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House advances H.657 to aid unaccompanied youth, protect certain benefits and tighten restraint rules
Summary
H.657 was advanced after committee reports and floor amendments. The bill removes Reach Up asset limits, bars DCF from offsetting some foster children's Social Security benefits, creates a certification process for 16–17-year-old unaccompanied youth to obtain IDs and services, and imposes new statutory standards, documentation and reporting for secure transport and restraint and seclusion.
The Vermont House advanced H.657, a comprehensive package of policy changes aimed at unaccompanied homeless youth and statutory reforms within the Department for Children and Families (DCF). Sponsors described the bill as a multi-part effort to reduce trauma, protect benefits for children in state care, expand practical supports for unaccompanied 16- and 17-year-olds, and create enforceable standards and reporting for secure transport and the use of restraints and seclusion.
Sponsors said the bill contains seven core components: eliminating asset limits for Reach Up eligibility to allow families to save; prohibiting DCF from using a child’s Social Security benefits to reimburse the state (except as required to preserve federal eligibility limits); creating a certification process that allows eligible unaccompanied 16- and 17-year-olds to obtain non‑driver IDs, medical…
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