(a) The department, jointly with the State Department of Health Care Services, and with input from county child welfare departments, probation departments, tribes, impacted youth and families, youth advocates, service providers, community-based organizations, county behavioral health departments, foster youth, families, and other stakeholders, shall establish the Children’s Crisis Continuum Pilot Program, including guidelines for foster youth eligibility and the selection, operation, and evaluation of the pilots, for the purpose of developing treatment options that are needed to support California’s commitment to keep youth in families to the greatest possible degree based on the best interest of the youth, and to eliminate the placement of foster youth with complex needs in out-of-state facilities whenever possible.

(b) The guidelines for the operation of the pilots shall, at a minimum, include the tracking of the elements required in Section 16555 and provision of each of the following within the structure of the pilot:

(1) Family supports and services to keep youth in family settings from escalating to more restrictive settings whenever possible.

(2) Limits on placements in the restrictive treatment settings operated within the pilot to the most critical and urgent situations where supports and services cannot be provided to keep a youth safe in a family setting.

(3) Limits on length of stay in the restrictive treatment settings operated within the pilot consistent with state law requirements and to the time needed to stabilize the youth and transition the youth to a family setting.

(4) In facility plans of operation, identification of the strategies, treatment, services, and supports that the facility will employ to protect youth served by the program and in each youth’s treatment and needs and services plans, identification of the specific strategies, treatment, services, and supports that will be used to protect that individual youth.

(5) Require that when youth are placed in restrictive treatment settings within the pilot that youth and families are connected seamlessly to a continuum of care and services to promote healing and step down to family-based care.

(6) Require all facilities, services providers, and agencies used by the pilot to meet all state law requirements for their licensure category, align their services and programs to the trauma-informed care required by federal and state laws, and comply with all state laws, guidelines, and policies established for the pilot.

(c) In implementing the pilot program, the department, jointly with the State Department of Health Care Services, shall do all of the following:

(1) Incentivize participation in the pilot program by counties or regional collaboratives of counties in order to develop or enhance comprehensive, integrated, high-end continuums of care, as defined jointly by the department and the State Department of Health Care Services, for foster youth.

(2) (A) Provide technical assistance to applicants, including those that are not selected to participate, and the selected participating entities. Technical assistance shall include guidance on program implementation and leveraging multiple sources of public revenue to support long-term sustainability.

(B) When providing technical assistance to small and rural counties, the department shall consider the unique needs of those counties and, in addition to any other technical assistance needed, shall assist the county to mitigate barriers to participation in the pilot program, including by designing an adjusted or modified continuum of care, as described in paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 16553.

(3) Identify and seek to address any regulatory barriers to support the successful implementation of the pilot program.

(4) Award grants pursuant to this chapter and oversee the successful implementation of the pilot program.

(d) The State Department of Health Care Services shall determine if any federal approvals related to the Medi-Cal program are necessary to implement one or more components of any of the proposals selected for participation in the pilot program and, if necessary, seek approval no later than June 1, 2022. It is the intent of the Legislature to maximize federal funding received pursuant to Subchapter XIX (commencing with Section 1396) of Chapter 7 of Title 42 of the United States Code.

(e) Any component of a proposal selected for participation in the pilot program that requires federal approval shall be implemented only to the extent that all necessary federal approvals are obtained and only if and to the extent that federal financial participation is available and is not otherwise jeopardized.

(f) The pilot program shall be implemented for five years from the date the grant recipients are selected. This subdivision also applies to any pilot program funds allocated pursuant to this chapter prior to July 1, 2023.

(Amended by Stats. 2023, Ch. 43, Sec. 78. (AB 120) Effective July 10, 2023.)