within ninety (90) days prior to a youth becoming age eighteen (18);
  4. Facilitates additional transition planning meetings for youth who extend commitment at age nineteen (19), age twenty (20), and within ninety (90) days prior to a youth turning twenty-one (21) and exiting OOHC; 
  5. Assists the youth in identifying supports to attend the transition planning meetings and may include teachers, mentors, employers, family members, foster/adoptive parents, guardians ad litem, mental health providers, etc.;
  6. Educates everyone in attendance at the transition planning meeting about the Permanency Pact tool and discusses next steps in completing a permanency pact ceremony for those interested, following procedures in SOP C12.25 Ensuring Positive Permanent Connections and Relationship Skills; 
  7. Ensures transition planning includes discussion of:
    1. ​Specific options for housing;
    2. Health insurance;
    3. Designating a health care proxy;
    4. Education;
    5. Mentoring opportunities;
    6. Continuing support services;
    7. Workforce supports; and 
    8. Employment services; 
  8. Facilitates annual transition planning meetings at age nineteen (19) and age twenty (20) for youth on extended commitment, and within ninety (90) days prior to a youth becoming age twenty-one (21);
  9. Assists youth with accessing and navigating resources on the KY RISE website and mobile app; 
  10. Assists youth aged seventeen (17) and older with accessing the Life Skills Reimagined curriculum; 
  11. Facilitates Readiness to Drive meetings; 
  12. Supports youth in extending commitment or returning to OOHC following procedures in SOP C12.12 Extended Commitment and Youth Returning to Care when that is the youth’s desire; and  
  13. Supports youth if they exit at age eighteen (18) or older, following procedures in SOP C12.13 Exit from Out-of-Home Care (OOHC) at Age 18 or Older​.






Documents

Revisions