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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 2334
(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Kiss and Delegates Michael, Perdue, Amores,
Brown and Palumbo)
[Passed April 9, 2005; in effect ninety days from passage.]
AN ACT to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §49-7-34, relating to
creating a commission to study the out-of-state placement of
children; providing for members and a chair; providing study
topics; and requiring certain reporting requirements on
specific goals.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
ARTICLE 7. GENERAL PROVISIONS.
§49-7-34. Commission to study residential placement of children.
(a)
The Legislature finds that the state's current system of
serving children and families in need of or at risk of needing
social, emotional and behavioral health services is fragmented.
The existing categorical structure of government programs and their
funding streams discourages collaboration, resulting in duplication
of efforts and a waste of limited resources. Children are usually
involved in multiple child-serving systems, including child
welfare, juvenile justice and special education. More than ten
percent of children presently in care are presently in out-of-state placements. Earlier efforts at reform have focused on quick fixes
for individual components of the system at the expense of the
whole. It is the purpose of this section therefore to establish a
mechanism to achieve systemic reform by which all of the state's
child-serving agencies involved in the residential placement of at-
risk youth jointly and continually study and improve upon this
system and make recommendations to their respective agencies and to
the Legislature regarding funding and statutory, regulatory and
policy changes. It is further the Legislature's intent to build
upon these recommendations to establish an integrated system of
care for at-risk youth and families that makes prudent and cost-
effective use of limited state resources by drawing upon the
experience of successful models and best practices in this and
other jurisdictions, which focuses on delivering services in the
least restrictive setting appropriate to the needs of the child,
and which produces better outcomes for children, families and the
state.
(b) There is hereby created within the Department of Health
and Human Resources a Commission to Study the Residential Placement
of Children. The Commission shall consist of the Secretary of the
Department of Heath and Human Resources, the Commissioner of the
Bureau for Children and Families, the Commissioner for the Bureau
for Behavioral Health and Health Facilities, the Commissioner for
the Bureau for Medical Services, the State Superintendent of
Schools, a representative of local educational agencies, the
Director of the Office of Institutional Educational Programs, the Director of the Office of Special Education Programs and Assurance,
the Director of the Division of Juvenile Services and the Executive
Director of the Prosecuting Attorney's Institute. At the
discretion of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, circuit
and family court judges and other court personnel, including the
administrator of the Supreme Court of Appeals and the director of
the Juvenile Probation Services Division, may serve on the
Commission. These statutory members may further designate
additional persons in their respective offices who may attend the
meetings of the Commission if they are the administrative head of
the office or division whose functions necessitate their inclusion
in this process. In its deliberations, the Commission shall also
consult and solicit input from families and service providers.
(c) The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human
Resources shall serve as chair of the Commission, which shall meet
on a monthly basis at the call of the chairman.
(d) At a minimum, the Commission shall study:
(1) The current practices of placing children out-of-home and
into in residential placements, with special emphasis on out-of-
state placements;
(2) The adequacy, capacity, availability and utilization of
existing in-state facilities to serve the needs of children
requiring residential placements;
(3) Strategies and methods to reduce the number of children
who must be placed in out-of-state facilities and to return
children from existing out-of-state placements, initially targeting older youth who have been adjudicated delinquent;
(4) Staffing, facilitation and oversight of multidisciplinary
treatment planning teams;
(5) The availability of and investment in community-based,
less restrictive and less costly alternatives to residential
placements;
(6) Ways in which up-to-date information about in-state
placement availability may be made readily accessible to state
agency and court personnel, including an interactive secure web
site;
(7) Strategies and methods to promote and sustain cooperation
and collaboration between the courts, state and local agencies,
families and service providers, including the use of inter-agency
memoranda of understanding, pooled funding arrangements and sharing
of information and staff resources;
(8) The advisability of including "no-refusal" clauses in
contracts with in-state providers for placement of children whose
treatment needs match the level of licensure held by the provider;
(9) Identification of in-state service gaps and the
feasibility of developing services to fill those gaps, including
funding;
(10) Identification of fiscal, statutory and regulatory
barriers to developing needed services in-state in a timely and
responsive way;
(11) Ways to promote and protect the rights and participation
of parents, foster parents and children involved in out-of-home care; and
(12) Ways to certify out-of-state providers to ensure that
children who must be placed out-of-state receive high quality
services consistent with this state's standards of licensure and
rules of operation.
(e) Beginning July 1, 2005, the Chair, or his or her designee,
shall report on the work of the Commission to the legislative
Juvenile Task Force during the Legislature's monthly interim
meetings.
(f) On or before December 1, 2005, the Commission shall report
to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance its conclusions
and recommendations, including an implementation plan whereby:
(1) Out-of-state placements shall be reduced by at least ten
per cent per year and by at least fifty percent within three years;
(2) Child-serving agencies shall develop joint operating and
funding proposals to serve the needs of children and families that
cross their jurisdictional boundaries in a more seamless way;
(3) Steps shall be taken to obtain all necessary federal plan
waivers or amendments in order for agencies to work collaboratively
while maximizing the availability of federal funds;
(4) Agencies shall enter into memoranda of understanding to
assume joint responsibilities;
(5) System of care components and cooperative relationships
shall be incrementally established at the local, state and regional
levels, with links to existing resources, such as family resource
networks and regional summits, wherever possible; and
(6) Recommendations for changes in fiscal, statutory and
regulatory provisions are included for legislative action.