§ 13.38 Additional duties of the office with respect to persons
receiving transitional care.

(a) The office shall, in consultation with the department of social
services, the education department, the office of mental health, and the
council on children and families, develop a plan and implement
procedures to help assure that all persons who are at the age or time to
first qualify for transitional care, as described in section 13.37-a of
this article, and for whom the office has accepted planning
responsibilities, receive assistance in locating an appropriate and
available residential placement or plan of services, within the state
and within the system of care subject to the jurisdiction of the office,
prior to the age or time at which they would otherwise have qualified
for transitional care, if such individuals had become twenty-one or
become ineligible for educational services prior to July first, nineteen
hundred ninety-six. For purposes of this section, the age or time at
which a person would qualify for transitional care is twenty-one for
persons in foster care, and the end of the school year in which they
become twenty-one for persons in residential schools.

(b) The office shall, in consultation with the department of social
services, the education department, the office of mental health, and
the council on children and families, develop a plan and implement
procedures to help assure that all persons in transitional care
receive assistance in locating appropriate and available placements
within the adult care systems supervised or funded by the office, and to
monitor the health and safety of persons receiving transitional
funding pursuant to section 13.37-a of this article. In connection with
the plans and procedures, the office shall establish standards governing
the quality of care provided to such persons by the residential
programs, including standards relating to the development and monitoring
of written individual services plans for each such person, the
involvement of the individual and, unless the individual objects,
parents, guardians or other persons interested in the care of such
persons in the development of written individual services plans, and
the investigation of complaints relating to the quality of care or
services provided to such persons. In appropriate circumstances, the
office shall work with the individual and, unless the individual
objects, the parents, guardians or other family members to help
determine what services would be necessary to enable the family to
provide care for the person at their home or in an independent community
setting, and shall provide or assist in arranging for those services to
the extent funds are available for that purpose.

(c) The office shall enter into a memorandum of understanding with the
department of social services to facilitate access by the office to
child care facilities providing transitional care to young adults as may
be necessary for the office to meet its responsibilities for monitoring
the care of the young adults.

(d) The office shall enter into memorandums of understanding with the
department of social services and the state education department to
address any requirements of those departments relating to the removal of
any person receiving transitional care from a child care facility or
residential school whose continuation in such facility or school may
adversely affect the health, safety or welfare of children residing in
the facility or school. The memorandum shall set forth the procedures
the office will follow in offering a placement or services in the adult
care system, if necessary and appropriate, on an expedited basis, or any
other procedures for assuring alternative care and services are
available to the young adult, and the manner in which the department of
social services or state education department will be informed of the
progress of those efforts.

(e) Upon making a determination that a person who is receiving
transitional care or care pursuant to subdivision (g) of this section
can be appropriately cared for in an available adult care facility or
service licensed, certified or approved by the office, and whose removal
from a child care facility is not required on an expedited basis, the
office shall notify in writing the person and the person's guardian, if
one has been appointed, or another individual who has been involved in
the care of the person and who may represent the person's interests, of
the description of the proposed new placement, the availability of an
administrative appeal to review the determination and of the need to
request such an appeal in writing within thirty days of the notice. If
the person, guardian or other individual requests an administrative
appeal within the time required, the office shall schedule a hearing
providing no less than ten days notice to the objecting party and the
commissioner or his or her designee shall issue a written determination
to the objecting party within thirty days of the adjournment of the
hearing, on whether the adult placement identified by the office is
appropriate to the needs of the person and is available or will become
available on an identified date certain. If the person, guardian or
other individual does not request a hearing within the time required, or
if the hearing results in a determination that the proposed adult
services or placement is appropriate to the needs of the person and is
available or will be available on an identified date certain, the office
shall discontinue care funding for the person as of a date certain. The
written determination shall be the final administrative remedy available
and shall be subject to review in accordance with the provisions of
article seventy-eight of the civil practice law and rules.

(f) In any case where an individual receiving transitional care is
about to be transferred from one facility to another, a transfer plan
shall be prepared by the sending facility and forwarded to the receiving
facility, the individual and, unless the individual objects, the
parents, guardian or other family members prior to the transfer. The
transfer plan shall include any information necessary to facilitate a
safe transfer, such as specific problems, a schedule for administering
medications and behavior unique to the individual.

(g) The office may make payments necessary to maintain individuals
described in subdivision (a) of this section in a child care facility or
residential school on an emergency basis where circumstances temporarily
prevent the transfer of individuals to adult services or placements.