Section 13.37-A. Transitional care

(a)  For purposes of this section, "transitional care" shall mean care
  and maintenance of persons:
    1. who were placed in  foster  care  by  a  social  services  district
  pursuant  to  article six of the social services law and who have become
  twenty-one years of age, or who were placed in a residential educational
  placement by a school district pursuant to article  eighty-nine  of  the
  education  law  and  who  are  no  longer  eligible for free educational
  services because they have completed  the  school  year  in  which  they
  became twenty-one;
    2. who were disabled and in need of residential care prior to becoming
  age  twenty-one  or  prior  to  becoming  ineligible  for free education
  services  and  who  have  since  remained  continuously   disabled   and
  continuously in need of residential care;
    3.  who  became  twenty-one  or became ineligible for free educational
  services prior to July first, nineteen hundred ninety-six;
    4. with respect to whom the office has approved a  plan  of  continued
  out  of  home care for the person but has not yet identified a currently
  available appropriate placement;
    5. whose residential needs can be met by the  facility  in  which  the
  persons  resided prior to becoming age twenty-one or becoming ineligible
  for free educational services; and
    6. who on July first, nineteen hundred ninety-eight are in receipt  of
  transitional  care, or who have continuously remained in the foster care
  or residential education placement where they had received  transitional
  care.
    (b)  The  office  shall  expend  funds to provide transitional care as
  described in this section.
    (c) Expenditures pursuant to subdivision (b) of this section shall  be
  approved only if and to the extent that:
    1.  the  office  has  an  agreement  with the residential facility for
  continued care of qualified persons at rates which are no  greater  than
  the  rates that would have been available if such persons were under age
  twenty-one;
    2. the facility understands and agrees to the right of the office  and
  such other state offices as the office may deem appropriate to visit and
  inspect  the  facilities and residents and to have access to any records
  or information necessary to assure that the care provided  is  safe  and
  appropriate  to  the  needs  of any persons residing in the facility for
  whom transitional care is being provided;
    3. the payments are made subject to any other requirements  identified
  by the office; and
    4.  an  application for supplemental security income benefits has been
  submitted, and any supplemental security income benefits received by the
  person, in excess of any reserved personal allowance amounts,  shall  be
  applied to reduce the cost of transitional care.
    (d)  The  office  shall  periodically forward to each facility that is
  providing transitional care a statement of the obligations the  facility
  assumes  by accepting payment pursuant to this section. The statement of
  obligations shall be established by the  office  and  provided  to  each
  facility.
    (e)  The  office  shall  discontinue payment for transitional care, in
  accordance  with  procedures  established  by  the   office,   for   any
  individual:
    1.  who  has been offered an appropriate, available adult placement or
  adult services, when such an offer has been made and  accepted,  or  has
  been  made and upheld by an administrative hearing, or has been made and
  the time to request an administrative appeal has expired;

    2. whose continued placement in a child care facility  or  residential
  school  may  adversely  affect the health, safety or welfare of children
  residing in the facility, based upon a determination  by  the  education
  department, or by the department of social services, and that the office
  will,  if  necessary  and  appropriate,  offer an adult placement to the
  individual on an expedited basis; or
    3. who is residing in a facility which has failed or refused  to  meet
  its  obligations pursuant to this section as a condition of funding, and
  that the office will, if  necessary  and  appropriate,  offer  an  adult
  placement to the individual on an expedited basis.