                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

STATE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL FOR CHILDREN&#8217;S SERVICES; MEMBERSHIP; MEETINGS;
POWERS AND DUTIES (§ 2.2-2648)

A. The State Executive Council for Children&#8217;s Services (the Council) is
established as a supervisory council, within the meaning of &#xA7; 2.2-2100, in
the executive branch of state government.

B. The Council shall consist of one member of the House of Delegates to be
appointed by the Speaker of the House and one member of the Senate to be
appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules; the Commissioners of Health, of
Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, and of Social Services; the
Superintendent of Public Instruction; the Executive Secretary of the Virginia
Supreme Court; the Director of the Department of Juvenile Justice; the Director
of the Department of Medical Assistance Services; the Commissioner of the
Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services; a juvenile and domestic
relations district court judge, to be appointed by the Governor and serve as an
ex officio nonvoting member; the chairman of the state and local advisory team
established in &#xA7; 2.2-5201; five local government representatives chosen
from members of a county board of supervisors or a city council and a county
administrator or city manager, to be appointed by the Governor; two private
provider representatives from facilities that maintain membership in an
association of providers for children&#8217;s or family services and receives
funding as authorized by the Children&#8217;s Services Act (&#xA7; 2.2-5200 et
seq.), to be appointed by the Governor, who may appoint from nominees
recommended by the Virginia Coalition of Private Provider Associations; a
representative who has previously received services through the Children&#8217;s
Services Act, to be appointed by the Governor with recommendations from entities
including the Departments of Education and Social Services and the Virginia
Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness; and two parent
representatives. The parent representatives shall be appointed by the Governor
for a term not to exceed three years and neither shall be an employee of any
public or private program that serves children and families. The
Governor&#8217;s appointments shall be for a term not to exceed three years and
shall be limited to no more than two consecutive terms, beginning with
appointments after July 1, 2009. Legislative members and ex officio members of
the Council shall serve terms coincident with their terms of office.
Appointments to fill vacancies, other than by expiration of a term, shall be for
the unexpired terms. Vacancies shall be filled in the same manner as the
original appointments. Legislative members shall not be included for the
purposes of constituting a quorum.

C. The Council shall be chaired by the Secretary of Health and Human Resources
or a designated deputy who shall be responsible for convening the council. The
Council shall meet, at a minimum, quarterly, to oversee the administration of
this article and make such decisions as may be necessary to carry out its
purposes. Legislative members shall receive compensation as provided in &#xA7;
30-19.12 and nonlegislative citizen members shall receive compensation for their
services as provided in &#xA7;&#xA7; 2.2-2813 and 2.2-2825.

D. The Council shall have the following powers and duties:

   1. Hire and supervise a director of the Office of Children&#8217;s Services;

   2. Appoint the members of the state and local advisory team in accordance with
   the requirements of &#xA7; 2.2-5201;

   3. Provide for the establishment of interagency programmatic and fiscal
   policies developed by the Office of Children&#8217;s Services, which support
   the purposes of the Children&#8217;s Services Act (&#xA7; 2.2-5200 et seq.),
   through the promulgation of regulations by the participating state boards or
   by administrative action, as appropriate;

   4. Provide for a public participation process for programmatic and fiscal
   guidelines and dispute resolution procedures developed for administrative
   actions that support the purposes of the Children&#8217;s Services Act (&#xA7;
   2.2-5200 et seq.). The public participation process shall include, at a
   minimum, 60 days of public comment and the distribution of these guidelines
   and procedures to all interested parties;

   5. Oversee the administration of and consult with the Virginia Municipal
   League and the Virginia Association of Counties about state policies governing
   the use, distribution and monitoring of moneys in the state pool of funds and
   the state trust fund;

   6. Provide for the administration of necessary functions that support the work
   of the Office of Children&#8217;s Services;

   7. Review and take appropriate action on issues brought before it by the
   Office of Children&#8217;s Services, Community Policy and Management Teams
   (CPMTs), local governments, providers and parents;

   8. Advise the Governor and appropriate Cabinet Secretaries on proposed policy
   and operational changes that facilitate interagency service development and
   implementation, communication and cooperation;

