2023 New York Laws › MHY - Mental Hygiene › Title B - Mental Health Act › Article 7 - Office of Mental Health › 7.38 - Additional Duties of the Office With Respect to Persons Receiving Transitional Care.

§ 7.38 Additional duties of the office with respect to persons receiving
transitional care.
(a)  The  office  shall, in consultation with the department of social
services,  the  education  department,  the  office  for   people   with
developmental  disabilities,  and  the council on children and families,
develop a plan and implement procedures to help assure that all  persons
who  are  at  the  age or time to first qualify for transitional care as
described in section 7.37-a of this article, and for whom the office has
accepted planning responsibilities, receive assistance  in  locating  an
appropriate  and  available  residential  placement or plan of services,
within  the  state  and  within  the  system  of  care  subject  to  the
jurisdiction of the office, prior to the age or time at which they would
otherwise  have  qualified for transitional care, if such individual had
become twenty-one or become ineligible for educational services prior to
July first, nineteen hundred ninety-six. For purposes of  this  section,
the age or time at which a person would qualify for transitional care is
twenty-one for persons in foster care, and the end of the school year in
which they become twenty-one for persons in residential schools.
(b)  The  office  shall, in consultation with the department of social
services,  the  education  department,  the  office  for   people   with
developmental  disabilities,  and  the council on children and families,
develop a plan and implement procedures to help assure that all  persons
in  transitional  care  receive  assistance  in locating appropriate and
available  placements  or  services  within  the  adult   care   systems
supervised or funded by the office, and to monitor the health and safety
of  persons receiving transitional funding pursuant to section 7.37-a of
this article. In connection with the plans and  procedures,  the  office
shall establish standards governing the quality of care provided to such
persons by the residential programs, including standards relating to the
development and monitoring of written individual services plans for each
such   person,  the  involvement  of  the  individual  and,  unless  the
individual objects, parents, guardians or other  persons  interested  in
the  care  of  such  persons  in  the  development of written individual
services plans, and the investigation  of  complaints  relating  to  the
quality  of  care  or  services provided to such persons. In appropriate
circumstances, the office shall work with the individual and, unless the
individual objects, the parents, guardians or other  family  members  to
help  determine what services would be necessary to enable the family to
provide care for the person at their home or in an independent community
setting, and shall provide or assist in arranging for those services  to
the extent funds are available for that purpose.
(c) The office shall enter into a memorandum of understanding with the
department  of  social  services  to  facilitate access by the office to
child care facilities providing transitional care to young adults as may
be necessary for the office to meet its responsibilities for  monitoring
the care of the young adults.
(d)  The office shall enter into memorandums of understanding with the
department of social services and the department of education to address
any requirements of those departments relating to  the  removal  of  any
person  receiving  transitional  care  from  a  child  care  facility or
residential school whose continuation in such  facility  or  school  may
adversely  affect  the health, safety or welfare of children residing in
the facility or school. The memorandum shall set  forth  the  procedures
the  office will follow in offering a placement or services in the adult
care system, if necessary and appropriate, on an expedited basis, or any
other  procedures  for  assuring  alternative  care  and  services   are
available  to the young adult, and the manner in which the department of

social services or state education department will be  informed  of  the
progress of those efforts.
(e)  Upon  making  a  determination  that  a  person  who is receiving
transitional care can be appropriately cared for in an  available  adult
care  facility or service licensed, certified or approved by the office,
and whose removal from a child care  facility  is  not  required  on  an
expedited  basis,  the  office  shall notify the person and the person's
guardian, if one has been appointed, or another individual who has  been
involved  in  the  care of the person and who can represent the person's
interests, of the availability of an administrative appeal to review the
determination, and of the need to request such an appeal  within  thirty
days of the notice. If the person, guardian or other individual requests
an  administrative  appeal  within  the  time required, the office shall
schedule a hearing and the commissioner or his  or  her  designee  shall
issue  a  determination  within  thirty  days  of the adjournment of the
hearing on whether the adult  placement  identified  by  the  office  is
appropriate  to  the needs of the person and is available or will become
available on an identified date certain.  If  the  person,  guardian  or
other individual does not request a hearing within the time required, or
if  the  hearing  results  in  a  determination  that the proposed adult
services or placement is appropriate to the needs of the person  and  is
available or will be available on an identified date certain, the office
shall  discontinue transitional care funding for the person as of a date
certain.
(f) In any case where an individual receiving transitional funding  is
about  to  be  transferred from one facility to another, a transfer plan
shall be prepared by the sending facility and forwarded to the receiving
facility and the individual, and unless the individual objects, parents,
guardians or other persons interested in the care of such  person  prior
to  the  transfer.  The  transfer  plan  shall  include  any information
necessary to facilitate a safe transfer, such as  specific  problems,  a
schedule  for  administering  medications  and  behavior  unique  to the
individual.
(g) The office may make payments  necessary  to  maintain  individuals
described in subdivision (a) of this section in a child care facility or
residential school on an emergency basis where circumstances temporarily
prevent the transfer of individuals to adult services or placements.