(a) Client eligibility. Only adopted children are eligible for residential treatment services through the post-permanency services program. To qualify, an adopted child:
  (1) must be expected to return home and function in the adoptive family within 12 months;
  (2) must not be eligible for treatment in a state hospital or state school; and
  (3) must have an initial service level determination of Specialized or Intense.
(b) Family treatment and progress towards reunification.
  (1) The child's adoptive family must participate in family treatment over the course of the child's stay in residential treatment.
  (2) Every three-month review of the child's service plan must address the progress made towards reunifying the child with the adoptive family.
  (3) The contractor must begin planning for a child's discharge from residential treatment services, and must carry out the discharge within 60 days, if either of the following conditions arises:
    (A) the adoptive parents do not:
      (i) maintain regular contact with the child;
      (ii) participate in treatment; or
      (iii) intend to let the child return home; or
    (B) the child's functioning does not improve.
(c) Minimum service level.
  (1) If the service level of an adopted child in residential treatment services is reduced below the Specialized Service Level at the end of a service level review, the contractor must immediately begin planning to:
    (A) support the child's return to the adoptive home;
    (B) refer the child and family to another facility that can meet the child's needs; or
    (C) help the family find other ways to pay for the contractor's continuing care.
  (2) The child's eligibility for DFPS-paid residential treatment services ends 60 days after the effective date of the reduced service level.

Source Note: The provisions of this §700.1733 adopted to be effective December 1, 1994, 19 TexReg 8692; amended to be effective October 20, 1997, 22 TexReg 10152; amended to be effective March 1, 2004, 29 TexReg 1416; amended to be effective July 1, 2015, 40 TexReg 4220; amended to be effective January 19, 2017, 42 TexReg 84