(a) The department shall develop, following consultation with group home providers, the County Welfare Directors Association of California, the Chief Probation Officers of California, the County Behavioral Health Directors Association of California, the State Department of Health Care Services, and stakeholders, performance standards and outcome measures for determining the effectiveness of the care and supervision, as defined in subdivision (b) of Section 11460, provided by group homes under the AFDC-FC program pursuant to Sections 11460 and 11462. These standards shall be designed to measure group home program performance for the client group that the group home program is designed to serve.
(1) The performance standards and outcome measures shall be designed to measure the performance of group home programs in areas over which the programs have some degree of influence, and in other areas of measurable program performance that the department can demonstrate are areas over which group home programs have meaningful managerial or administrative influence.
(2) These standards and outcome measures shall include, but are not limited to, the effectiveness of services provided by each group home program, and the extent to which the services provided by the group home assist in obtaining the child welfare case plan objectives for achieving the desired outcomes in safety, permanency, and well-being for the child.
(3) In addition, when the group home provider has identified as part of its program for licensing, ratesetting, or county placement purposes, or has included as a part of a child’s case plan by mutual agreement between the group home and the placing agency, specific mental health, education, medical, and other child-related services, the performance standards and outcome measures may also measure the effectiveness of those services.
(b) Regulations regarding the implementation of the group home performance standards system required by this section shall be adopted no later than one year prior to implementation. The regulations shall specify both the performance standards system and the manner by which the AFDC-FC rate of a group home program shall be adjusted if performance standards are not met.
(c) Except as provided in subdivision (d), effective July 1, 1995, group home performance standards shall be implemented. Any group home program not meeting the performance standards shall have its AFDC-FC rate, set pursuant to Section 11462, adjusted according to the regulations required by this section.
(d) A group home program shall be classified at rate classification level 13 or 14 only if it has been granted an extension pursuant to subdivision (d) or (e) of Section 11462.04 and all of the following are met:
(1) The program generates the requisite number of points for rate classification level 13 or 14.
(2) The program only accepts children with special treatment needs as determined through the assessment process pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 11462.01.
(3) The program meets the performance standards designed pursuant to this section.
(e) Notwithstanding subdivision (c), the group home program performance standards system shall not be implemented prior to the implementation of the AFDC-FC performance standards system.
(f) On or before January 1, 2016, the department shall develop, following consultation with the County Welfare Directors Association of California, the Chief Probation Officers of California, the County Behavioral Health Directors Association of California, research entities, foster children, advocates for foster children, foster care provider business entities organized and operated on a nonprofit basis, Indian tribes, and other stakeholders, additional performance standards and outcome measures that require group homes to implement programs and services to minimize law enforcement contacts and delinquency petition filings arising from incidents of allegedly unlawful behavior by minors occurring in group homes or under the supervision of group home staff, including individualized behavior management programs, emergency intervention plans, and conflict resolution processes.
(g) On or before January 1, 2017, the department shall develop, following consultation with the County Welfare Directors Association of California, the Chief Probation Officers of California, the County Behavioral Health Directors Association of California, the Medical Board of California, research entities, foster children advocates for foster children, foster care provider business entities organized and operated on a nonprofit basis, Indian tribes, and other stakeholders, additional performance standards and outcome measures that require group homes and short-term residential therapeutic programs to implement alternative programs and services, including individualized behavior management programs, emergency intervention plans, and conflict resolution processes.
(h) Performance standards and outcome measures developed pursuant to this section shall apply to short-term residential therapeutic programs.
(i) The department shall develop and implement a technical assistance and support plan, in consultation with the stakeholders identified in subdivision (a), that utilizes the performance standards and outcome measures to identify and assist low performing providers.
(j) The department shall coordinate with other state agencies, and may execute agreements as necessary, to obtain data necessary to fulfill the requirements of this section.
(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 27, Sec. 72. (SB 80) Effective June 27, 2019.)