Summary — SR 310 (2025): Senate Study Committee on Additional Services and Resources for Transition‑Age Youth in Foster Care
Status: Resolution adopted
Introduced: March 20, 2025
Abolishment (sunset) date for committee: December 1, 2025
Note: The bill package as provided also contains language from a separate memorial resolution honoring Eldon L. Quick (Illinois). The operative text summarized below is the SR 310 resolution that creates a Senate study committee on services for transition‑age youth in foster care.
Purpose and intent
SR 310 creates a temporary Senate Study Committee to review existing services, identify gaps, and recommend additional services or legislative actions to improve outcomes for transition‑age youth (roughly ages 16–21) who have foster care experience. The resolution cites research showing these youth lag their peers on key indicators (educational attainment, postsecondary enrollment, employment, stable housing, etc.) and asserts that better information is needed to shape effective supports.
Key provisions
- Creates the "Senate Study Committee on Additional Services and Resources for Transition Age Youth in Foster Care."
- Membership: five members of the Senate, appointed by the President of the Senate. The President will designate the committee chair.
- Authority/duties: study the conditions, needs, issues, and problems facing transition‑age foster youth and recommend any actions or legislation the committee deems necessary.
- Meetings: convened by the chair; may meet at times and places the committee determines.
- Allowances and funding:
- Legislative members receive allowances pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 28‑1‑8.
- Allowances limited to five days per member unless additional days are authorized.
- Necessary funds to carry out the resolution come from funds appropriated to the Senate.
- Reporting requirements:
- If the committee adopts findings or recommendations that include suggested legislation, the chair must file a report before the committee is abolished.
- Non‑legislative reports must also be filed before abolishment.
- No report may be filed unless approved by majority vote of a quorum of the committee; the chair must sign filed reports.
- If no approved report exists, the chair may file committee minutes in lieu of a report.
- Sunset: the committee is abolished on December 1, 2025.
Data cited in the resolution
The resolution references a 2021 study reporting outcomes for 21‑year‑olds with foster care experience compared to peers:
- High school diploma / equivalent: 79% (foster youth) vs. 92% (peers)
- Postsecondary enrollment/training: 24% vs. 50%
- Employed (full or part time): 55% vs. 64%
Who is affected
- Primary focus: transition‑age youth with foster care experience in the state.
- Secondary stakeholders likely to be engaged or affected: state child welfare agencies, juvenile and adult services, higher education institutions, workforce and employment programs, housing authorities, advocacy groups, and county/city governments that administer supports.
Potential impact
- Short term: centralized fact‑finding, stakeholder engagement, and identification of service gaps and barriers for transition‑age foster youth.
- Medium term: committee recommendations may lead to proposed legislation, budget requests, or administrative changes to expand education, housing stability, employment supports, parenting supports, and reentry interventions for this population.
- Fiscal impact: limited to allowances and operational costs charged to Senate appropriations; any policy or program recommendations could carry separate budget implications if adopted.
Sponsors and procedural history
Primary sponsors (as listed): Senators Kim Jackson; Brian Strickland; Bo Hatchett; Randy Robertson; Derek Mallow; Matt Brass; Kay Kirkpatrick; Paul Faraci. Chief co‑sponsor: Sen. Chapin Rose. Status entries show introduction on March 20, 2025, Senate passage/adoption in late March 2025, and final filing/ adoption entries in May 2025. The committee will operate until its December 1, 2025 sunset unless further action extends it.
If you want, I can draft a short list of stakeholders the committee should invite to testify or a template of possible data the committee should collect (education, housing, employment, child welfare services used, outcomes by race/region).
