Massachusetts General Laws
Chapter 18b - Department of Social Services
Section 23 - Residential Care of Children; Annual Report

[Text of section added by 2008, 176, Sec. 45. See also, Section 23 added by 2008, 321, Sec. 8, below.]
Section 23. The commissioner shall report annually on September 1 on the number of children placed in residential care by region and the cost of care and treatment provided to those children. The information reported for each region shall include, but not be limited to: (i) the age and gender of the children; (ii) the reasons for placement; (iii) the intensity, frequency and type of services provided to each child; (iv) the length of each placement; and (v) the disposition of the child's case at the end of the residential placement, including whether the child was returned to the child's family or placed in other care within the community. The report shall also include the cost of residential placement by region and any other information necessary for the evaluation of the operation of state-funded residential homes. The report shall be filed with the clerks of the senate and the house, the senate and house committees on ways and means, the joint committee on children, families and persons with disabilities, the office of the child advocate, and the governor.
[Text of section added by 2008, 321, Sec. 8. See also, Section 23 added by 2008, 176, Sec. 45, above.]
Section 23. If the department has care and custody of a child receiving inpatient psychiatric services, the department shall contact the child's parents or guardians, as appropriate, and a member of the child's treatment team within 3 business days of the hospitalization, shall maintain weekly contact with them until the child is discharged, and shall immediately begin discharge planning, with the priority of returning the child to his home or to a community placement. Not later than 5 business days after being notified that continued hospitalization is no longer clinically appropriate, the department shall determine the appropriate type of placement for the child and shall immediately initiate the placement referrals. The department shall document its activities in assisting with discharge placement, including identification of available resources for home-based, community or alternative residential placements, and the barriers, if any, to discharge to the most clinically-appropriate setting. If the initial placement shall not be deemed to be the most clinically-appropriate, the department shall continue to seek an appropriate placement. Not longer than 30 days after being notified that continued hospitalization is no longer clinically appropriate, the department shall refer the child to the interagency review team established pursuant to section 16R of chapter 6A. The department shall submit a monthly report to the secretary of health and human services detailing the activities undertaken pursuant to this section, including the length of time required to place each such child in a clinically appropriate post-discharge setting.

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