Skip to main content Skip to office menu Skip to footer
Capital IconMinnesota Legislature

Office of the Revisor of Statutes

245.4873 COORDINATION OF CHILDREN'S MENTAL HEALTH SYSTEM.
    Subdivision 1. State and local coordination. Coordination of the development and delivery
of mental health services for children shall occur on the state and local levels to assure the
availability of services to meet the mental health needs of children in a cost-effective manner.
    Subd. 2. State level; coordination. The Children's Cabinet, under section 4.045, in
consultation with a representative of the Minnesota District Judges Association Juvenile
Committee, shall:
(1) educate each agency about the policies, procedures, funding, and services for children
with emotional disturbances of all agencies represented;
(2) develop mechanisms for interagency coordination on behalf of children with emotional
disturbances;
(3) identify barriers including policies and procedures within all agencies represented that
interfere with delivery of mental health services for children;
(4) recommend policy and procedural changes needed to improve development and delivery
of mental health services for children in the agency or agencies they represent;
(5) identify mechanisms for better use of federal and state funding in the delivery of mental
health services for children; and
(6) perform the duties required under sections 245.494 to 245.495.
    Subd. 3. Local level coordination. (a) Each agency represented in the local system of care
coordinating council, including mental health, social services, education, health, corrections,
and vocational services as specified in section 245.4875, subdivision 6, is responsible for local
coordination and delivery of mental health services for children. The county board shall establish
a coordinating council that provides at least:
(1) written interagency agreements with the providers of the local system of care to
coordinate the delivery of services to children; and
(2) an annual report of the council to the local county board and the children's mental health
advisory council about the unmet children's needs and service priorities.
(b) Each coordinating council shall collect information about the local system of care and
report annually to the commissioner of human services on forms and in the manner provided by
the commissioner. The report must include a description of the services provided through each of
the service systems represented on the council, the various sources of funding for services and the
amounts actually expended, a description of the numbers and characteristics of the children and
families served during the previous year, and an estimate of unmet needs. Each service system
represented on the council shall provide information to the council as necessary to compile
the report.
    Subd. 4. Individual case coordination. The case manager designated under section
245.4881 is responsible for ongoing coordination with any other person responsible for planning,
development, and delivery of social services, education, corrections, health, or vocational services
for the individual child. The family community support plan developed by the case manager shall
reflect the coordination among the local service system providers.
    Subd. 5. Duties of the commissioner. The commissioner shall supervise the development
and coordination of locally available children's mental health services by the county boards in a
manner consistent with sections 245.487 to 245.4887. The commissioner shall provide technical
assistance to county boards in developing and maintaining locally available and coordinated
children's mental health services. The commissioner shall monitor the county board's progress
in developing its full system capacity and quality through ongoing review of the county board's
children's mental health proposals and other information as required by sections 245.487 to
245.4887.
    Subd. 6. Priorities. By January 1, 1992, the commissioner shall require that each of the
treatment services and management activities described in sections 245.487 to 245.4887 be
developed for children with emotional disturbances within available resources based on the
following ranked priorities. The commissioner shall reassign agency staff and use consultants
as necessary to meet this deadline:
(1) the provision of locally available mental health emergency services;
(2) the provision of locally available mental health services to all children with severe
emotional disturbance;
(3) the provision of mental health identification and intervention services to children who are
at risk of needing or who need mental health services;
(4) the provision of specialized mental health services regionally available to meet the
special needs of all children with severe emotional disturbance, and all children with emotional
disturbances;
(5) the provision of locally available services to children with emotional disturbances; and
(6) the provision of education and preventive mental health services.
History: 1989 c 282 art 4 s 40; 1990 c 568 art 5 s 12; 1991 c 94 s 24; 1991 c 292 art 6
s 16,58 subd 1; 1Sp1993 c 1 art 7 s 9; 1995 c 207 art 8 s 5; art 11 s 2; 1Sp2003 c 14 art 11
s 11; 2005 c 98 art 3 s 10

Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes