Custody Relinquishment Prevention Act.

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  4. Custody Relinquishment Prevention Act.

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(20 ILCS 540/1)

Sec. 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Custody Relinquishment Prevention Act.

(Source: P.A. 98-808, eff. 1-1-15.)

 

(20 ILCS 540/5)

Sec. 5. Purpose. This Act establishes a pathway for families on the verge of seeking services for their child's serious mental illness or serious emotional disturbance through relinquishment of parental custody to the Department of Children and Family Services, despite the absence of abuse or neglect, to receive services through the appropriate State child-serving agency. This pathway shall be outlined in an interagency agreement between all the relevant State agencies.

(Source: P.A. 98-808, eff. 1-1-15.)

 

(20 ILCS 540/10)

Sec. 10. Definitions. As used in this Act:

"Family income" means the sum of a family's annual earnings and cash benefits from all sources before taxes, less payments made for child support.

"Serious mental illness" means a diagnosis set forth in the most current version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).

"Serious emotional disturbance" means a diagnosable mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder in a child or youth that resulted in functional impairment which substantially interferes with or limits his or her role or functioning in family, school, or community activities.

"Child or youth at risk of custody relinquishment" means a child or youth whose parents or guardians refuse to take the child or youth home from a hospital or similar treatment facility because the parents or guardians have a reasonable belief that the child or youth will harm himself or herself or other family members upon the child or youth's return home, and there is no evidence of abuse or neglect.

(Source: P.A. 98-808, eff. 1-1-15.)

 

(20 ILCS 540/15)

Sec. 15. Interagency agreement. In order to intercept and divert children and youth at risk of custody relinquishment to the Department of Children and Family Services, within 180 days after the effective date of this Act, the Department of Children of Family Services, the Department of Human Services, the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, the Illinois State Board of Education, the Department of Juvenile Justice, and the Department of Public Health shall enter into an interagency agreement for the purpose of preventing children and youth who are not otherwise abused or neglected from entering the custody or guardianship of the Department of Children and Family Services solely for purposes of receiving services for a serious mental illness or serious emotional disturbance.

The intergovernmental agreement shall require the agencies listed in this Section to establish an interagency clinical team to review cases of children and youth who are at risk of relinquishment who are at a hospital or other similar treatment facility, and to connect the child or youth and his or her family with the appropriate services, treatment, and support to stabilize the child or youth's serious mental illness or serious emotional disturbance and prevent custody relinquishment to the Department of Children and Family Services.

The interagency agreement, among other things, shall address all of the following:

  • (1) Requiring families with private health insurance to exhaust their private insurance coverage.
  • (2) Establishing cost sharing for services received for families whose income exceeds the federal poverty level that would qualify them for Medicaid, based on the family's ability to pay.
  • (3) For children or youth who are not otherwise Medicaid eligible, performing a crisis stabilization assessment and developing a care plan for the child or youth and the family with the goal of determining what services are necessary to (i) stabilize the child or youth and (ii) prevent custody relinquishment to the Department of Children and Family Services when there is no abuse or neglect.
  • (4) Set criteria for short-term crisis stabilization services, including intensive community-based services or a short-term residential placement, as the child or youth's treatment plan is being developed.

(Source: P.A. 98-808, eff. 1-1-15.)

 

(20 ILCS 540/20)

Sec. 20. Outcomes and data reported annually to the General Assembly.

(a) The Department of Children and Family Services shall submit an annual report to the General Assembly which includes the following with respect to the time period covered by the report:

  • (1) The number of children and youth who were relinquished to the Department of Children and Family Services for purposes of receiving treatment for their serious mental illness or serious emotional disturbance.
  • (2) The length of treatment and the status of children and youth at the termination of services.

(b) The interagency agreement required under Section 15 shall require reporting to the General Assembly with respect to the following criteria:

  • (1) The number of children and youth who were intercepted during the reporting period and the services they were connected with to prevent custody relinquishment and to stabilize the child or youth.
  • (2) The duration of the services the child or youth received in order to stabilize his or her serious mental illness or serious emotional disturbance.
  • (3) Following the connection to services through the most appropriate State agency to address the child or youth's needs, the number of families that failed to stabilize and turned to the Department of Children and Family Services for services, and that relinquished custody or whose child was adjudicated a dependent minor pursuant to subdivision (c) of paragraph (1) of Section 2-4 of the Juvenile Court Act of 1987.

(Source: P.A. 98-808, eff. 1-1-15.)

 

(20 ILCS 540/25)

Sec. 25. Specialized Family Support Program. For purposes of addressing the problem of children remaining in psychiatric hospitals beyond medical necessity, a child under 18 years of age who has been diagnosed with a serious mental illness or serious emotional disturbance and has been reported to, or is at risk of being reported to the Department of Children and Family Services Child Abuse Hotline as a minor at risk of custody relinquishment shall be eligible for emergency access to the Specialized Family Support Program for 90 days for purposes of stabilizing the child and family, preventing a psychiatric lockout, or custody relinquishment that leads to a hospital stay beyond medical necessity.

(Source: P.A. 100-978, eff. 8-19-18.)

 

(20 ILCS 540/30)

Sec. 30. Transition bed capacity.

(a) The Department of Healthcare and Family Services shall use unspent or lapsed Individual Care Grant funds and Family Support and Specialized Family Support Program funds to address the shortage of Specialized Family Support Program transition bed services for children that are appropriate for the acuity level of the child's needs. The Department of Healthcare and Family Services shall pay for increased capacity of Specialized Family Support Program transition bed services beginning in fiscal year 2019 using the Medicaid rate for residential treatment plus consideration of an increased rate for capacity building purposes. The Department of Healthcare and Family Services shall work to develop this capacity in regions across the State to ensure that a child is placed in a residential treatment facility close to where the family resides to foster family reunification. Within 60 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 100th General Assembly, the Department of Healthcare and Family Services shall develop a plan for increasing capacity for transitional bed services and community-based treatment for the Family Support Program and Specialized Family Support Program services that address the acuity level of children in or at risk of psychiatric lockout to ensure that the purchase of Specialized Family Support Program transition bed services does not diminish the capacity of longer term therapeutic residential treatment beds for youth with high behavioral health needs. This report shall be submitted to the General Assembly within 90 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 100th General Assembly. The report to the General Assembly shall be filed with the Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Secretary of the Senate in electronic form only, in the manner that the Clerk and the Secretary shall direct.

(b) Within 30 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 100th General Assembly the Department of Children and Family Services shall increase its guaranteed residential bed capacity by utilizing Department Rule Part 356 or the Illinois Purchased Care Review Board Rule.

(Source: P.A. 100-978, eff. 8-19-18.)

 

(20 ILCS 540/40)

Sec. 40. (Repealed).

(Source: P.A. 100-978, eff. 8-19-18. Repealed internally, eff. 7-15-20.)


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