H. B. 2397
(By Delegates Barker, Hunt, Long, Marshall,
Spencer, Talbott and Overington)
[Introduced February 16, 2005; referred to the
Committee on Government Organization then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §5-26-2 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended; and to amend said code by adding thereto
three new sections, designated §5-26-7, §5-26-7a and §5-26-7b,
all relating to establishing an integrated system of care
under the Governor's Cabinet on Children and Families for
children and families with, or at risk of, social, emotional
and behavioral health needs.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §5-26-2 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted; and that said code be amended by adding
thereto three new sections, designated §5-26-7, §5-26-7a and §5-
26-7b, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 26. GOVERNOR'S CABINET ON CHILDREN AND FAMILIES.
§5-26-2. Cabinet established.
(a) There is hereby created the Governor's Cabinet on Children
and Families, hereinafter referred to as the "Cabinet." The
Cabinet shall include the Secretary of Health and Human Resources
or a designee; the Secretary of Military Affairs and Public Safety or a designee; the Secretary of Administration or a designee; the
State Superintendent of Schools or a designee; and the Attorney
General or a designee; one member of the Senate, to be appointed by
the Governor, and one member of the House of Delegates, to be
appointed by the Governor, both of whom shall serve in an advisory
capacity only; and three members selected by the Governor from the
citizens' advisory council as set forth in section two-a of this
article. The Governor may appoint other administrative heads of
government who shall serve in an advisory capacity only.
(b) In order to promote consistency and continuity in the work
of the Cabinet, each Cabinet member appointed by virtue of his or
her governmental office is encouraged to select a primary designee
and an alternate designee to serve in his or her place when
necessary.
(c) The Cabinet shall be chaired by the Governor and shall
convene at least monthly during the first year and thereafter shall
meet at least six times annually. The Cabinet shall establish
bylaws which govern its decision making.
(d) The Governor shall appoint an Executive Director to carry
out its work and to oversee staff adequate to fulfill its
functions.
The Executive Director shall function as a coordinator
and facilitator for the Cabinet's members and the agencies and
programs which they represent in carrying out the collaborative
work required by this article.
§5-26-7. Integrated system of care; legislative findings; purpose;
and intent.
(a) The Legislature finds that the state's current system of
serving children and families in need of or at risk of needing
social, emotional and behavioral health services is fragmented,
inefficient and costly because the existing categorical structure
of government programs and their funding streams discourages
collaboration, results in duplication of efforts, wastes limited
resources and is ineffectual in meeting the state's
responsibilities. Such children are usually involved in multiple
child-serving systems, including child welfare, juvenile justice
and special education. More than ten percent of children who are
in care are in out-of-state placements. Earlier efforts at reform
have focused on quick fixes for individual components of the system
at the expense of all others. However, the Mountain State Family
Alliance, a grant-funded system of care model, has been operating
in one region of the state with great success in reducing
out-of-state placements, developing community capacity and
providing better outcomes overall for children and their families.
(b) It is the purpose of this section and sections seven-a and
seven-b of this article to provide for the creation and
implementation of an integrated and coordinated system of care for
children in need of these services and their families. It is
further the intent of the Legislature that this system of care be
based upon the experience of the Mountain State Family Alliance in
southwestern West Virginia and the best practices of other
successful system of care models, initiatives and pilot projects.
(c) In enacting sections seven, seven-a and seven-b of this article, it is the Legislature's intent to ensure that children and
families receive individualized services and supports that are
family-driven, seamlessly blended across child-serving systems, and
delivered through partnerships developed among families, providers,
communities and governmental entities.
