5861-5864
WELFARE AND INSTITUTIONS CODE
SECTION 5861-5864
5861. Proposals for a system of care may be submitted for a region by several smaller counties acting jointly, as independent countywide proposals, or proposals to serve a discrete subset of the targeted population in a larger county, such as court dependents, court wards, or special education pupils. 5862. (a) Each county wishing to participate under this part shall develop a three-year program proposal for phasing in the children's comprehensive mental health services system. (b) The three-year program proposal shall include all of the following: (1) The components of the system the county proposes to implement in the first year, which shall include a case management component. (2) The components of the system the county intends to implement in the second year. (3) The remaining components of the system the county intends to implement in the third year. All components shall be in place by the end of the third year. (c) Approval for participation shall be made by the department at the end of the three-year period. 5863. In addition to the requirements of Section 5862, each county program proposal shall contain all of the following: (a) Methods and protocols for the county mental health department to identify and screen the eligible target population children. These protocols shall be developed with collaborative partners and shall ensure that eligible children can be referred from all collaborating agencies. (b) Measurable system performance goals for client outcome and cost avoidance. Outcomes shall be made available to collaborating partners and used for program improvement. (c) Methods to achieve interagency collaboration by all publicly funded agencies serving children experiencing emotional disturbances. (d) Appropriate written interagency protocols and agreements with all other programs in the county that serve similar populations of children. Agreements shall exist with wrap-around programs (Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 18250) of Part 6 of Division 9), Family Preservation programs (Part 4.4 (commencing with Section 16600) of Division 9), Juvenile Crime Enforcement and Accountability Challenge Grant programs (Article 18.7 (commencing with Section 749.2) of Chapter 2 of Part 1 of Division 1), programs serving children with a dual diagnosis including substance abuse or whose emotional disturbance is related to family substance abuse, and programs serving families enrolled in CalWORKs (Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200.5) of Part 3 of Division 9). (e) A description of case management services for the target population. Each county program proposal shall include protocols developed in the county for case management designed to provide assessment, linkage, case planning, monitoring, and client advocacy to facilitate the provision of appropriate services for the child and family in the least restrictive environment as close to home as possible. (f) Mental health services that enable a child to remain in his or her usual family setting and that offer an appropriate alternative to out-of-home placement. (g) Methods to conduct joint interagency placement screening of target population children prior to out-of-home placement. (h) Identification of the number and level of county evaluation staff and the resources necessary to meet requirements established by the State Department of Mental Health to measure client and cost outcome and other system performance measures. (i) A budget specifying all new and currently funded mental health expenditures provided as part of the proposed system of care. The department shall establish reporting requirements for direct and indirect administrative overhead, to be included in the request for proposals. Weight shall be given to counties with lower administrative overhead costs. In no case shall administrative costs exceed those of existing county mental health programs and services. Expenditures for evaluation staff and resources shall not be considered administrative costs for this purpose. (j) Any requirements for interagency collaboration, agreements, or protocols contained in this section shall not diminish requirements for the confidentiality of medical information or information maintained by a county agency or department. 5864. Participating counties shall, prior to the submission of their program proposals, develop baseline data on children served by the county in the mental health services system, social services system, the juvenile justice system, and the special education system. Data shall include, but not be limited to, the numbers of children and current expenditures for group homes, nonpublic school placements, and state hospital placements. This baseline data shall be submitted to the department as part of the program proposal.