The Regional Placement Team (RPT) consists of the following members:

• Centralized Placement Unit
• Residential treatment placement coordinator (RTPC)
• Developmental disability specialists

The RPT is responsible for securing placements into the following facilities for children and youth in DFPS conservatorship:

• Emergency shelters
• Foster homes
• General residential operations (GROs)
• Residential treatment centers (RTCs)
• Home and community services (HCS) homes
• Intermediate care facilities for individuals with intellectual disabilities (ICF-IIDs)

The RPT presents placement options to the caseworker and supervisor, but the team does not select the placement. The caseworker and supervisor are responsible for selecting the placement.

If a contracted residential provider wants a child or youth removed from its facility, the provider must notify the child’s caseworker, supervisor, and RPT for the child’s legal region. The child’s caseworker and supervisor must review the discharge notice to ensure that it is appropriate.

If the caseworker or supervisor believes that discharging the child is not in the child’s best interest, then the caseworker must contact the caregiver to discuss options for the child to remain in placement. The caseworker must work with the provider to try to prevent any placement changes determined not to be in the child’s best interest. These options may include helping the caregiver meet the child’s needs through:

• Resources or services from the local mental health authority, STAR Health, or community organizations.
• Respite care, if the caregiver is a foster parent.

The caseworker may request assistance from regional subject matter experts if necessary to identify resources and supports in the placement’s geographic area. The caseworker may also meet with the provider and regional subject matter experts to develop a plan to avoid a placement disruption.    

Additionally, the caseworker must immediately contact the RPT upon receiving a discharge notice from a contracted residential provider or a notice from a non-contracted caregiver that a child or youth should be moved from the caregiver’s home. The caseworker and RPT must follow the policies and steps in 4211 Seeking Placement through the Regional Placement Team.

If the child or youth is moving to a kinship caregiver’s home, the caseworker does not need to notify the RPT.

Below are the different types of discharges a provider may use and the circumstances under which the discharge applies. Contracted caregivers must adhere to these discharge timelines as outlined in the Residential Child Care Contract. The caseworker and supervisor must review the discharge notice to ensure that the type of discharge matches the type of agency and the reasons provided in the notice.

Twenty-Four Hour Discharge Notice

This type of notice is appropriate in any of the following situations:

• A child or youth is arrested and is in jail or a juvenile detention facility. The provider is not willing to allow the child to return to the operation following release from jail or juvenile detention.
• A child or youth placed in a foster home is admitted to a psychiatric hospital because the child poses a danger to self or others, or exhibits volatile, self-injurious, or inappropriate behaviors that the caregiver is not equipped to manage. The provider is not willing to allow the child to return to the placement after stabilization.
• A child or youth placed in a GRO Emergency Shelter or a GRO that does not provide treatment services is admitted to a psychiatric hospital because the child poses a danger to self or others, or exhibits volatile, self-injurious, or inappropriate behaviors that the caregiver is not equipped to manage. The provider is not willing to allow the child to return to the placement after stabilization.

Two Day Discharge Notice

This type of notice is for a GRO Intensive Psychiatric Transition Program, when the GRO determines the child is ready to transition to another program within its same operation.

Ten Day Discharge Notice

This type of notice is for a GRO providing emergency care services, when the GRO determines one of the following:

• It is no longer in the child’s best interest to remain at the facility.
• The GRO cannot meet the needs of the child.

CPS removes the child within 10 calendar days after receiving the notice.

14-day discharge notice (non-emergency)

A psychiatrist, licensed psychologist, physician, licensed clinical social worker, or licensed professional counselor provides documentation showing that the child consistently exhibits behavior that cannot be managed within the provider’s licensed programmatic services. CPS consults with the provider to determine a plan for removing the child within 14 calendar days.

30-day discharge notice (non-emergency)

The contractor determines one of the following:

• It is no longer in the child’s best interest to remain at the facility.
• The contractor cannot meet the needs of the child.

Exception to 14-day or 30-day discharge notice

If a child or youth placed in a GRO offering treatment services (other than a GRO emergency shelter) is admitted to a psychiatric hospital and the provider does not plan for the child to return to the facility following stabilization, the provider may request an exception to the 14 day or 30 day discharge notice.

In order for DFPS to consider an exception, the provider must demonstrate good faith efforts to serve the youth in the facility by discharging the child back to the facility at least two times prior to the exception request. The provider must complete due diligence and demonstrate that all resources have been exhausted that would support the child in the placement. This includes accessing all STAR Health options, creative solutions, and resources from CPS, including but not limited to psychiatric hospital workers and education specialists. The provider’s clinical team is also required to meet with the psychiatric hospital’s clinical team prior to requesting an exception.

An exception would be considered for a child or youth to not return to the GRO offering treatment services once stabilized and ready for discharge from psychiatric hospitalization in any of the following circumstances:

1. Safety concerns for the child, other children in the placement, or staff.
2. If the provider is not equipped to manage the child’s specific and unique needs or behaviors. Examples include medical needs, significant change in behavioral needs, or a change in diagnosis.
3. Child’s absolute refusal to return. Motivational interviewing is required prior to considering this exception. The caseworker contacts the regional program administrator for assistance with securing staff trained in motivational interviewing who can help resolve the child’s refusal to go to placement.

Timeframes for Exception Process

The licensed administrator for the operation must send a request to the CPS program director in the caseworker’s chain of command.

The request for an exception must include all of the following:

• Dates of the child’s hospitalization.
• Dates the child returned to the operation.
• Services provided to the youth to support him or her following stabilization.
• The reason the provider is unable to meet the child’s needs.

The CPS program director reviews the exception request within three business days and notifies the provider, in writing, of the decision to approve or deny the exception.

If the CPS program director approves the exception, the child will be discharged from placement within 24 hours. If the program director denies the exception, the discharge date in the previously submitted discharge notice remains in effect. If a discharge notice has not been approved, then there is no active discharge date.