2007 Minnesota Statutes

245.4884 FAMILY COMMUNITY SUPPORT SERVICES.
    Subdivision 1. Availability of family community support services. By July 1, 1991, county
boards must provide or contract for sufficient family community support services within the
county to meet the needs of each child with severe emotional disturbance who resides in the
county and the child's family. Children or their parents may be required to pay a fee in accordance
with section 245.481.
Family community support services must be designed to improve the ability of children
with severe emotional disturbance to:
(1) manage basic activities of daily living;
(2) function appropriately in home, school, and community settings;
(3) participate in leisure time or community youth activities;
(4) set goals and plans;
(5) reside with the family in the community;
(6) participate in after-school and summer activities;
(7) make a smooth transition among mental health and education services provided to
children; and
(8) make a smooth transition into the adult mental health system as appropriate.
In addition, family community support services must be designed to improve overall family
functioning if clinically appropriate to the child's needs, and to reduce the need for and use of
placements more intensive, costly, or restrictive both in the number of admissions and lengths of
stay than indicated by the child's diagnostic assessment.
The commissioner of human services shall work with mental health professionals to develop
standards for clinical supervision of family community support services. These standards shall be
incorporated in rule and in guidelines for grants for family community support services.
    Subd. 2. Day treatment services provided. (a) Day treatment services must be part of the
family community support services available to each child with severe emotional disturbance
residing in the county. A child or the child's parent may be required to pay a fee according to
section 245.481. Day treatment services must be designed to:
(1) provide a structured environment for treatment;
(2) provide support for residing in the community;
(3) prevent placements that are more intensive, costly, or restrictive than necessary to meet
the child's need;
(4) coordinate with or be offered in conjunction with the child's education program;
(5) provide therapy and family intervention for children that are coordinated with education
services provided and funded by schools; and
(6) operate during all 12 months of the year.
(b) County boards may request a waiver from including day treatment services if they can
document that:
(1) alternative services exist through the county's family community support services for
each child who would otherwise need day treatment services; and
(2) county demographics and geography make the provision of day treatment services cost
ineffective and unfeasible.
    Subd. 3. Professional home-based family treatment provided. (a) By January 1, 1991,
county boards must provide or contract for sufficient professional home-based family treatment
within the county to meet the needs of each child with severe emotional disturbance who is at
risk of out-of-home placement due to the child's emotional disturbance or who is returning to
the home from out-of-home placement. The child or the child's parent may be required to pay
a fee according to section 245.481. The county board shall require that all service providers of
professional home-based family treatment set fee schedules approved by the county board that are
based on the child's or family's ability to pay. The professional home-based family treatment must
be designed to assist each child with severe emotional disturbance who is at risk of or who is
returning from out-of-home placement and the child's family to:
(1) improve overall family functioning in all areas of life;
(2) treat the child's symptoms of emotional disturbance that contribute to a risk of
out-of-home placement;
(3) provide a positive change in the emotional, behavioral, and mental well-being of children
and their families; and
(4) reduce risk of out-of-home placement for the identified child with severe emotional
disturbance and other siblings or successfully reunify and reintegrate into the family a child
returning from out-of-home placement due to emotional disturbance.
(b) Professional home-based family treatment must be provided by a team consisting of a
mental health professional and others who are skilled in the delivery of mental health services
to children and families in conjunction with other human service providers. The professional
home-based family treatment team must maintain flexible hours of service availability and must
provide or arrange for crisis services for each family, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Case
loads for each professional home-based family treatment team must be small enough to permit the
delivery of intensive services and to meet the needs of the family. Professional home-based family
treatment providers shall coordinate services and service needs with case managers assigned to
children and their families. The treatment team must develop an individual treatment plan that
identifies the specific treatment objectives for both the child and the family.
    Subd. 4. Therapeutic support of foster care. By January 1, 1992, county boards must
provide or contract for foster care with therapeutic support as defined in section 245.4871,
subdivision 34 . Foster families caring for children with severe emotional disturbance must receive
training and supportive services, as necessary, at no cost to the foster families within the limits of
available resources.
    Subd. 5. Benefits assistance. The county board must offer help to a child with severe
emotional disturbance and the child's family in applying for federal benefits, including
supplemental security income, medical assistance, and Medicare.
History: 1990 c 568 art 5 s 25; 1991 c 292 art 6 s 22; 1992 c 571 art 10 s 12