(d) In developing and implementing the integrated system of
care, it is the intent of the Legislature that the Cabinet and its
member agencies shall be guided by the following principles:
(1) The system of care shall be child-centered and
family-focused, with the needs of the child and family dictating
the types and mix of services provided;
(2) The system of care shall be community-based with
management and decision-making responsibility about services for
individuals and families resting at the community level;
(3) The system of care shall be culturally competent, with
agencies, programs and services that are responsive to the
cultural, racial, ethnic and economic differences of the
populations they serve;
(4) The system of care shall be based upon intensive care
coordination across systems;
(5) Service delivery shall focus on providing services in the
least restrictive setting;
(6) Families shall fully participate in all aspects of the
system of care, including service planning, delivery and
evaluation; and
(7) Transition between child-serving systems and agencies shall be seamless and without regard to the point of entry.
§5-26-7a. Integrated system of care; duties of the Cabinet.
(a) The Cabinet shall develop a plan for an integrated system
of care for children with, or at risk of, social, emotional or
behavioral health needs and their families by the thirty-first day
of December, two thousand five. To this end, the Cabinet may
authorize the Executive Director to establish interagency planning
and implementation teams. Such teams shall include the Secretary
of the Department of Health and Human Resources, the Secretary of
Military Affairs and Public Safety, and the State Superintendent of
Education, each of whom shall additionally designate the
administrative or managerial heads of programs within their sphere
of authority that serve the target population. Private service
providers, family members and community representatives shall also
be included. All state child-serving agencies shall cooperate
with these interagency planning and implementation teams and
collaborate in their efforts to establish an integrated system of
care.
(b) The system of care plan shall incorporate recommendations
for statutory, policy and regulatory changes based on the
experience and best practices of successful models, initiatives and
pilot projects, such as the Mountain State Family Alliance.
(c) The system of care plan shall provide for regional and
community planning and implementation teams that link to existing
resources and entities such as the citizen advisory council
established by section two-a of this article and the family resource networks provided in section two-b of this article.
(d) The system of care plan shall include cross-agency, annual
funding recommendations for the initial three-year implementation
phase based upon the principles of maximized funding, decategorized
funding, pooled funding, blended and braided funding,
performance-based budgeting and redirected or reinvested funding
for both traditional and nontraditional services and supports. The
funding recommendations shall provide for staffing of regional
cross-agency teams, training and cross-training, development of
community capacity, resource development and other appropriate
items. All child-serving agencies designated by the Cabinet to
participate in the system of care shall contribute funds for
staffing and resources to develop and implement the plan.
(e) The system of care plan shall include objective,
measurable indicators of performance by system of care components
related to the following:
(1) Outcomes for children and families;
(2) Meaningful family involvement;
(3) Intensive care coordination;
(4) Value of the role served by multidisciplinary teams in
treatment planning and service delivery;
(5) Sufficiency of service array;
(6) Training; and
(7) Use of standardized comprehensive assessments across
systems.
(f) The system of care plan shall establish baselines, set forth both short and long-term goals for implementation, and
clearly define incremental benchmarks of achievement.
Specifically, the plan will:
(1) Target out-of-state placements of adjudicated youth and
children in foster care and provide for reducing such placements by
at least ten percent per year and by fifty percent within three
years;
(2) Project that regional implementation teams will be in
place by the end of the second year; and
(3) Project that community implementation teams will be in
place by the end of the third year.
(g) The system of care plan shall require cross agency
memoranda of understanding for joint administration.
(h) The administrative heads of system of care member agencies
are authorized to seek all federal plan waivers or amendments
necessary to implement the provisions of the plan.
§5-26-7b. Accountability.
The Cabinet shall track the progress of plan development and
implementation and report results on a regular monthly basis to the
designated Legislative Interim Committee. Beginning with the year
two thousand six, the Cabinet shall also report annually at year's
end on the performance of the system of care components, as
measured by the criteria listed in section seven-a of this article,
and submit recommendations for funding and for statutory or
regulatory changes. Participating agencies shall be held jointly
responsible by the Legislature for implementing the system of care and making it successful in improving the lives of children and
families.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish an integrated
system of care for children and families in need of social,
emotional and behavioral health services.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
§§5-26-7, 7a and 7b are new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.
This bill is recommended for passage in the 2005 Regular
Session by the Legislative Task Force on Juvenile Foster Care
Detention and Placement
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