A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to establish a State family support grant program to end the practice of parents giving legal custody of their seriously emotionally disturbed children to State agencies for the purpose of obtaining mental health services for those children.
Keeping Families Together Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award competitive grants to States to establish systems of individualized mental health treatment and family support services for children who are in custody or in danger of entering the custody of the state for the purpose of receiving mental health services.
Requires eligible States to: (1) have laws or policies in effect that ensure that children receive appropriate mental health services so that parents do not have to relinquish legal custody of such children; (2) provide matching funds; (3) establish infrastructure for interagency cooperation and cross system financing; and (4) expand public health insurance programs to cover these services after the grant expires.
Establishes a Federal interagency task force to examine mental health issues in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems and the role of their agencies in promoting access by children and youth to mental health services.
Amends the Social Security Act to permit the use of the Medicaid home and community-based services waiver to provide mental health services to children and youths as an alternative to care in inpatient psychiatric hospitals.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
Introduced in Senate
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S12381-12382)
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
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