AB 1790, as amended, Dickinson. Foster children: mental health services.
Existing law provides for the Adoption Assistance Program, administered by the State Department of Social Services, which provides for the payment by the department and counties of cash assistance to eligible families that adopt eligible children, and bases the amount of the payment on the needs of the child and the circumstances of the family. Under existing law, the department, county adoption agency, or licensed adoption agency is required, among other duties, to provide the prospective adoptive family with information on the availability of mental health services through the Medi-Cal program or other programs. Existing law provides that a foster child whose adoption has become final and who is receiving or is eligible to receive Adoption Assistance Program assistance, including Medi-Cal, and whose foster care court supervision has been terminated, shall be provided medically necessary specialty mental health services by the local mental health plan in the county of residence of his or her adoptive parents, as specified.
This bill would require the State Department of Social Services to convene a stakeholder group to identify barriers to the provision of mental health services by mental health professionals with specialized clinical training in adoption or permanency issues to children receiving those medically necessary specialty mental health services. The bill wouldbegin delete authorizeend deletebegin insert requireend insert the stakeholder group to make specific recommendationsbegin insert byend insertbegin insert September 30,
2015,end insert for voluntary measures to address those barriers, but would provide that those recommendations are not binding on any state or local government agency or private entity. The bill would require the stakeholder group to coordinate with, and endeavor not to duplicate, existing local, state, or national initiatives.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 16125 of the Welfare and Institutions
2Code is amended to read:
A foster child whose adoption has become final, who
4is receiving or is eligible to receive Adoption Assistance Program
5assistance, including Medi-Cal, and whose foster care court
6supervision has been terminated, shall be provided medically
7necessary specialty mental health services by the local mental
8health plan in the county of residence of his or her adoptive parents,
9pursuant to all of the following:
10(a) The host county mental health plan shall be responsible for
11submitting the treatment authorization request (TAR) to the mental
12health plan in the county of origin.
13(b) The requesting public or private service
provider shall
14prepare the TAR.
15(c) The county of origin shall retain responsibility for
16authorization and reauthorization of services utilizing an expedited
17TAR process.
18(d) (1) The State Department of Social Services shall convene
19a stakeholder groupbegin delete comprised of adoptive parents, representatives
20from the mental health and child welfare fields, representatives
P3 1from relevant state and local agencies, and
others, as appropriate,end delete
2 to identify barriers to the provision of mental health services by
3mental health professionals with specialized clinical training in
4adoption or permanency issues to children who are receiving
5services pursuant to this section. The stakeholder groupbegin delete mayend deletebegin insert shall
6include, but is not limited to, all of the following persons:end insert
7(A) Adoptive parents.
end insertbegin insert8(B) Former foster youth.
end insertbegin insert
9(C) Representatives from the mental health and child welfare
10fields, including an association representing county mental health
11departments.
12(D) Representatives from mental health and
social work
13graduate degree-granting postsecondary education institutions.
14(E) Representatives from relevant state and local agencies.
end insert
15begin insert(2)end insertbegin insert end insertbegin insertThe stakeholder group shall, on or before September 30,
162015,end insert make specific recommendations for voluntary measures
17available to state and local government agencies and private
18entities, as appropriate, to address those barriers.begin insert The department
19shall collect existing research and professional literature pertinent
20to the need for specialized clinical training in adoption and
21permanency issues, and shall distribute the information to the
22stakeholder group for consideration
and use in making its
23recommendations.end insert The stakeholder group shall coordinate with,
24and endeavor not to duplicate, existing local, state, or national
25initiatives.
26(2)
end delete
27begin insert(3)end insert A recommendation made pursuant to paragraphbegin delete (1)end deletebegin insert (2)end insert shall
28not be construed to be binding on any state or local government
29agency or private entity.
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