§ 483-C — Coordinated children's services for children with emotional and/or behavioral disorders

§ 483-c. Coordinated children's services for children with emotional\nand/or behavioral disorders. 1. Purpose. The purpose of this section\nshall be to establish a coordinated system of care for children with\nemotional and behavioral disorders, and their families, who require\nassistance from multiple agency systems to appropriately maintain such\nchildren with their families, in their communities and in their local\nschool systems. Such system of care shall provide for the effective\ncollaboration among state and local health, mental hygiene, education,\njuvenile justice, probation of care and other human services agencies\ndirected at improving outcomes for children with emotional and/or\nbehavioral disorders and their families leading to full participation in\ntheir communities and schools. This shall include children with\nco-occurring disorders. The absence of coordinated care often results in\ninappropriate and costly institutional placements and limited\ncommunity-based services that support maintaining the child in the\ncommunity. Establishing the coordinated children's services initiative\nstatewide is intended to improve the manner in which services of\nmultiple systems are delivered and to eliminate barriers to a\ncoordinated system of care.\n 2. Definitions. As used in this section:\n (a) "Child with an emotional and/or behavioral disorder" shall mean a\nperson under eighteen years of age, or a person under twenty-one years\nof age who has not completed secondary school, who has a mental illness,\nas defined in subdivision twenty of section 1.03 of the mental hygiene\nlaw, or is classified as a student with a disability pursuant to article\neighty-nine of the education law or section 504 of the federal\nrehabilitation act, or is considered to have a serious emotional or\nbehavioral problem, as considered by a tier I and/or tier II team\nrepresentative pursuant to this section. Such term shall include\nchildren with co-occurring disorders.\n (b) "Individualized family support plan" shall mean a plan developed\nin conjunction with the family through a strength-based child and family\nassessment containing a summary of the strengths, needs and goals of a\nchild with an emotional and/or behavioral disorder, and the services and\nsupports agreed to by the child, family and the tier I team\nrepresentatives.\n (c) "Family" shall mean, when appropriate, a child with an emotional\nand/or behavioral disorder, his or her parents or those in parental\nrelationship to the child, blood relatives and extended family,\nincluding non-relatives identified by the child and/or parents. Nothing\nin this section shall be construed to deny the child, his or her parents\nor those persons in parental relationship to the child of any rights\nthey are otherwise entitled to by law.\n (d) "County" shall mean a county, except in the case of a county that\nis wholly included within a city, such term shall mean such city.\n (e) "Family support representative" shall mean a volunteer who is also\na parent or primary caregiver of a child with an emotional and/or\nbehavioral disorder. The family support representative shall assist\nfamilies throughout the process of developing and implementing an\nindividualized family support plan as defined in this section.\n 3. Interagency structure. (a) There shall be established a three\ntiered interagency structure, as follows:\n (i) State tier III team. There is hereby established a state team\ndesignated as the "tier III team", which shall consist of the chair of\nthe council, the commissioners of children and family services, mental\nhealth, health, education, alcoholism and substance abuse services, and\nthe office for people with developmental disabilities, and the director\nof the office of probation and correctional alternatives, or their\ndesignated representatives, and representatives of families of children\nwith emotional and/or behavioral disorders. Other representatives may be\nadded at the discretion of such team.\n (ii) County tier II team. A county, or consortium of counties,\nchoosing to participate in the coordinated children's services\ninitiative shall establish an interagency team consisting of, but not\nlimited to, the local commissioners or leadership assigned by the chief\nelected official responsible for the local health, mental hygiene,\njuvenile justice, probation and other human services systems. The\neducation system shall be represented by the district superintendent of\nthe board of cooperative educational services, or his or her designee,\nand in the case of the city of New York, by the chancellor of the city\nschool district of the city of New York, or his or her designee, and\nappropriate local school district representatives as determined by the\ndistrict superintendent of the board of cooperative educational services\nor such chancellor. Such team shall be sensitive to issues of cultural\ncompetence, and shall include representatives of families of children\nwith an emotional and/or behavioral disorder. Regional state agency\nrepresentatives may participate when requested by such team.\n (iii) Family-based tier I team. Tier II teams, in cooperation with a\nchild with an emotional and/or behavioral disorder and his or her\nfamily, shall establish interagency teams to work with such child and\nfamily to develop an individualized, strength-based family support plan\nand coordinate interagency services agreed to in such plan. Such teams\nshall include such child and family and, based on the needs of the child\nand family, should also include a family support representative,\nrepresentatives from the mental hygiene, education, juvenile justice,\nprobation, health, and other county child and family services systems.