AN
ACT Relating to a children's system of care; adding a new section to chapter
28A.300 RCW; adding a new chapter to Title 74 RCW; and providing an expiration
date.
BE IT
ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 1. (1)
The secretary shall establish demonstration sites for statewide implementation
of a children's system of care. The demonstration sites shall be selected
using the following criteria:
(a)
The system administrator must be the recipient of funding by the federal center
for mental health services for the purpose of developing a system of care for
children with emotional and behavioral disorders;
(b)
The system administrator must have established a process for ongoing input and
coordination from the public health and safety network or networks established
in the catchment area of the project; and
(c)
The system administrator may be a project site under a Title IV-E waiver.
(2)
For the purposes of this section, "children's system of care" means a
centralized community care coordination system representing a philosophy about
the way services should be delivered to children and their families, using
existing resources of various child-serving agencies addressing the problems of
children with emotional and behavioral disorders. The agencies represented may
include providers of mental health services, drug and alcohol services,
services for the developmentally disabled, county juvenile justice and state
juvenile rehabilitation, child welfare, and special education.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 2. The
goals of the children's system of care are to:
(1)
Maintain a multiagency collaborative planning and system management mechanism
at the state and local levels through the establishment of an oversight
committee at the local level in accordance with the principles and program
requirements associated with the federal center for children's mental health
services;
(2)
Recommend and make necessary financing changes to support individualized and
flexible home and community‑based services and supports that are child
centered, family driven, strength based, and culturally competent;
(3)
Support a common screening tool and integrated care coordination system;
(4)
Recommend and make necessary changes in contracting to support integrated
service delivery;
(5)
Promote and increase the expansion of system capacity for children and their
families in each demonstration site community;
(6)
Develop the capacity of family members to provide support for one another and
to strengthen the family voice in system implementation through the utilization
of a citizens' advisory board as described in section 4 of this act and through
other outreach activities;
(7)
Conduct research and draw on outside consultation to identify best practices to
inform system development and refinement; and
(8)
Demonstrate cost‑effectiveness by creating system efficiencies that
generate savings from the current level of expenditures for children being
served by the participating agencies. These savings must be used to provide
more services to the children involved in the project, or to serve more
children.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 3. The
secretary shall assure collaboration with each demonstration site by
child-serving entities operated directly by the department or by departmental
contractors. A collaboration contract or memorandum of understanding shall be
developed by the demonstration site and the secretary for that purpose.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 4. (1) A
citizens' advisory board and the agencies participating in each demonstration
site for a children's system of care established under section 1 of this act
shall establish evaluation criteria consistent with the goals set forth in
section 2 of this act. The evaluation criteria shall be developed no later
than sixty days after the effective date of this act.
(2)
The evaluation shall be conducted by an entity with experience in evaluating
organizations that are:
(a)
Recipients of funding by the federal center for mental health services for the
purpose of developing a system of care for children with emotional and
behavioral disorders; and
(b)
A project site under a Title IV-E waiver.
Each
demonstration site in existence as of July 1, 2002, shall submit a report to
the children and family services committee of the house of representatives and
to the human services and corrections committee of the senate, or their
successors. An interim report shall be submitted to the committees by December
1, 2002. A final report shall be submitted to the committees by December 1,
2003.
(3)
This section expires January 1, 2004.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 5.
Funding for children's system of care projects following the expiration of the
federal grant shall be determined using the process established in RCW
74.14A.060 and funded children's system of care projects shall be included in
the annual report required by that section.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 6. A
new section is added to chapter 28A.300 RCW to read as follows:
It
is the expectation of the legislature that local school districts shall
collaborate with each children's system of care demonstration site established
under section 1 of this act.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 7.
Sections 1 through 5 of this act constitute a new chapter in Title 74 RCW.
