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245.4882 RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT SERVICES.
    Subdivision 1. Availability of residential treatment services. County boards must provide
or contract for enough residential treatment services to meet the needs of each child with severe
emotional disturbance residing in the county and needing this level of care. Length of stay is
based on the child's residential treatment need and shall be subject to the six-month review
process established in section 260C.212, subdivisions 7 and 9. Services must be appropriate to the
child's age and treatment needs and must be made available as close to the county as possible.
Residential treatment must be designed to:
(1) prevent placement in settings that are more intensive, costly, or restrictive than necessary
and appropriate to meet the child's needs;
(2) help the child improve family living and social interaction skills;
(3) help the child gain the necessary skills to return to the community;
(4) stabilize crisis admissions; and
(5) work with families throughout the placement to improve the ability of the families to care
for children with severe emotional disturbance in the home.
    Subd. 2. Specific requirements. A provider of residential services to children must be
licensed under applicable rules adopted by the commissioner and must be clinically supervised by
a mental health professional.
    Subd. 3. Transition to community. Residential treatment facilities and regional treatment
centers serving children must plan for and assist those children and their families in making a
transition to less restrictive community-based services. Residential treatment facilities must
also arrange for appropriate follow-up care in the community. Before a child is discharged, the
residential treatment facility or regional treatment center shall provide notification to the child's
case manager, if any, so that the case manager can monitor and coordinate the transition and make
timely arrangements for the child's appropriate follow-up care in the community.
    Subd. 4. Admission, continued stay, and discharge criteria. No later than January 1, 1992,
the county board shall ensure that placement decisions for residential treatment services are based
on the clinical needs of the child. The county board shall ensure that each entity under contract
to provide residential treatment services has admission, continued stay, discharge criteria and
discharge planning criteria as part of the contract. Contracts shall specify specific responsibilities
between the county and service providers to ensure comprehensive planning and continuity of
care between needed services according to data privacy requirements. The county board shall
ensure that, at least ten days prior to discharge, the operator of the residential treatment facility
shall provide written notification of the discharge to the child's parent or caretaker, the local
education agency in which the child is enrolled, and the receiving education agency to which the
child will be transferred upon discharge. When the child has an individual education plan, the
notice shall include a copy of the individual education plan. All contracts for the provision of
residential services must include provisions guaranteeing clients the right to appeal under section
245.4887 and to be advised of their appeal rights.
    Subd. 5. Specialized residential treatment services. The commissioner of human services
shall continue efforts to further interagency collaboration to develop a comprehensive system
of services, including family community support and specialized residential treatment services
for children. The services shall be designed for children with emotional disturbance who exhibit
violent or destructive behavior and for whom local treatment services are not feasible due to the
small number of children statewide who need the services and the specialized nature of the
services required. The services shall be located in community settings.
History: 1989 c 282 art 4 s 49; 1990 c 568 art 5 s 23; 1991 c 292 art 6 s 19,20,58 subd 1;
1Sp1993 c 1 art 7 s 10; 1995 c 207 art 8 s 10; 1997 c 203 art 5 s 1; 1999 c 139 art 4 s 2

Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes