(a) The department shall establish regulations for short-term residential therapeutic programs that are operated as children’s crisis residential programs. At a minimum, the regulations shall include all of the following:
(1) Therapeutic programming shall be provided seven days a week, including weekends and holidays, with sufficient mental health professional and paraprofessional staff, as required by the facility’s children’s crisis residential mental health program approval in accordance with the standards and procedures established pursuant to Section 11462.011 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, to maintain an appropriate treatment setting and services, based on individual children’s needs.
(2) The program shall be staffed with sufficient personnel to accept children 24 hours per day, seven days a week and to admit children, at a minimum, from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week, 365 days per year. The program shall be sufficiently staffed to discharge children, as appropriate, seven days a week, 365 days per year.
(3) Facilities shall be limited to fewer than 16 beds, with at least 50 percent of those beds in single-occupancy rooms.
(4) Facilities shall include ample physical space for accommodating individuals who provide daily emotional and physical supports to each child and for integrating family members into the day-to-day care of the youth.
(5) The program shall collaborate with each child’s existing mental health team, if applicable, child and family team, if applicable, and other formal and natural supports within 24 hours of intake and throughout the course of care and treatment as appropriate.
(6) The program shall create and assist with the implementation of a plan for transitioning each admitted child from the program to his or her home and community, including the establishment of a mental health or child and family team if there is not one already.
(b) The program shall annually provide the department with all of the following data as it pertains to children in foster care and children not in foster care in conjunction with its application for licensure renewal:
(1) Age and gender of clients served.
(2) Duration of stay.
(3) Professional classification of staff and contracted staff.
(4) Type of placement the client was discharged to.
(Added by Stats. 2017, Ch. 704, Sec. 4. (AB 501) Effective January 1, 2018.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018