OAR 413-070-1090: Placement of a Child or Young Adult in a Qualified Residential Treatment Program (QRTP)

(1) The Department must assemble a family and permanency team for each child or young adult the Department places in a QRTP . (a) A meeting of the family and permanency team is held to: (A) Identify the strengths and needs of the child or young adult ; (B) Identify the short and long-term goals of the child or young adult ; and (C) Determine the placement preferences of the family and permanency team, including the team’s placement preferences regarding the placement of the child or young adult together with siblings unless there is a finding by the court that such placement is contrary to their best interests. (b) The Department must make reasonable and good faith efforts, in accordance with the best interests of the child or young adult , to identify and include all the individuals required to be on the family and permanency team including: (A) Appropriate biological family members, relatives and fictive kin of the child or young adult ; (B) Appropriate professionals who are a resource to the family of the child or young adult , including teachers, medical or mental health providers who have treated the child or young adult, or clergy; and (C) If the child or young adult has attained the age of 14 years, individuals selected by the child or young adult as described in OAR 413-040-0010 (3)(c). (c) If the legal parties listed in ORS 419B.875 are not members of the family and permanency team as described in subsection (1) (b) of this rule, the Department must make reasonable and good faith efforts to obtain the placement preferences of the legal parties including the placement preferences of the child or young adult . (2) The Department must ensure that an independent, qualified individual conducts a QRTP assessment for each child or young adult the Department places in a QRTP . (a) The qualified individual conducting the QRTP assessment must: (A) Work in conjunction with the family and permanency team described in subsection (1) of this rule; (B) Assess the strengths and needs of the child or young adult ; (C) Determine whether the needs of the child or young adult can be met with family members or through a placement in a foster family home or, if not, which setting would: (i) Provide the most effective and appropriate level of care for the child or young adult in the least restrictive environment; and (ii) Be consistent with the short-term and long-term goals of the child or young adult , as specified in the permanency plan for the child or young adult . (D) Develop a list of individualized, specific short-term and long-term mental and behavioral health goals for the child or young adult . (b) The qualified individual must specify in writing the following in the QRTP assessment : (A) Why the recommended placement in a QRTP is the setting that will provide the child or young adult with the most effective and appropriate level of care in the least restrictive environment and how that placement is consistent with the short term and long term goals for the child or young adult as specified in the permanency plan of the child or young adult . (B) If the qualified individual determines the child or young adult should not be placed in a foster family home, the reasons why the needs of the child or young adult cannot be met by the family of the child or young adult or in a foster family home. A shortage or lack of foster family homes is not a valid reason for not placing a child or young adult in a foster family home. (C) If the setting recommended by the qualified individual is different than the placement preferences of the family and permanency team and of the child or young adult , the reasons why the preferences of the team and of the child or young adult were not recommended. (c) The QRTP Assessment may occur prior to the placement of the child or young adult in a QRTP but shall occur no later than 30 days following the date of placement in a QRTP . (3) A court hearing must be held to approve or disapprove the placement of a child or young adult in a QRTP no later than 60 days following the date the Department places the child or young adult in a QRTP. If the court enters an order disapproving the placement of the child or young adult in a QRTP, the Department must move the child or young adult to a placement consistent with the order of the court no later than 30 days following the date the court enters the order. (4) If the child or young adult is placed in a QRTP , the Department must submit a report at each permanency hearing and review hearing to include: (a) Evidence demonstrating that ongoing assessment of the strengths and needs of the child or young adult continues to support the determination that: (A) The needs of the child or young adult cannot be met through placement in a foster family home; (B) A QRTP provides the most effective and appropriate level of care for the child or young adult in the least restrictive environment; and (C) The placement is consistent with the short-term and long-term goals for the child or young adult , as specified in the case plan for the child or young adult . (b) Documentation of the specific treatment or service needs that will be met for the child or young adult in the placement and the length of time the child or young adult is expected to need the treatment or services; and (c) Documentation of the efforts made by the Department to prepare the child or young adult to return home or be placed with a fit and willing relative , a guardian , an adoptive parent or in a less restrictive foster home setting. (5) The Department must obtain the written approval of the Director of Child Welfare to continue the placement of a child or young adult by the Department in a QRTP if: (a) The child or young adult is age 13 or older and has been placed in a QRTP for more than 12 consecutive or 18 nonconsecutive months, or (b) The child or young adult is age 12 or younger and has been placed in a QRTP for more than 6 consecutive or nonconsecutive months.