HD87 - Final Report on The Relinquishment of Custody for the Purpose of Assessing Behavioral Health Treatment


Executive Summary:
Introduction

Last year, based on widespread concerns within the Commonwealth regarding the issue of parents being faced with the choice of giving up custody of their child with severe emotional disturbances solely to obtain behavioral health treatment this issue, the 2004 Session of the Virginia General Assembly directed that:

“The State Executive Council for the Comprehensive Services Act shall investigate the reasons leading to the practice of parents relinquishing custody of their children solely to obtain necessary and appropriate mental health services. The State Executive Council shall recommend policy options, including legislative action if appropriate, for abolishing this practice while continuing to make the services available and accessible to children, and report to the Chairmen of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees, and to the Chairman of the Joint Commission on Health Care, by November 1, 2004.” (Item 299 F)

As chair of the State Executive Council, The Honorable Jane H. Woods, Secretary of Health and Human Resources, established a widely representative task force to complete this study. This task force consisted of 32 members and was chaired by Raymond R. Ratke, Chief Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services. During 2004, the task force held a total of seven meetings including an extended session to hear from six families who faced this impossible decision and experienced the heart-wrenching and destructive consequences. A preliminary report was issued on November 1, 2004 that contained a comprehensive review of the many complicated issues involved in this practice, ten study findings, and 18 recommendations. As a result of the complex issues involved, it was also recommended that the workgroup continue to study this practice for an additional year. This initial report is attached as an appendix.

The primary conclusion contained in this 2004 report was that “this problem is a direct result of inadequate access to and availability of prevention, early intervention, and intensive mental health and substance abuse treatment services for children and adolescents”.

Progress Implementing Recommendations as Contained in the Preliminary Report:

Significant progress has been made over the past year in addressing the recommendations outlined by the taskforce in 2004, including the following:

• The Virginia Department of Social Services has developed and implemented a method for tracking the incidence of custody relinquishment for the sole purpose of obtaining behavioral health treatment services.

• Family organizations established a statewide network for child and family advocacy, information, and referral to families to assist them in accessing available services. The Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services entering into a contract with an organization called Parents and Children Coping Together in conjunction with Medical Home Plus initiated the development of this network.

• The Office of Comprehensive Services and the CSA State and Local Advisory Team are becoming proactive in:

* Engaging families;
* Providing consistent guidance on policy and program implementation; and
* Providing training, technical assistance and best practices to communities in implementing effective local systems of care.

• Additional funding was appropriated during the FY 2005 session of the Virginia General Assembly for expanding services to the non-mandated youth population and for developing two projects to demonstrate the effectiveness of a “systems of care” model of service delivery for youth and families.