South Carolina Code 44-26-140. Clients to receive least restrictive appropriate care and habilitation available; exceptions
(B) In emergency admissions when the least restrictive setting is not available a client must be admitted to the nearest proper facility until he may be moved to the least restrictive setting.
Terms Used In South Carolina Code 44-26-140
- Client: means a person who is determined by the South Carolina Department of Disabilities and Special Needs to have intellectual disability or a related disability and is receiving services or is an infant at risk of having intellectual disability or a related disability and is receiving services. See South Carolina Code 44-26-10
- Court: means a probate court of appropriate jurisdiction unless specified otherwise. See South Carolina Code 44-26-10
- Department: means the South Carolina Department of Disabilities and Special Needs. See South Carolina Code 44-26-10
- Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
- Facility: means a residential setting operated, assisted, or contracted out by the department that provides twenty-four hour care and supervision. See South Carolina Code 44-26-10
- Habilitation: means the attempt to remedy the delayed learning process to develop maximum growth potential by the acquisition of self-help, language, personal, social, educational, vocational, and recreational skills. See South Carolina Code 44-26-10
- Intellectual disability: means significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period. See South Carolina Code 44-26-10
(C) In judicial or emergency admissions to the department every attempt must be made by the court to ensure a client’s placement in the least restrictive alternative of services available.
(D) No client may remain at a level of care that is more restrictive than is warranted to meet his needs if alternative care is available. A residential program must attempt to move clients from:
(1) more to less structured living;
(2) larger to smaller facilities;
(3) larger to smaller living units;
(4) group to individual residence;
(5) segregated from the community to integrated into the community;
(6) dependent to independent living.