30:4-177.44. Findings, declarations

2. The Legislature finds and declares that:

a. It is in the best interest of the State to preserve, strengthen and maintain families who have a family member with a serious mental illness living at home, and these persons, regardless of their disability, have the right to belong to a family unit in which enduring relationships can be fostered.

b. Families are the major providers of support, care, and other services for their family member with a serious mental illness living at home. Consequently, families are continually searching for ways to support family members with a serious mental illness in their homes in order to prevent placement in a State or private institution, homelessness or inappropriate incarceration.

c. Many families who have a family member with a serious mental illness experience exceptionally high financial outlays and extraordinary physical and emotional challenges, isolation, stigmatization and daily stress. Supporting families in their effort to care for their family member with a serious mental illness at home is efficient, cost-effective and humane; failure to provide needed supports can result in placement of the family member in a costly, inadequate or inappropriate setting.

d. To be effective, family supports must support the entire family, must be easily accessible, flexible, comprehensive, continuous, culturally sensitive and individualized. They must be designed to promote interdependence, independence, productivity and integration of people with a serious mental illness into the community. Family supports must also be built on existing social networks and naturally occurring supports, including extended families, neighbors and community associations.

e. A Statewide family support policy for persons with a serious mental illness must acknowledge that families themselves are able to define their own needs and select their own services; these family supports must be chosen by families, controlled by families and monitored by families.

f. Adults with a serious mental illness should be afforded the opportunity to make decisions for themselves, live in typical homes and communities and exercise their full rights as citizens. When families serve as the primary provider of care for a family member with a serious mental illness, the families should be provided the supports they need to sustain that family member with dignity in a community setting.

L.1995,c.314,s.2.