As used in KRS § 200.501 to KRS § 200.509, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1) “Child with a behavioral health need” means a child or transition-age youth with, or at risk of developing, an emotional disability, substance use disorder, or mental, emotional, or behavioral needs;
(2) “Child with an emotional disability” means a child or transition-age youth with a clinically significant disorder of thought, mood, perception, orientation, memory, or behavior that is listed in the current edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and seriously limits a child’s capacity to function in the home, school, or community;
(3) “Child with a serious emotional disability” means a child or transition-age youth with a clinically significant disorder of thought, mood, perception, orientation, memory, or behavior that is listed in the current edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and that:
(a) Presents substantial limitations that have persisted for at least one (1) year or are judged by a mental health professional to be at high risk of continuing for one (1) year without professional intervention in at least two (2) of the following five (5) areas: “Self-care,” defined as the ability to provide, sustain, and protect his or herself at a level appropriate to his or her age; “Interpersonal relationships,” defined as the ability to build and maintain satisfactory relationships with peers and adults; “Family life,” defined as the capacity to live in a family or family type environment; “Self-direction,” defined as the child’s ability to control his or her behavior and to make decisions in a manner appropriate to his or her age; and “Education,” defined as the ability to learn social and intellectual skills from teachers in available educational settings;
(b) Is a Kentucky resident and is receiving residential treatment for emotional disability through the interstate compact;
(c) The Department for Community Based Services has removed the child from the child’s home and has been unable to maintain the child in a stable setting due to behavioral health needs; or
(d) Is a person under twenty-one (21) years of age meeting the criteria of paragraph (a) of this subsection and who was receiving services prior to age eighteen (18) that must be continued for therapeutic benefit;
(4) “Least restrictive alternative mode of treatment” means treatment given in the least confining setting which will provide a child or transition-age youth with an emotional disability or serious emotional disability appropriate treatment or care consistent with accepted professional practice. For purposes of this section, least restrictive alternative mode of treatment may include an institutional placement;
(5) “System of care” means a spectrum of effective, community-based services and supports for children and transition-age youth with or at risk of developing behavioral health needs and their families, that is organized into a coordinated network, builds meaningful partnerships with families and youth, and addresses their cultural and linguistic needs, in order to help them to function better at home,
in school, in the community, and throughout life; and
(6) “Transition-age youth” means individuals between the ages of sixteen (16) and twenty-five (25).
Effective: July 14, 2018
History: Amended 2018 Ky. Acts ch. 120, sec. 2, effective July 14, 2018. — Amended
2014 Ky. Acts ch. 132, sec. 17, effective July 15, 2014. — Amended 2000 Ky. Acts ch. 14, sec. 26, effective July 14, 2000. — Amended 1996 Ky. Acts ch. 303, sec. 1, effective July 15, 1996. — Amended 1992 Ky. Acts ch. 24, sec. 2, effective July 14,
1992. –Created 1990 Ky. Acts ch. 266, sec. 2, effective July 13, 1990.