California Health and Safety Code 1502.45 – (a) (1) Notwithstanding Section 1502.4, a community care …
(a) (1) Notwithstanding Section 1502.4, a community care facility licensed as a group home for children pursuant to this chapter may only accept for placement, and provide care and supervision to, a child assessed as seriously emotionally disturbed as long as the child does not need inpatient care in a licensed health facility, as defined in Section 1250.
(2) For the purpose of this section, the following definitions shall apply:
Terms Used In California Health and Safety Code 1502.45
- Community care facility: means any facility, place, or building that is maintained and operated to provide nonmedical residential care, day treatment, adult daycare, or foster family agency services for children, adults, or children and adults, including, but not limited to, the physically handicapped, mentally impaired, incompetent persons, and abused or neglected children, and includes the following:
California Health and Safety Code 1502
- County: includes city and county. See California Health and Safety Code 14
- department: means State Department of Health Services. See California Health and Safety Code 20
- Group home: means a residential facility that provides 24-hour care and supervision to children, delivered at least in part by staff employed by the licensee in a structured environment. See California Health and Safety Code 1502
- state department: means the State Department of Social Services. See California Health and Safety Code 1502
(A) “Health facility” has the meaning set forth in Section 1250.
(B) “Seriously emotionally disturbed” has the same meaning as that term is used in subdivision (a) of § 5600.3 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(b) If a child described in subdivision (a) is placed into a group home program classified at rate classification level 13 or rate classification level 14 pursuant to § 11462.015 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, the licensee shall meet both of the following requirements:
(1) The licensee shall agree to accept, for placement into its group home program, only children who have been assessed as seriously emotionally disturbed by either of the following:
(A) An interagency placement committee, as described in § 4096.1 of the Welfare and Institutions Code or by a licensed mental health professional, as defined in subdivision (g) of § 4096 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(B) A licensed mental health professional, as defined in subdivision (g) of § 4096 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, if the child is privately placed or only county funded.
(2) The program is certified by the State Department of Health Care Services, pursuant to § 4096.55 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, as a program that provides mental health treatment services for seriously emotionally disturbed children.
(c) The department shall not evaluate, or have any responsibility or liability with regard to the evaluation of, the mental health treatment services provided pursuant to this section.
(Amended by Stats. 2018, Ch. 910, Sec. 2. (AB 1930) Effective January 1, 2019.)