New York Laws
Article 7 - Office of Mental Health
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.