N.J. Admin. Code § 10:37I-1.1

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 21, November 4, 2024

Section 10:37I-1.1 - Purpose; authority

(a) Pursuant to P.L. 1995, c. 314, The Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services of the Department of Human Services shall establish a program of family support services designed to strengthen and promote families who provide care in the community for a family member with a serious mental illness.

(b) A Statewide family support policy for persons with a serious mental illness shall acknowledge that families themselves are able to define their own needs and select their own services; these family supports shall be chosen by families, controlled by families and monitored by families.

(c) The system of family support shall vary in scope and intensity based upon the needs of a particular family unit and shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

1. Service coordination;

2. Estate and transition planning;

3. Housing assistance;

4. Homemaker assistance;

5. Accessing vocational and employment services;

6. After-school care;

7. Transportation;

8. Respite care;

9. Family education and training;

10. Medication education;

11. Self-advocacy training;

12. Entitlement training; and

13. Other services as identified by the family.

(d) Adults with a serious mental illness should be afforded the opportunity to make decisions and choices toward a more satisfying lifestyle and to live, work, learn and participate fully in their communities, and exercise their full rights as citizens. When families serve as the primary provider of care for a family member with a serious mental illness, the families should be provided with the supports they need to sustain that family member with dignity in a community setting, within available funding limits.

(e) No more than 10 percent of funds disbursed to a PA shall be allocated for administrative purposes.

(f) The Division and any agency funded by the Division to provide family support services shall assist families in obtaining all other sources of funding before using funds appropriated pursuant to and available for the purposes of P.L. 1995, c.314.

(g) The services provided pursuant to this act shall not supplant any existing rights, entitlements or services for which the family or family member with a serious mental illness may be eligible.

(h) Notwithstanding the provisions of any law to the contrary, the family support services provided pursuant to P.L. 1995, c.314 shall be considered a State benefit and shall not be counted as income for the purposes of State taxation or eligibility for other State benefits.

N.J. Admin. Code § 10:37I-1.1

Amended by 48 N.J.R. 2439(b), effective 11/21/2016