KRS 200.575: Family preservation services programs.

(1) As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires:

(a) "Department" means the Department for Community Based Services; and

(b) "Family preservation services" means programs that:

1. Follow intensive, home -based service models with demonstrated

effectiveness in reducing or avoiding the need for out -of-home

placement;

2. Provide such services that result in lower costs than would out -of-home

placement; and

3. Employ specially trained caseworkers who shall:

a. Provide at least half of their servi ces in the family's home or other

natural community setting;

b. Provide direct therapeutic services available twenty -four (24)

hours per day for a family;

c. Aid in the solution of practical problems that contribute to family

stress so as to effect improved parental performance and enhanced

functioning of the family unit;

d. Arrange for additional assistance, including but not limited to

housing, child care, ed ucation, and job training, emergency cash

grants, state and federally funded public assistance, and other basic

support needs; and

e. Supervise any paraprofessionals or "family aides" made available

to provide specialized services or skills to manage every day

problems and better provide and care for children.

(2) The department shall be the lead administrative agency for family preservation

services and may receive funding for the implementation of these services. The

department shall:

(a) Provide the coord ination of and planning for the implementation of family

preservation services;

(b) Provide standards for family preservation services programs;

(c) Monitor these services to ensure they meet measurable standards of

performance as set forth in state law and as developed by the department; and

(d) Provide the initial training and approve any ongoing training required by

providers of family preservation services.

(3) The department may provide family preservation services directly or may contract

to provide these services. In the event the department provides family preservation

services with state caseworkers, those caseworkers and cases shall be excluded for

the overall caseworker or case averages provided on a quarterly basis to the

Legislative Research Com mission and the Governor's office under KRS 199.461.

Family preservation services caseworkers and cases shall be included in the report

as a separate category.

(4) If the department contracts to provide family preservation services, the contract

shall include:

(a) Requirements for acceptance of any client referred by the department for

family preservation services;

(b) Caseload standards per caseworker;

(c) Provision of twenty -four (24) hour crisis intervention services to families

served by the program;

(d) Minimum initial and ongoing training standards for family preservation

services staff; and

(e) Internal programmatic evaluation and cooperation with external evaluation as

directed by the department.

(5) Family preservation services shall be provided only to those children at imminent or

moderate risk of out-of-home placement:

(a) Who are at risk of commitment as dependent, abused, or neglected;

(b) Who are emotionally disturbed; or

(c) Whose families are in conflict such that they are unable to exercise reasonable

control of the child.

(6) Families in which children are at risk of recurring sexual abuse perpetrated by a

member of their immediate household who remains in close physical proximity to

the victim or whose continued safety from recurring abuse cannot be reasonably

ensured, shall not be eligible for family preservation services.

(7) The implementation of family preservation services shall be limited to those

situations where protection can be ensured for children, families, and the

community.

(8) The provision of family preservation services to a family shall constitute a

reasonable effort by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to prevent the

removal of a child from the child's home under KRS 620.140, provided that the

family has received timely access to other services from the Cabinet for Health and

Family Services for which the family is eligible.

(9) Acceptance of family preservation services shall not be considered an admission to

any allegation that initiated the investigation of the f amily, nor shall refusal of

family preservation services be considered as evidence in any proceeding except

where the issue is whether the Cabinet for Health and Family Services has made

reasonable efforts to prevent removal of a child.

(10) No family pres ervation services program shall compel any family member to

engage in any activity or refrain from any activity, which is not reasonably related

to remedying any condition that gave rise, or which could reasonably give rise, to

any finding of child abuse, neglect, or dependency.

(11) The commissioner of the department shall conduct and submit to the Legislative

Research Commission an annual evaluation of the family preservation services,

which shall include the following:

(a) The number of families receivin g family preservation services, the number of

children in those families, and the number of children in those families who

would have been placed in out -of-home care if the family preservation

services had not be available;

(b) Among those families receivi ng family preservation services, the number of

children placed outside the home;

(c) The average cost per family of providing family preservation services;

(d) The number of children who remain reunified with their families six (6)

months and one (1) year after completion of the family preservation services;

and

(e) An overall evaluation of the progress of family preservation services

programs during the precedin g year, recommendations for improvements in

the delivery of this service, and a plan for the continued development of

family preservation services to ensure progress towards statewide availability.

(12) Nothing in this section shall prohibit the department from developing other in-home

services in accordance with its statutory authority to promulgate administrative

regulations in accordance with KRS Chapter 13A or to enter into contractual

arrangements in accordance with KRS Chapter 45.