§ 20-47-703 — Findings

The General Assembly finds: (1) The system for providing behavioral healthcare services to children, youth, and their families should ensure that those services are appropriate, cost-effective, and provided in the least restrictive settings; (2) Behavioral health and other services identified in § 20-47-502(10) are provided to children and youth by various departments, agencies, and providers at both the state and local level, often without appropriate or effective collaboration; (3) Providing effective services for children with the most severe needs requires many areas of expertise and shared responsibility among the aforementioned departments, agencies, and providers; and (4) The system of behavioral health care should be built upon the foundation established by the Child and Adolescent Service System Program principles identified in § 20-47-503 . The guiding principles for establishing the system of care should be: (A) The system should be family-driven, child-centered, and youth-guided and should include family participation at all levels of the services system; (B) The system should be community-based with decision-making responsibility and management at the regional and local levels; and (C) The system should be culturally competent, with agencies, programs, and services responsive to the cultural and individual differences of the populations they serve.

Legislative History

Acts 2007, No. 1593, § 1.