Children's Crisis Continuum Pilot Program.

Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services, jointly with the State Department of Health Care Services, to establish the Children's Crisis Continuum Pilot Program for the purpose of developing treatment options that are needed to support California's commitment to eliminate the placement of foster youth with complex needs in out-of-state facilities. Existing law requires the department to establish guidelines for foster youth eligibility and the selection, operation, and evaluation of the 5-year pilot, including guidelines on specified aspects of the structure of the pilot. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services, jointly with the State Department of Health Care Services, to take specified actions, including providing technical assistance to applicants and participating entities, awarding grants to participating entities, and developing a request for proposal process and selection criteria to determine which applicants will participate in the pilot program. Existing law requires the selection criteria to include certain components, including submission of a plan by an applicant. Existing law requires proposals to be submitted no later than January 31, 2022, and grant funds to be disbursed no later than March 31, 2022. Existing law requires the State Department of Health Care Services to seek any necessary federal approvals no later than June 1, 2022. Existing law requires participating entities to develop, in collaboration with a workgroup, a highly integrated continuum of care for foster youth served in the pilot program, and requires the continuum of care, across all service settings, to reflect specified core program features and service approaches, including highly individualized and trauma-informed services. Existing law states the intent of the Legislature to appropriate moneys to the State Department of Social Services in the annual Budget Act or another statute for the purpose of administering a grant program to provide funding to participating entities for the duration of the pilot program. Existing law requires the department, no later than April 1, 2025, to submit an interim report relating to the pilot program to the Assembly Committee on Human Services and the Senate Committee on Human Services. Existing law authorizes the pilot program to be implemented through all-county letters or other similar instruction and requires any guidance issued pursuant to that authorization to be issued by March 1, 2022. This bill would expand the pilot program to provide services to a child or youth who meets the eligibility requirements to enroll in the Medi-Cal program and who meets medical necessity standards for the care components in the pilot program. The bill would include respite care as a component of the continuum of services provided by the pilot program to allow primary caregivers of pilot program-eligible youth and resource family caregivers of foster youth to access periods of relief from full-time caregiving duties. The bill would make additional changes to the pilot program relating to, among other things, family-based treatment settings, as defined. The bill would extend the date for proposals to be submitted to no later than January 31, 2023, and the date for grant funds to be disbursed to no later than March 31, 2023. The bill would extend the deadline for the State Department of Health Care Services to seek any necessary federal approvals to July 1, 2023. The bill would extend the deadline for the issuance of guidance through all-county letters or similar instructions to March 1, 2023. The bill would also extend the deadline for the submission of the interim report to April 1, 2026, and would additionally require its submission to the legislative health committees.