   9. Provide administrative support and fiscal incentives for the establishment
   and operation of local comprehensive service systems;

   10. Oversee coordination of early intervention programs to promote
   comprehensive, coordinated service delivery, local interagency program
   management, and co-location of programs and services in communities. Early
   intervention programs include state programs under the administrative control
   of the state executive council member agencies;

   11. Oversee the development and implementation of a mandatory uniform
   assessment instrument and process to be used by all localities to identify
   levels of risk of Children&#8217;s Services Act (CSA) youth;

   12. Oversee the development and implementation of uniform guidelines to
   include initial intake and screening assessment, development and
   implementation of a plan of care, service monitoring and periodic follow-up,
   and the formal review of the status of the youth and the family;

   13. Oversee the development and implementation of uniform guidelines for
   documentation for CSA-funded services;

   14. Review and approve a request by a CPMT to establish a collaborative,
   multidisciplinary team process for referral and reviews of children and
   families pursuant to &#xA7; 2.2-5209;

   15. Oversee the development and implementation of mandatory uniform guidelines
   for utilization management; each locality receiving funds for activities under
   the Children&#8217;s Services Act shall have a locally determined utilization
   management plan following the guidelines or use of a process approved by the
   Council for utilization management, covering all CSA-funded services;

   16. Oversee the development and implementation of uniform data collection
   standards and the collection of data, utilizing a secure electronic
   client-specific database for CSA-funded services, which shall include, but not
   be limited to, the following client specific information: (i) children served,
   including those placed out of state; (ii) individual characteristics of youths
   and families being served; (iii) types of services provided; (iv) service
   utilization including length of stay; (v) service expenditures; (vi) provider
   identification number for specific facilities and programs identified by the
   state in which the child receives services; (vii) a data field indicating the
   circumstances under which the child ends each service; and (viii) a data field
   indicating the circumstances under which the child exits the Children&#8217;s
   Services Act program. All client-specific information shall remain
   confidential and only non-identifying aggregate demographic, service, and
   expenditure information shall be made available to the public;

   17. Oversee the development and implementation of a uniform set of performance
   measures for evaluating the Children&#8217;s Services Act program, including,
   but not limited to, the number of youths served in their homes, schools and
   communities. Performance measures shall be based on information: (i) collected
   in the client-specific database referenced in subdivision 16, (ii) from the
   mandatory uniform assessment instrument referenced in subdivision 11, and
   (iii) from available and appropriate client outcome data that is not
   prohibited from being shared under federal law and is routinely collected by
   the state child-serving agencies that serve on the Council. If provided
   client-specific information, state child serving agencies shall report
   available and appropriate outcome data in clause (iii) to the Office of
   Children&#8217;s Services. Outcome data submitted to the Office of
   Children&#8217;s Services shall be used solely for the administration of the
   Children&#8217;s Services Act program. Applicable client outcome data shall
   include, but not be limited to: (a) permanency outcomes by the Virginia
   Department of Social Services, (b) recidivism outcomes by the Virginia
   Department of Juvenile Justice, and (c) educational outcomes by the Virginia
   Department of Education. All client-specific information shall remain
   confidential and only non-identifying aggregate outcome information shall be
   made available to the public;

   18. Oversee the development and distribution of management reports that
   provide information to the public and CPMTs to help evaluate child and family
   outcomes and public and private provider performance in the provision of
   services to children and families through the Children&#8217;s Services Act
   program. Management reports shall include total expenditures on children
   served through the Children&#8217;s Services Act program as reported to the
   Office of Children&#8217;s Services by state child-serving agencies on the
   Council and shall include, but not be limited to: (i) client-specific payments
   for inpatient and outpatient mental health services, treatment foster care
   services and residential services made through the Medicaid program and
   reported by the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services and (ii)
   client-specific payments made through the Title IV-E foster care program
   reported by the Virginia Department of Social Services. The Office of
   Children&#8217;s Services shall provide client-specific information to the
   state agencies for the sole purpose of the administration of the
   Children&#8217;s Services Act program. All client-specific information shall
   remain confidential and only non-identifying aggregate demographic, service,
   expenditure, and outcome information shall be made available to the public;

