(a) (1) Interagency collaboration and children’s program services shall be structured in a manner that will facilitate future implementation of the goals of Part 4 (commencing with Section 5850) of Division 5 to develop protocols outlining the roles and responsibilities of placing agencies and group homes regarding emergency and nonemergency placements of foster children in group homes.
(2) Components shall be added to state-county performance contracts required in Section 5650 that provide for reports from counties on how this section is implemented.
(3) The State Department of Health Care Services shall develop performance contract components required by paragraph (2).
(4) Performance contracts subject to this section shall document that the procedures to be implemented in compliance with this section have been approved by the county social services department and the county probation department.
(b) Funds specified in subdivision (a) of Section 17601 for services to wards of the court and dependent children of the court shall be allocated and distributed to counties based on the number of wards of the court and dependent children of the court in the county.
(c) A county may utilize funds allocated pursuant to subdivision (b) only if the county has established an operational interagency placement committee, with a membership that includes at least the county placement agency and a licensed mental health professional from the county department of mental health. If necessary, the funds may be used for costs associated with establishing the interagency placement committee.
(d) Subsequent to the establishment of an interagency placement committee, funds allocated pursuant to subdivision (b) shall be used to provide services to wards of the court and dependent children of the court jointly identified by county mental health, social services, and probation departments as the highest priority. Every effort shall be made to match those funds with funds received pursuant to Title XIX of the federal Social Security Act, contained in Subchapter 19 (commencing with Section 1396) of Chapter 7 of Title 42 of the United States Code.
(e) (1) Each interagency placement committee shall establish procedures whereby a ward of the court or dependent child of the court, or a voluntarily placed child whose placement is funded by the Aid to Families with Dependent Children-Foster Care Program, who is to be placed or is currently placed in a group home program at a rate classification level 13 or rate classification level 14 as specified in Section 11462.001, is assessed as seriously emotionally disturbed, as described in subdivision (a) of Section 5600.3.
(2) The assessment required by paragraph (1) shall also indicate that the child or youth is in need of the care and services provided by that group home program.
(f) The interagency placement committee shall document the results of the assessment required by subdivision (e) and shall notify the appropriate group home provider and county placing agency, in writing, of those results within 10 days of the completion of the assessment.
(g) If the child’s or youth’s placement is not funded by the Aid to Families with Dependent Children-Foster Care Program, a licensed mental health professional, as defined in subdivision (g) of Section 4096, shall certify that the child has been assessed as seriously emotionally disturbed, as described in subdivision (a) of Section 5600.3.
(h) This section shall only apply to a group home that has been granted an extension pursuant to the exception process described in subdivision (d) of Section 11462.04 or that has been granted an extension pursuant to the exception process described in subdivision (d) of Section 11463.1.
(i) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2017.
(j) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2019, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2019, deletes or extends that date.
(Added by Stats. 2015, Ch. 773, Sec. 57. (AB 403) Effective January 1, 2016.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018