Title 20 — Public Health and Welfare

(a) The Arkansas State Hospital and other state institutions are authorized to enter into agreements with the Department of Human Services to establish and maintain a medical care program for indigent individuals with mental illness, intellectual and developmental disabilities, o…

The General Assembly finds that services to children are provided by various departments and agencies at both the state and local level, often without appropriate collaboration. The General Assembly declares that the purpose of this subchapter is to establish a structure for coor…

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) (A) “Case management” means those efforts that ensure that necessary services for the child and family are obtained and monitored.(B) Such efforts shall include coordination across agencies for evaluations, the provision of services based on ass…

(1) The following guiding principles shall be incorporated into the system of care:(1) Services shall be child-centered and family-centered and give priority to keeping children with their families;(2) Services shall be community-based, with decision-making responsibility and man…

(1) The components of the system of care shall include, but not be limited to:(1) Single point of entry;(2) Screening and assessment;(3) Case management;(4) Case review;(5) Collaborative evaluation; and(6) Service array. (1) Single point of entry; (2) Screening and assessment; (3…

(a) (1) There is created a Child and Adolescent Service System Program Coordinating Council that shall meet on a quarterly basis and at other times deemed necessary to perform its functions.(2) The council shall include the following persons to be selected and appointed by the Co…

(a) A regional Child and Adolescent Service System Program planning team shall be established in each community mental health center catchment area. (b) (1) Each team shall include individuals who are not state employees and who are not providers of services to children with emot…

(a) The staff for the Child and Adolescent Service System Program Coordinating Council shall be provided by the Child and Adolescent Service System Program project for the first two (2) years and subsequently by the Division of Aging, Adult, and Behavioral Health Services of the …

(a) Children suspected of having emotional disturbances who are referred for Child and Adolescent Service System Program services shall be given a screening and assessment through the single point of entry, after which an initial interagency service plan shall be defined and deve…

A.C.A. § 20-47-509Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved

(a) The Division of Aging, Adult, and Behavioral Health Services of the Department of Human Services is designated the state agency responsible for the coordination and oversight of the Comprehensive Children's Behavioral Health System of Care Plan. (b) All state agencies that re…

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Community mental health centers” means those private nonprofit organizations certified by the Division of Aging, Adult, and Behavioral Health Services of the Department of Human Services under § 20-47-202 as community mental health centers and …

(a) Each county jail shall prepare and may use during the intake process a standard checklist, including behavioral indicators of mental health problems. (b) If a checklist is used, the checklist shall be a permanent part of the jail inmate's record and shall record all mental he…

Unless sufficient appropriations are provided for the purposes of this subchapter, the parties have no new obligations under this subchapter.

This subchapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Arkansas System of Care for Behavioral Healthcare Services for Children and Youth Act”.

The purpose of this subchapter is to help facilitate the establishment of an improved system of behavioral health care for children and youth, especially those with serious emotional disturbances.

(1) The General Assembly finds:(1) The system for providing behavioral healthcare services to children, youth, and their families should ensure that those services are appropriate, cost-effective, and provided in the least restrictive settings;(2) Behavioral health and other serv…

A.C.A. § 20-47-704Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved

(1) The Department of Human Services shall:(1) Identify and implement actions for ensuring that children, youth, and their families are full partners in the design and implementation of all aspects of the system of care as well as full partners in decisions about their care or th…

(1) The standardized screening and assessment tool established by Medicaid rules shall:(1) Guide service decisions and outcomes; and(2) Establish guidelines to identify children who need a multiagency plan of services. (1) Guide service decisions and outcomes; and (2) Establish g…

(1) Each multiagency plan of services shall:(1) Be consistent with the results of the standardized screening and assessment established by Medicaid rules;(2) Provide for collaboration among the child, the persons or entities responsible for the child's care and custody, and the p…

(1) The Department of Human Services shall report annually on progress to the:(1) Governor;(2) House Committee on Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs and the Senate Committee on Children and Youth; and(3) House Committee on Public Health, Welfare, and Labo…

The Department of Human Services shall promulgate rules in accordance with the Arkansas Administrative Procedure Act, § 25-15-201 et seq., as necessary to carry out this subchapter.

This subchapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Behavioral Health Crisis Intervention Protocol Act of 2017”.

(a) It is the intent of the General Assembly to create an established protocol for crisis intervention by law enforcement agencies and jail personnel, the court system, hospitals, healthcare providers, and mental health professionals to address the methods and procedures to be us…

(a) If during or after the initiation of a crisis intervention protocol under this subchapter a mental health professional or medical professional believes the individual being treated would benefit more from a longer commitment in a residential facility, the mental health profes…

(a) As part of a crisis intervention protocol established under this subchapter, a law enforcement agency or community mental health center, as a participating partner, is authorized to establish a crisis intervention team or multiple crisis intervention teams to provide psychiat…

(a) A proposed crisis intervention protocol and crisis intervention team shall include necessary collaborative agreements among the participating hospitals, community health centers, mental health service providers, participating law enforcement agencies, and the facility that is…

(a) (1) The internal operation of a crisis stabilization unit shall be governed by the administration of a facility designated as the crisis stabilization unit and regulated by the Department of Human Services or a division of the department.(2) All collaborative agreements under…

(a) (1) If a crisis intervention team officer determines that an individual with a behavioral health impairment demonstrates a substantial likelihood of committing bodily harm to himself or herself or to another person, the crisis intervention team officer may take the individual…

(a) (1) To implement psychiatric emergency services under a crisis intervention protocol under this subchapter, a crisis stabilization unit shall request licensure from the Department of Human Services for the number of extended observation beds that are required to adequately se…

(a) An individual with a behavioral health impairment who is admitted to a crisis stabilization unit under a crisis intervention protocol under this subchapter shall have a final disposition within a maximum of ninety-six (96) hours or remain on a voluntary basis. (b) If the indi…

A person acting in good faith in connection with the detention of an individual with a behavioral health impairment under the crisis intervention protocol as set out in this subchapter is immune from civil or criminal liability for those acts.

(a) (1) A local criminal justice coordinating committee shall actively encourage hospitals, community mental health centers, mental health services providers, and other mental health professionals to develop psychiatric emergency services.(2) If a collaborative agreement can be n…

(a) The Department of Human Services is authorized to utilize rulemaking in order to properly implement the provisions of this subchapter concerning the certification of a nonhospital crisis stabilization unit. (b) The department shall not promulgate a rule concerning utilization…

(a) The General Assembly finds that:(1) There are more than three hundred (300) outpatient service sites in the state for the delivery of rehabilitative services for persons with mental illness;(2) There is no information that any eligible Medicaid beneficiary has experienced or …

As used in this subchapter, “rehabilitative services for persons with mental illness” means an array of clinical services for individuals with mental illness intended to provide core mental health services for the treatment and prevention of mental disorders in Medicaid recipient…

(a) The Division of Aging, Adult, and Behavioral Health Services of the Department of Human Services shall:(1) Process a certification request for a site for rehabilitative services for persons with mental illness within ninety (90) calendar days of receiving all information that…