(a) Each community collaborative shall, within available appropriations, (1) complete a local needs assessment which shall include objectives and performance measures, (2) specify the number of children and youths requiring behavioral health services, and (3) specify the number of children and youths actually receiving community-based and residential services and the type and frequency of such services. Each community collaborative shall submit its local needs assessment to the Commissioner of Children and Families and the Commissioner of Social Services.

(b) The regional offices of the Department of Children and Families shall contract with lead service agencies, within available appropriations, to coordinate the care of all children and youths enrolled in Connecticut Community KidCare residing within their designated catchment areas, including children and youths with complex behavioral health service needs. The lead service agencies shall employ or subcontract for the employment of care coordinators to assist families in establishing and implementing individual service plans for children and youths with complex behavioral health service needs and to improve clinical outcomes and cost effectiveness. Parents shall be afforded a choice of contracted providers for authorized services.

(c) Each community collaborative may establish the number of members and the type of representatives to ensure that the membership of such collaborative is appropriately balanced. The chief elected officials of municipalities served by a community collaborative may designate a member to serve as a representative of the chief elected officials. A community collaborative, at a minimum, shall consist of representatives from the local or regional board of education, special education program, youth services bureau, local departments of social services and public health, representatives from private organizations serving children and youths and a substantial number of parents of children and youths with behavioral health needs. A community collaborative shall participate in the regional advisory councils established under section 17a-30, provide outreach to community resources, coordinate behavioral health services by forming, with the consent of the family, child specific teams for children and youths with complex behavioral health service needs, conduct community need assessments to identify service gaps and service barriers, identify priority investment areas for the state and lead service agencies and provide public education and support. A community collaborative shall establish a governance structure, determine membership and identify or establish a fiscal agent.

(d) The Commissioner of Children and Families and the Commissioner of Social Services shall, within available appropriations, provide or arrange for the administrative services necessary to operate Connecticut Community KidCare.

(June Sp. Sess. P.A. 00-2, S. 4, 53; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 01-2, S. 44, 69; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 01-9, S. 129, 131; P.A. 05-246, S. 4; P.A. 06-196, S. 116; P.A. 09-205, S. 6; P.A. 11-105, S. 7; P.A. 14-122, S. 25.)

History: June Sp. Sess. P.A. 00-2 effective July 1, 2000; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 01-2 made substantial revisions to section, deleting an obsolete reference and designating existing provisions as Subsec. (a), amended Subsec. (a) by substituting “community collaborative” for “local system of care”, substituting in Subdiv. (1) “performance” for “outcome”, adding in Subdivs. (2) and (3) references to “youth”, and deleting the definition of “local system of care”, added Subsec. (b) re regional offices of department and lead service agencies, added Subsec. (c) re composition of a community collaborative and responsibilities of such collaborative, and added Subsec. (d) re Commissioners of Children and Families and Social Services providing or arranging for administrative services necessary to operate Connecticut Community KidCare, effective July 1, 2001; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 01-9 revised effective date of June Sp. Sess. P.A. 01-2 but without affecting this section; P.A. 05-246 changed “regional offices” to “area offices” in Subsec. (b) and “regional advisory councils” to “area advisory councils” in Subsec. (c), effective July 8, 2005; P.A. 06-196 made technical changes in Subsecs. (a), (b) and (c), effective June 7, 2006; P.A. 09-205 amended Subsec. (a) by deleting former Subdiv. (4) re completion of annual self-evaluation process and review of discharge summaries, effective July 1, 2009; P.A. 11-105 amended Subsecs. (b) and (c) by replacing “area” with “regional”, effective July 1, 2011; P.A. 14-122 made a technical change in Subsec. (c).