2020 Minnesota Statutes

260C.704 REQUIREMENTS FOR THE QUALIFIED INDIVIDUAL'S ASSESSMENT OF THE CHILD FOR PLACEMENT IN A QUALIFIED RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT PROGRAM.

(a) A qualified individual must complete an assessment of the child prior to or within 30 days of the child's placement in a qualified residential treatment program in a format approved by the commissioner of human services, and must:

(1) assess the child's needs and strengths, using an age-appropriate, evidence-based, validated, functional assessment approved by the commissioner of human services;

(2) determine whether the child's needs can be met by the child's family members or through placement in a family foster home; or, if not, determine which residential setting would provide the child with the most effective and appropriate level of care to the child in the least restrictive environment;

(3) develop a list of short- and long-term mental and behavioral health goals for the child; and

(4) work with the child's family and permanency team using culturally competent practices.

(b) The child and the child's parents, when appropriate, may request that a specific culturally competent qualified individual complete the child's assessment. The agency shall make efforts to refer the child to the identified qualified individual to complete the assessment. The assessment must not be delayed for a specific qualified individual to complete the assessment.

(c) The qualified individual must provide the assessment, when complete, to the responsible social services agency, the child's parents or legal guardians, the guardian ad litem, and the court as required in section 260C.71. If court rules and chapter 13 permit disclosure of the results of the child's assessment, the agency may share the results of the child's assessment with the child's foster care provider, other members of the child's family, and the family and permanency team. The agency must not share the child's private medical data with the family and permanency team unless: (1) chapter 13 permits the agency to disclose the child's private medical data to the family and permanency team; or (2) the child's parent has authorized the agency to disclose the child's private medical data to the family and permanency team.

(d) For an Indian child, the assessment of the child must follow the order of placement preferences in the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978, United States Code, title 25, section 1915.

(e) In the assessment determination, the qualified individual must specify in writing:

(1) the reasons why the child's needs cannot be met by the child's family or in a family foster home. A shortage of family foster homes is not an acceptable reason for determining that a family foster home cannot meet a child's needs;

(2) why the recommended placement in a qualified residential treatment program will provide the child with the most effective and appropriate level of care to meet the child's needs in the least restrictive environment possible and how placing the child at the treatment program is consistent with the short-term and long-term goals of the child's permanency plan; and

(3) if the qualified individual's placement recommendation is not the placement setting that the parent, family and permanency team, child, or tribe prefer, the qualified individual must identify the reasons why the qualified individual does not recommend the parent's, family and permanency team's, child's, or tribe's placement preferences. The out-of-home placement plan under section 260C.708 must also include reasons why the qualified individual did not recommend the preferences of the parents, family and permanency team, child, or tribe.

(f) If the qualified individual determines that the child's family or a family foster home or other less restrictive placement may meet the child's needs, the agency must move the child out of the qualified residential treatment program and transition the child to a less restrictive setting within 30 days of the determination.

History:

1Sp2020 c 2 art 5 s 86

NOTE: This section, as added by Laws 2020, First Special Session chapter 2, article 5, section 86, is effective September 30, 2021. Laws 2020, First Special Session chapter 2, article 5, section 86, the effective date.