A bill that would extend foster care to age 21 passed the Florida Senate unanimously on Friday. Every senator on the floor was a co-sponsor.
Senator Nancy Detert, a Venice Republican, has championed foster care reform for ten years. She said the bill was needed because former foster kids have higher rates of homelessness, poverty and crime. Detert cited a high school student who turned 18 on Thanksgiving Day."And all she could think of was, 'I'm being put out on the street for Thanksgiving.' She didn't have a family", Detert said.
The bill gives youth in state custody the choice of 'aging out' at 18, as is now the law, or staying in their foster or group homes until 21. They can also change their minds later on.
The House companion was temporarily postponed in order to take up the Senate bill.