2023 Montana Code Annotated › Title 52. Family Services › Chapter 2. Children's Services › Part 3. Multiagency Service Placement Plan › 52-2-304. Committee duties

52-2-304. Committee duties.
(1) The committee established in 52-2-303 shall, to the extent possible within existing resources:
(a) develop policies aimed at eliminating or reducing barriers to the implementation of a system of care;
(b) promote the development of an in-state quality array of core services in order to assist in returning high-risk children with multiagency service needs from out-of-state placements, limiting and preventing the placement of high-risk children with multiagency service needs out of state, and maintaining high-risk children with multiagency service needs within the least restrictive and most appropriate setting;
(c) advise local agencies to ensure that the agencies comply with applicable statutes, administrative rules, and department policy in committing funds and resources for the implementation of unified plans of care for high-risk children with multiagency service needs and in making any determination that a high-risk child with multiagency service needs cannot be served by an in-state provider;
(d) encourage the development of local interagency teams with participation from representatives from child serving agencies who are authorized to commit resources and make decisions on behalf of the agency represented;
(e) specify outcome indicators and measures to evaluate the effectiveness of the system of care;
(f) develop mechanisms to elicit meaningful participation from parents, family members, and youth who are currently being served or who have been served in the children's system of care; and
(g) take into consideration the policies, plans, and budget developed by any service area authority provided for in 53-21-1006.
(2) The committee shall coordinate responsibility for the development of a stable system of care for high-risk children with multiagency service needs that may include, as appropriate within existing resources:
(a) pooling funding from federal, state, and local sources to maximize the most cost-effective use of funds to provide services in the least restrictive and most appropriate setting to high-risk children with multiagency service needs;
(b) applying for federal waivers and grants to improve the delivery of integrated services to high-risk children with multiagency service needs;
(c) providing for multiagency data collection and for analysis relevant to the creation of an accurate profile of the state's high-risk children with multiagency service needs in order to provide for the use of services based on client needs and outcomes and use of the analysis in the decisionmaking process;
(d) developing mechanisms for the pooling of human and fiscal resources; and
(e) providing training and technical assistance, as funds permit, at the local level regarding governance, development of a system of care, and delivery of integrated multiagency children's services.
(3) (a) In order to maximize integration and minimize duplication, the local interagency team, provided for in subsection (1)(d), may be facilitated in conjunction with an existing statutory team for providing youth services, including:
(i) a child protective team as provided for in 41-3-108;
(ii) a youth placement committee as provided for in 41-5-121 and 41-5-122;
(iii) a county or regional interdisciplinary child information and school safety team or an auxiliary team as provided for in 52-2-211;
(iv) a foster care review committee as provided for in 41-3-115;
(v) a local citizen review board as provided for in 41-3-1003; and
(vi) a local advisory council as provided for in 53-21-702.
(b) If the local interagency team decides to coordinate and consolidate statutory teams, it shall ensure that all state and federal rules, laws, and policies required of the individual statutory teams are fulfilled.
History: En. Sec. 4, Ch. 324, L. 1993; amd. Sec. 4, Ch. 118, L. 2003; amd. Sec. 63, Ch. 130, L. 2005; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 200, L. 2005; amd. Sec. 8, Ch. 364, L. 2013; amd. Sec. 6, Ch. 248, L. 2019.