Unless otherwise specified in this part:

(a) “Child with special health care needs” means a child, or a person who is 22 years of age or younger who is completing a publicly funded education program, who has a condition that can rapidly deteriorate resulting in permanent injury or death or who has a medical condition that requires specialized in-home health care, and who either has been adjudged a dependent of the court pursuant to Section 300, has not been adjudged a dependent of the court pursuant to Section 300 but is in the custody of the county welfare department, or has a developmental disability and is receiving services and case management from a regional center.

Ask a legal question, get an answer ASAP!
Click here to chat with a lawyer about your rights.

(b) “County” means a county welfare department.

(c) “Department” means the State Department of Social Services.

(d) “Individualized health care plan team” means those individuals who develop a health care plan for a child with special health care needs in a specialized foster care home, as defined in subdivision (i), group home, or short-term residential therapeutic program, which shall include the child’s primary care physician or other health care professional designated by the physician, any involved medical team, and the county social worker or regional center worker, and any health care professional designated to monitor the child’s individualized health care plan pursuant to paragraph (8) of subdivision (c) of Section 17731, including, if the child is in a certified home, the registered nurse employed by or under contract with the certifying agency to supervise and monitor the child. The child’s individualized health care plan team may also include, but shall not be limited to, a public health nurse, representatives from the California Children’s Services Program or the Child Health and Disability Prevention Program, regional centers, the county mental health department, and where reunification is the goal, the parent or parents, if available. In addition, if the child is in a specialized foster care home, the individualized health care plan team may include the prospective specialized foster parents, who shall not participate in any team decision pursuant to paragraph (6) of subdivision (c) of Section 17731 or pursuant to subparagraph (C) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a), or clause (i) of subparagraph (B) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (a), of Section 17732.

(e) “Director” means the Director of Social Services.

(f) “Level of care” means a description of the specialized in-home health care to be provided to a child with special health care needs by the foster family.

(g) Medical conditions requiring specialized in-home health care require dependency upon one or more of the following: enteral feeding tube, total parenteral feeding, a cardiorespiratory monitor, intravenous therapy, a ventilator, oxygen support, urinary catheterization, renal dialysis, ministrations imposed by tracheostomy, colostomy, ileostomy, or other medical or surgical procedures or special medication regimens, including injection, and intravenous medication.

(h) “Specialized in-home health care” includes, but is not limited to, those services identified by the child’s primary physician as appropriately administered in the home by any one of the following:

(1) A foster parent trained by health care professionals where the child is being placed in, or is currently in, a specialized foster care home.

(2) Group home staff trained by health care professionals pursuant to the discharge plan of the facility releasing the child where the child was placed in the home as of November 1, 1993, and who is currently in the home.

(3) A health care professional, where the child is placed in a group home after November 1, 1993. The health care services provided pursuant to this paragraph shall not be reimbursable costs for the purpose of determining the group home rate under Section 11462.

(4) A health care professional where the child is placed in a short-term residential therapeutic program. The health care services provided pursuant to this paragraph shall not be reimbursable costs for the purpose of determining the short-term residential therapeutic program rate under Section 11462.

(i) “Specialized foster care home” means any of the following foster homes where the foster parents reside in the home and have been trained to provide specialized in-home health care to foster children:

(1) Licensed foster family homes, as defined in paragraph (5) of subdivision (a) of § 1502 of the Health and Safety Code.

(2) Licensed small family homes, as defined in paragraph (6) of subdivision (a) of § 1502 of the Health and Safety Code.

(3) Certified family homes, as defined in subdivision (c) of § 1506 of the Health and Safety Code, that have accepted placement of a child with special health care needs who is under the supervision and monitoring of a registered nurse employed by, or on contract with, the foster family agency.

(4) Resource families, as defined in Section 16519.5.

(Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 732, Sec. 114. (AB 404) Effective January 1, 2018.)