I do not have the "Text Message Forwarding" option on my phone and I'm on the latest version, any idea why?

In the support article that you were reading when you posted this question to the community it says ….

Don't see the Text Message Forwarding setting on your iPhone? Go to Settings > Messages, turn off iMessage, turn it back on, tap Send & Receive, tap Use Your Apple ID for iMessage, then sign in with the same Apple ID used on your other devices.

Did you try that?