(20 ILCS 540/15)

Sec. 15. Interagency agreement.

(a) In order to intercept and divert children and youth at risk of custody relinquishment to the Department of Children and Family Services, within 180 days after the effective date of this Act, the Department of Children of Family Services, the Department of Human Services, the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, the Illinois State Board of Education, the Department of Juvenile Justice, and the Department of Public Health shall enter into an interagency agreement for the purpose of preventing children and youth who are not otherwise abused or neglected from entering the custody or guardianship of the Department of Children and Family Services solely for purposes of receiving services for a serious mental illness or serious emotional disturbance.

The intergovernmental agreement shall require the agencies listed in this Section to establish an interagency clinical team to review cases of children and youth who are at risk of relinquishment who are at a hospital or other similar treatment facility, and to connect the child or youth and his or her family with the appropriate services, treatment, and support to stabilize the child or youth's serious mental illness or serious emotional disturbance and prevent custody relinquishment to the Department of Children and Family Services.

The interagency agreement, among other things, shall address all of the following:

(1) Requiring families with private health insurance to exhaust their private insurance coverage.

(2) Establishing cost sharing for services received for families whose income exceeds the federal poverty level that would qualify them for Medicaid, based on the family's ability to pay.

(3) For children or youth who are not otherwise Medicaid eligible, performing a crisis stabilization assessment and developing a care plan for the child or youth and the family with the goal of determining what services are necessary to (i) stabilize the child or youth and (ii) prevent custody relinquishment to the Department of Children and Family Services when there is no abuse or neglect.

(4) Set criteria for short-term crisis stabilization services, including intensive community-based services or a short-term residential placement, as the child or youth's treatment plan is being developed.

(b) The Department of Children and Family Services, the Department of Human Services, the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, the Illinois State Board of Education, the Department of Juvenile Justice, and the Department of Public Health shall enter into a 5-year extension of the interagency agreement required by Public Act 98-808.

(Source: P.A. 102-834, eff. 5-13-22.)