§49-4A-5 Program administration.

§49-4A-5. Program administration.
(a) The administering agency for the family support program is the department of health and human resources.

(b) The department of health and human resources shall initially implement the family support program through contracts with an agency within four of the state's behavioral health regions, with the four regions to be determined by the department of health and human resources in consultation with the state family support council. These regional family support agencies of the family support program will be responsible for implementing the provisions of this article and subsequent policies for the families of persons with developmental disabilities residing within their respective regions. Each regional family support agency must serve at least twenty-five families from each fifty thousand dollars allocated. The total appropriation from general revenue funds for this program shall not exceed two hundred thousand dollars for the fiscal year beginning the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-one.

(c) The department of health and human resources, in conjunction with the state family support council, shall adopt policies and procedures regarding:

(1) Development of annual budgets;

(2) Program specifications;

(3) Criteria for awarding contracts for operation of regional family support programs and the role of regional family support councils;

(4) Annual evaluation of services provided by each regional family support agency, including consumer satisfaction;

(5) Coordination of the family support program and the use of its funds, throughout the state and within each region, with other publicly funded programs, including medicaid;

(6) Performance of family needs assessments and development of family service plans;

(7) Methodology for allocating resources to families within the funds available; and

(8) Resolution of grievances filed by families pertaining to actions of the family support program.

(d) The department of health and human resources shall submit a report to the governor and the Legislature on the family support program, by the fifteenth day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-two, and by the fifteenth day of September every year thereafter, so long as the program is funded.