N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law § 31.26: Residential treatment facilities for children and youth

§ 31.26 Residential treatment facilities for children and youth.

(a) The commissioner may authorize the operation of residential

treatment facilities for children and youth. Such residential treatment

facilities may only be operated by not-for-profit organizations.

(b) The commissioner shall have the power to adopt rules and

regulations governing the establishment and operation of residential

treatment facilities for children and youth. Such rules and regulations

shall at least require, as a condition of issuance or retention of an

operating certificate for a residential treatment facility for children

and youth, that admission of children into such facilities be in

accordance with priorities for admission of children most immediately in

need of such services in accordance with standards established by the

commissioner which shall be in accordance with federal regulations.

(c) The commissioner, in consultation with the commissioner of

education and the commissioner of the office of children and family

services, shall adopt rules and regulations governing the standards for

admissions of individuals to residential treatment facilities required

in section 9.51 of this chapter in accordance with federal regulations.

(d) The commissioner of mental health and the commissioner of social

services shall enter into a cooperative agreement to govern the

operation of residential treatment facilities for children and youth by

an authorized agency, visitation, inspection and supervision of such

facilities, enforcement of the conditions of operating certificates

issued to such facilities by the department of social services and the

office of mental health, and protection of the confidentiality of

clinical information regarding patients at such residential treatment

facilities.

(e) The office of mental health, the department of social services and

the department of education shall establish a uniform system by which

authorized agencies which operate residential treatment facilities for

children and youth report the cost of operating such facilities.

(f) The office of mental health shall, in accordance with the

provisions of section four thousand four of the education law, be

responsible for paying the tuition costs for children who are receiving

care in a residential treatment facility for children and youth if such

children are residents of this state and such children were not placed

in such a facility by a school district, social services district, the

division for youth or the family court.