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 would require the stakeholder group to make specific recommendations bybegin delete September 30,
2015,end deletebegin insert January 31, 2016,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 group to identify barriers to the provision of mental
P3 1health services by mental health professionals with specialized
2clinical training in adoption or permanency issues to children who
3are receiving services pursuant to this section. The stakeholder
4group shall include, but is not limited to, all of the following
5persons:
6(A) Adoptive parents.
7(B) Former foster youth.
8(C) Representatives from the mental health and child welfare
9fields, includingbegin delete an associationend deletebegin insert associationsend insert representing county
10mental healthbegin delete departments.end deletebegin insert departments and private organizations
11providing specialty mental health services.end insert
12(D) Representatives from mental health and social work graduate
13degree-granting postsecondary education institutions.
14(E) Representatives from relevant state and local agencies.
15(2) The stakeholder group shall, on or beforebegin delete September 30, begin insert January 31, 2016,end insert make specific recommendations for
162015,end delete
17voluntary measures available to state and local government
18agencies and private entities, as appropriate, to address those
19barriers. The department shall collect existing research and
20professional literature pertinent to the need for specialized clinical
21training in adoption and permanency issues, and shall distribute
22the information to the stakeholder group for consideration and use
23in making its recommendations. The stakeholder group shall
24coordinate with, and endeavor not to duplicate, existing local, state,
25or national initiatives.
26(3) A recommendation made pursuant to paragraph (2) shall
27not be construed to be binding on any state or local government
28agency or private entity.
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