N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law § 7.38: Additional duties of the office with respect to persons receiving transitional care

§ 7.38 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 for people with

developmental disabilities, 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 7.37-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 individual 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 for people with

developmental disabilities, 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 or services 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 7.37-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 department of education 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 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 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 can represent the person's

interests, of the availability of an administrative appeal to review the

determination, and of the need to request such an appeal 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 and the commissioner or his or her designee shall

issue a determination 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 transitional care funding for the person as of a date

certain.

(f) In any case where an individual receiving transitional funding 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 and the individual, and unless the individual objects, parents,

guardians or other persons interested in the care of such person 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.