Sec. 531.252. PROPOSALS FOR EXPANSION COMMUNITIES

(a) The commission by rule shall establish a request-for-proposal process to select expansion communities to participate in the initiative.

(b) The commission and the consortium shall develop criteria to evaluate proposals for selecting expansion communities to participate in the expanded initiative. The criteria must:

(1) reflect the underlying principles of the Texas Integrated Funding Initiative;

(2) emphasize services that are culturally competent, family-centered, and seamless;

(3) identify populations to be served under the proposals;

(4) establish for the expansion communities service outcome goals related to minors who are receiving residential mental health services or who are at risk of residential placement to receive mental health services, including:

(A) decreasing incidents of abuse or neglect of the minors;

(B) reducing recidivism rates of juvenile offenders;

(C) increasing school attendance and progress of the minors;

(D) reducing the rate of placement of the minors in residential treatment;

(E) increasing the rate of reunification of the minors with their families;

(F) improving the emotional, behavioral, and social adjustment of the minors; and

(G) improving the stability of placements of the minors;

(5) provide for locations of participating communities in urban, suburban, and rural settings; and

(6) specify information that must be provided in a proposal for a community, including:

(A) information on the costs of the activities proposed; and

(B) the characteristics of minors in the community who are in residential care for mental health services or who are at risk of being placed in residential care to receive mental health services.

(c) Populations to be served, as identified under Subsection (b)(3), must include youth at risk of residential placement, incarceration, or reincarceration because of severe emotional disturbance, including:

(1) students in a special education program under Subchapter A, Chapter 29, Education Code; and

(2) youth with a severe emotional disturbance and a co-occurring:

(A) substance abuse disorder; or

(B) developmental disability.

(d) Outcome criteria established under Subsection (b)(4) must be consistent with outcome measures used in evaluations of individualized children's services projects in other states.

Added by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 446, Sec. 1, eff. June 18, 1999.