HB 1913-S - DIGEST

(AS OF HOUSE 2ND READING 3/12/01)

     Provides that, after an open, competitive process to solicit requests for proposals, the secretary and the superintendent of public instruction may enter into a joint agreement with an organization with a long history of serving youth that has secured private foundation funding to be combined with existing state appropriated funding to establish a blended funding demonstration project to test a new partnership approach for serving youth with either serious emotional disturbances or serious behavioral disturbances or both.

     Provides that, if the secretary and superintendent of public instruction enter into a joint agreement as described in this act, the blended funding demonstration project to test a new partnership approach for serving youth with either serious emotional disturbances or serious behavioral disturbances or both shall:

     (1) Serve at least twenty-seven youth in the least restrictive setting at a lower cost than traditional approaches;

     (2) Provide a comprehensive assessment, family advocacy, care monitoring, and evaluation;

     (3) Provide individual and family therapy, therapeutic child care, crisis intervention, residential care, and access to other services through community-based partner agencies;

     (4) Create and maintain a data tracking system; and

     (5) Evaluate the individual outcomes of the youth served by reviewing academic performance, placements in psychiatric hospitalization or residential care, involvement with the juvenile justice system, out-of-home placement, and quality and amount of community involvement.  The evaluation shall compare the results of children receiving the services described above with the results of a similar cohort of children receiving traditional services in a residential setting.