N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law § 13.38: Additional duties of the office with respect to persons receiving transitional care

§ 13.38 Additional duties of the office with respect to persons

receiving transitional care.

(a) The office shall, in consultation with the department of social

services, the education department, the office of mental health, and the

council on children and families, develop a plan and implement

procedures to help assure that all persons who are at the age or time to

first qualify for transitional care, as described in section 13.37-a of

this article, and for whom the office has accepted planning

responsibilities, receive assistance in locating an appropriate and

available residential placement or plan of services, within the state

and within the system of care subject to the jurisdiction of the office,

prior to the age or time at which they would otherwise have qualified

for transitional care, if such individuals had become twenty-one or

become ineligible for educational services prior to July first, nineteen

hundred ninety-six. For purposes of this section, the age or time at

which a person would qualify for transitional care is twenty-one for

persons in foster care, and the end of the school year in which they

become twenty-one for persons in residential schools.

(b) The office shall, in consultation with the department of social

services, the education department, the office of mental health, and

the council on children and families, develop a plan and implement

procedures to help assure that all persons in transitional care

receive assistance in locating appropriate and available placements

within the adult care systems supervised or funded by the office, and to

monitor the health and safety of persons receiving transitional

funding pursuant to section 13.37-a of this article. In connection with

the plans and procedures, the office shall establish standards governing

the quality of care provided to such persons by the residential

programs, including standards relating to the development and monitoring

of written individual services plans for each such person, the

involvement of the individual and, unless the individual objects,

parents, guardians or other persons interested in the care of such

persons in the development of written individual services plans, and

the investigation of complaints relating to the quality of care or

services provided to such persons. In appropriate circumstances, the

office shall work with the individual and, unless the individual

objects, the parents, guardians or other family members to help

determine what services would be necessary to enable the family to

provide care for the person at their home or in an independent community

setting, and shall provide or assist in arranging for those services to

the extent funds are available for that purpose.

(c) The office shall enter into a memorandum of understanding with the

department of social services to facilitate access by the office to

child care facilities providing transitional care to young adults as may

be necessary for the office to meet its responsibilities for monitoring

the care of the young adults.

(d) The office shall enter into memorandums of understanding with the

department of social services and the state education department to

address any requirements of those departments relating to the removal of

any person receiving transitional care from a child care facility or

residential school whose continuation in such facility or school may

adversely affect the health, safety or welfare of children residing in

the facility or school. The memorandum shall set forth the procedures

the office will follow in offering a placement or services in the adult

care system, if necessary and appropriate, on an expedited basis, or any

other procedures for assuring alternative care and services are

available to the young adult, and the manner in which the department of

social services or state education department will be informed of the

progress of those efforts.

(e) Upon making a determination that a person who is receiving

transitional care or care pursuant to subdivision (g) of this section

can be appropriately cared for in an available adult care facility or

service licensed, certified or approved by the office, and whose removal

from a child care facility is not required on an expedited basis, the

office shall notify in writing the person and the person's guardian, if

one has been appointed, or another individual who has been involved in

the care of the person and who may represent the person's interests, of

the description of the proposed new placement, the availability of an

administrative appeal to review the determination and of the need to

request such an appeal in writing within thirty days of the notice. If

the person, guardian or other individual requests an administrative

appeal within the time required, the office shall schedule a hearing

providing no less than ten days notice to the objecting party and the

commissioner or his or her designee shall issue a written determination

to the objecting party within thirty days of the adjournment of the

hearing, on whether the adult placement identified by the office is

appropriate to the needs of the person and is available or will become

available on an identified date certain. If the person, guardian or

other individual does not request a hearing within the time required, or

if the hearing results in a determination that the proposed adult

services or placement is appropriate to the needs of the person and is

available or will be available on an identified date certain, the office

shall discontinue care funding for the person as of a date certain. The

written determination shall be the final administrative remedy available

and shall be subject to review in accordance with the provisions of

article seventy-eight of the civil practice law and rules.

(f) In any case where an individual receiving transitional care is

about to be transferred from one facility to another, a transfer plan

shall be prepared by the sending facility and forwarded to the receiving

facility, the individual and, unless the individual objects, the

parents, guardian or other family members prior to the transfer. The

transfer plan shall include any information necessary to facilitate a

safe transfer, such as specific problems, a schedule for administering

medications and behavior unique to the individual.

(g) The office may make payments necessary to maintain individuals

described in subdivision (a) of this section in a child care facility or

residential school on an emergency basis where circumstances temporarily

prevent the transfer of individuals to adult services or placements.