Who is eligible for the extended foster care?

You were in Department of Child Safety custody as a dependent child on the day you turned 18. You are 18, 19, or 20 years old. You are an Arizona resident. You sign a voluntary extended foster care agreement with the Department. You help build your own case plan for out of home care.

When does the extended foster care close?

You have to sign the agreement between your 18th birthday and your 21st birthday. At 21 it ends and it does not reopen.

Extended foster care

You can stay in care past 18 and keep housing and a caseworker until you turn 21. You have to sign for it, and it does not happen automatically.

Formally, the Voluntary Extended Foster Care.

What it is worth: Continued out of home care, a case plan, and a caseworker, from 18 through the day before you turn 21.
Who decides: The Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS). A child safety worker, other Department staff, or a tribal social services representative makes the referral.
The date that matters: You have to sign the agreement between your 18th birthday and your 21st birthday. At 21 it ends and it does not reopen.

Eligibility

Whether this is yours

You were in Department of Child Safety custody as a dependent child on the day you turned 18.
You are 18, 19, or 20 years old.
You are an Arizona resident.
You sign a voluntary extended foster care agreement with the Department.
You help build your own case plan for out of home care.

Limits

What it will not cover

Stated plainly, because planning around a gap you know about is possible and planning around one you find out about in November is not.

It does not continue past your 21st birthday under any condition.
It is not automatic. If nobody hands you the agreement, you have to ask for it.

How to claim it

What you actually do

1Ask your child safety worker for the voluntary extended foster care agreement before you turn 18 if you can.
2If you already left, you can ask to come back. Re-entry is available any time until you turn 21.
3You will be asked to meet one participation condition: finishing school, working at least 80 hours a month, taking part in a program that helps you get work or removes a barrier to work, or having a documented medical condition that makes school or work impossible right now.

Watch for

The things people get caught by

These are the misunderstandings that cost people money, not general advice.

Leaving is not permanent. If you signed out at 18 and it went badly, you can re-enter until 21. A lot of people do not know this.
The 80 hours a month is roughly 20 hours a week. Two part time jobs count. So does one.
A documented medical condition is its own category. You do not have to be in school or working to qualify under it.
Signing this agreement at 18 is a condition of the Grand Canyon University Fostering Futures scholarship, which covers tuition, fees, and year round room and board. Turning it down at 18 closes that door before you ever apply to a college.

Put this on a calendar

A deadline you know about and a deadline you remember are different things. The timing map takes one date and gives you the next twelve months, with nothing saved and no account required.

Build your timing map See the other four

Sources

Where this comes from

Arizona Revised Statutes 8-521.02 and 8-521.03
DCS Program Policy Chapter 5, Section 32, Voluntary Extended Foster Care
DCS Program Policy Chapter 5, Section 36, Transitional Independent Living Program and Re-Entry
Juvenile Law Center, Extended Foster Care in Arizona

Not yet verified at the source

We have not checked this page against Department of Child Safety Program Policy Chapter 5, Sections 32 and 36, or the Young Adult Program pages at dcs.az.gov. Until we have, confirm anything time sensitive with the office named above before you rely on it.