\n (b) Roles and responsibilities of teams. (i) The state tier III team\nshall coordinate statewide implementation of the coordinated children's\nservices initiative. Such team shall:\n (A) coordinate planning across the health, mental hygiene, education,\njuvenile justice, probation and human services systems;\n (B) address barriers to the effective delivery of local interagency\nservices;\n (C) coordinate the provision of technical assistance and training for\nthe effective implementation of the coordinated children's services\ninitiative;\n (D) develop an appropriate reporting mechanism to track the outcomes\nbeing achieved. Such mechanism shall be developed in concert with\nparticipating counties; and\n (E) report results and recommendations for change to the governor,\nlegislature and state board of regents, as appropriate.\n (ii) The tier II teams shall coordinate the coordinated children's\nservices initiative at the local level. Such team shall:\n (A) coordinate cross-systems training and provide linkages to other\ncounty and school district planning for children;\n (B) address local/regional barriers to the coordination of services;\n (C) report on state level barriers to the effective delivery of\ncoordinated services and recommended changes to the state tier III team;\n (D) report on outcomes using the mechanism developed by the state tier\nIII team;\n (E) implement the goals and principles of the coordinated children's\nservices initiative; and\n (F) make monies available consistent with subdivision five of this\nsection.\n (iii) Each tier I team shall work collaboratively with the family to\ndevelop an individualized family support plan that is:\n (A) family-focused and family driven;\n (B) built on child and family strengths; and\n (C) comprehensive, including appropriate services and supports from\nappropriate systems and natural supports from the community.\n 4. Goals and principles of operation. (a) Goals. The coordinated\nchildren's services initiative shall enable children with emotional\nand/or behavioral disorders, whenever appropriate for the child and\nfamily to:\n (i) reside with their families;\n (ii) live and participate successfully in their communities;\n (iii) attend and be successful in their local school systems; and\n (iv) grow towards becoming independent, contributing members of the\ncommunity.\n (b) Principles of operation. The tier III and II teams shall provide a\nsystem for serving children with emotional and/or behavioral disorders\nthat is:\n (i) community-based, allowing children and families to receive\nservices close to their home;\n (ii) culturally competent;\n (iii) individualized and strengths-based in approach;\n (iv) family friendly, involving the family as full and active partners\nat every level of decision making, including policy development,\nplanning, treatment and service delivery;\n (v) comprehensive, involving all appropriate parties, including but\nnot limited to the family, child, natural supports, provider agencies\nand other necessary community services;\n (vi) funded through multiple systems with flexible funding mechanisms\nthat support creative approaches;\n (vii) unconditionally committed to the success of each child; and\n (viii) accountable with respect to use of agreed on and measured\noutcomes.\n 5. Funding. Counties and school districts, including boards of\ncooperative educational services as requested by component school\ndistricts, choosing to participate in the coordinated children's\nservices initiative, unless expressly prohibited by law, shall have the\nauthority to:\n (a) combine state and federal resources of the participating county\nand educational agencies to provide services to groups or individual\nchildren and their families necessary to maintain children with\nemotional and/or behavioral disorders in their homes, communities and\nschools, and support families in achieving this goal, as long as the use\nof the funds is consistent with the purposes for which they were\nappropriated; and\n (b) apply flexibility in use of funds, pursuant to an individualized\nfamily-support plan, or for collaborative programs, an agreement among\nthe county, city and school districts or the board of cooperative\neducational services, monies combined pursuant to paragraph (a) of this\nsubdivision may be used to allow flexibility in determining and applying\ninterventions that will address the unique needs of the family. The tier\nIII team shall develop guidelines for the flexible use of funds in\nimplementing an individualized family support plan.\n 6. Administration and reports. The council shall be responsible for\nthe administration of the provisions of this section.\n (a) The tier III team shall submit a report to the council detailing\nthe effectiveness in reaching the goals and objectives of the program\nestablished by this section. Such report shall include recommendations,\nbased on the experience gained pursuant to the provisions of this\narticle, for modifying statewide policies, regulations or statutes. The\ncouncil shall forward such report to the governor, the legislature and\nthe state board of regents on or before the first day of July of each\nyear, including the recommendations of the tier III members regarding\nthe feasibility and implications of implementing the recommendations.\n (b) The tier III team shall have authority to receive funds and work\nwithin agency structures, as agreed to by member agencies, to administer\nfunds for the purposes of carrying out its responsibilities.\n (c) Parents and representatives of families, who are not compensated\nfor attendance as part of their employment, shall be compensated for\ntheir tier III team participation and reimbursed for actual expenses,\nincluding, but not limited to, child care.\n 7. Confidentiality. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of state\nlaw to the contrary, tier I, II and III team participants in the\ncoordinated children's services system shall have access to case record\nand related treatment information as necessary to support the purposes\nof this section, to the extent permitted by federal law.\n (b) Tier I, II and III team participants shall protect the\nconfidentiality of all individual identifying case record and related\ntreatment information, and prevent access thereto, by, or the\ndistribution thereof to, other persons not authorized by State or\nfederal law.\n