D.C. Code § 7-1141.06e: Children and Adolescent Mobile Psychiatric Services program.

(a)

(1)

There is established, within the Department, the Children and Adolescent Mobile Psychiatric Services program ("ChAMPS") to provide children and youth aged 6 to 24 experiencing behavioral health crises with behavioral health services.

(2)

By October 1, 2026, the Department shall award a one-year contract with a non-governmental organization to operate the ChAMPS program.

(b)

The non-governmental organization awarded a contract pursuant to subsection (a)(2) of this section shall:

(1)

Be certified by the Department to provide behavioral health services or youth mobile crisis intervention services;

(2)

Utilize developmentally appropriate, family-centered, culturally responsive, and trauma-informed practices;

(3)

Maintain staffing levels sufficient to provide timely mobile crisis response services in homes, schools, and community settings;

(4)

Be able to coordinate with schools, hospitals, emergency departments, mobile crisis providers, law enforcement, and community-based health providers, as appropriate;

(5)

Possess no less than 5 years of experience operating a community-based behavioral health crisis response service for children and youth experiencing behavioral health crises; and

(6)

Have previously been awarded a contract by a local, state, or federal agency to operate a community-based mobile behavioral health crises response service for children and youth.

(c)

The program established pursuant to this section shall:

(1)

Provide developmentally appropriate, evidence-based crisis assessment, and behavioral health crisis intervention services to children and adolescents;

(2)

Operate in a manner that prioritizes diversion from emergency departments, inpatient psychiatric hospitalization, and law enforcement involvement;

(3)

Provide services in the least restrictive and most clinically appropriate setting possible;

(4)

Support families and caregivers in accessing ongoing behavioral health services and community-based supports; and

(5)

Provide crisis stabilization planning, follow-up support, and referrals to ongoing behavioral health services, as appropriate.

(d)

By March 1, 2027, the Department shall, in collaboration with the contracted non-governmental organization, the Strengthening Families Through Behavioral Health Coalition, at least one District of Columbia Public School principal or their designee, at least one public charter school principal, and at least 2 school-based behavioral health clinicians, including at least one Department clinician and one community-based organization-employed clinician, submit a report to the Council and the Mayor that includes:

(1)

A standardized model protocol to guide schools and community-based organizations in developing school-level protocols for utilizing mobile behavioral health crisis response services for children and youth;

(2)

Standardized evaluation and performance metrics for children and youth mobile behavioral health crisis response services, including objective measures related to call answering rates, deployment response times, timeliness of follow-up, referrals and connections to ongoing services, family engagement, and diversion from emergency departments, inpatient hospitalization, and law enforcement involvement; and

(3)

Recommendations for improving coordination between schools, behavioral health providers, mobile crisis response teams, families, and the Department to ensure timely access to developmentally appropriate behavioral health crisis intervention services for children and youth.