   19. Establish and oversee the operation of an informal review and negotiation
   process with the Director of the Office of Children&#8217;s Services and a
   formal dispute resolution procedure before the State Executive Council, which
   include formal notice and an appeals process, should the Director or Council
   find, upon a formal written finding, that a CPMT failed to comply with any
   provision of this Act. &#8220;Formal notice&#8221; means the Director or
   Council provides a letter of notification, which communicates the
   Director&#8217;s or the Council&#8217;s finding, explains the effect of the
   finding, and describes the appeal process, to the chief administrative officer
   of the local government with a copy to the chair of the CPMT. The dispute
   resolution procedure shall also include provisions for remediation by the CPMT
   that shall include a plan of correction recommended by the Council and
   submitted to the CPMT. If the Council denies reimbursement from the state pool
   of funds, the Council and the locality shall develop a plan of repayment;

   20. Deny state funding to a locality, in accordance with subdivision 19, where
   the CPMT fails to provide services that comply with the Children&#8217;s
   Services Act (&#xA7; 2.2-5200 et seq.), any other state law or policy, or any
   federal law pertaining to the provision of any service funded in accordance
   with &#xA7; 2.2-5211;

   21. Biennially publish and disseminate to members of the General Assembly and
   community policy and management teams a state progress report on comprehensive
   services to children, youth and families and a plan for such services for the
   next succeeding biennium. The state plan shall:
   				a. Provide a fiscal profile of current and previous years&#8217; federal
   and state expenditures for a comprehensive service system for children, youth
   and families;
   				b. Incorporate information and recommendations from local comprehensive
   service systems with responsibility for planning and delivering services to
   children, youth and families;
   				c. Identify and establish goals for comprehensive services and the
   estimated costs of implementing these goals, report progress toward previously
   identified goals and establish priorities for the coming biennium;
   				d. Report and analyze expenditures associated with children who do not
   receive pool funding and have emotional and behavioral problems;
   				e. Identify funding streams used to purchase services in addition to
   pooled, Medicaid, and Title IV-E funding; and
   				f. Include such other information or recommendations as may be necessary
   and appropriate for the improvement and coordinated development of the
   state&#8217;s comprehensive services system; and

   22. Oversee the development and implementation of mandatory uniform guidelines
   for intensive care coordination services for children who are at risk of
   entering, or are placed in, residential care through the Children&#8217;s
   Services Act program. The guidelines shall: (i) take into account differences
   among localities, (ii) specify children and circumstances appropriate for
   intensive care coordination services, (iii) define intensive care coordination
   services, and (iv) distinguish intensive care coordination services from the
   regular case management services provided within the normal scope of
   responsibility for the child-serving agencies, including the community
   services board, the local school division, local social services agency, court
   service unit, and Department of Juvenile Justice. Such guidelines shall
   address: (a) identifying the strengths and needs of the child and his family
   through conducting or reviewing comprehensive assessments including, but not
   limited to, information gathered through the mandatory uniform assessment
   instrument; (b) identifying specific services and supports necessary to meet
   the identified needs of the child and his family, building upon the identified
   strengths; (c) implementing a plan for returning the youth to his home,
   relative&#8217;s home, family-like setting, or community at the earliest
   appropriate time that addresses his needs, including identification of public
   or private community-based services to support the youth and his family during
   transition to community-based care; and (d) implementing a plan for regular
   monitoring and utilization review of the services and residential placement
   for the child to determine whether the services and placement continue to
   provide the most appropriate and effective services for the child and his
   family.

HISTORY: 1992, cc. 837, 880, § 2.1-746; 1995, c. 800; 1996, c. 1024; 1998, c.
622; 1999, c. 669; 2000, cc. 900, 937; 2001, c. 844; 2002, c. 410; 2003, cc.
483, 498; 2004, c. 836; 2005, c. 930; 2008, cc. 39, 170, 277; 2009, cc. 274,
712, 813, 840; 2010, c. 346; 2011, cc. 397, 413; 2012, cc. 223, 746; 2014, c.
406; 2015, c. 366; 2016, c. 443; 2023, c. 567.