§ 4305. Coordinated system of care

(a)(1) Services provided by or through the Departments of Mental Health and for Children and Families and the Agency of Education to children and adolescents with a severe emotional disturbance shall be pursuant to a coordinated services plan, developed in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.

(2) Nothing in the provisions of this chapter shall be construed to grant an entitlement to any child or adolescent with a severe emotional disturbance to receive any educational, residential, mental health, or other service until and unless the General Assembly further provides that such children and adolescents or any subgroup thereof are so entitled.

(b)(1) The State Board of Education, the Department of Mental Health, and the Department for Children and Families shall jointly adopt rules implementing the provisions of this chapter. Such rules shall:

(A) provide guidelines for local interagency teams for development of procedures, with public participation, relating to:

(i) referral, assessment, development, annual review, and revision of coordinated service plans, and time frames for these activities;

(ii) fixing responsibility for case management; and

(iii) notice to parents and guardians and other agencies;

(B) protect the rights of children and adolescents and their parents and guardians concerning consent and confidentiality; and

(C) ensure that matters unresolved after State interagency team review are subject to procedures for notice, hearing, and decisions of contested cases consistent with the provisions of 3 Vt. Stat. Ann. chapter 25.

(2) Local interagency teams shall submit procedures developed in accordance with the rules adopted under subdivision (1)(A) of this subsection to the Advisory Board for review and comment. Thereafter, the proposed procedures shall be submitted to the Secretary and the Commissioners, who shall approve the procedures if all the elements specified in subdivision (1)(A) of this subsection are satisfied.

(c) The Commissioners of Mental Health and for Children and Families and the Secretary of Education shall jointly submit to the General Assembly a report on the status of programs for children and adolescents with a severe emotional disturbance and their families, which shall include a system of care plan. The report shall be submitted together with the general appropriation bill provided for by 32 V.S.A. § 701. The system of care plan shall:

(1) identify the characteristics and number of children and adolescents with a severe emotional disturbance in need of appropriate services, describe the educational, residential, mental health or other treatment services needed, describe currently available programs and resources, recommend a plan to meet the needs of such children, recommend priorities for the continuation or development of programs and resources, and make an assessment of the success of such programs; and

(2) provide information as available on the extent to which children and adolescents with a severe emotional disturbance have not received services, the characteristics and number of those children and adolescents who have not received services and recommendations on how to address their identified needs.

(d) Nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed to diminish the rights of children with disabilities, their parents, guardians, or surrogate parents under federal or State law, including confidentiality, consent for services and evaluation, and parental involvement.

(e) Nothing contained in this chapter shall entitle children and adolescents with a severe emotional disturbance to special education services unless they are otherwise eligible for such services under State or federal law.

(f) Except as otherwise provided in chapters 51, 52, and 53 of this title, the receipt of appropriate services for a child or adolescent with a severe emotional disturbance or the child or adolescent’s family, including an out-of-home placement, shall not be conditioned on placement of the child or adolescent in the legal custody, protective supervision, or protection of the Department for Children and Families. (Added 1987, No. 264 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; amended 1989, No. 187 (Adj. Sess.), § 5; 1989, No. 203 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 4, 5; 1995, No. 137 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 1995, No. 174 (Adj. Sess.), § 3; 2013, No. 92 (Adj. Sess.), § 296, eff. Feb. 14, 2014; 2013, No. 131 (Adj. Sess.), § 72, eff. May 20, 2014; 2015, No. 23, § 60.)