The deputy secretary for youth services must adopt rules to create and run a tiered system of secure juvenile facilities, and those rules must include child assessments, evaluations, and care plans.
§903.1. Tiered system of secured juvenile facilities A. Notwithstanding any other provisions of law to the contrary, the deputy secretary for youth services shall adopt rules to develop and implement a tiered system of secure juvenile facilities in the state for the placement of children in the custody of the office of juvenile justice. The tiered system shall be developed and implemented for the placement of low risk, medium risk, and high risk children. The rules shall be adopted no later than January 1, 2023, and shall be adopted in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act. B. The rules, at a minimum, shall include all of the following: (1) An assessment of each child to be performed upon placement in the custody of the office of juvenile justice and at other times determined necessary by the deputy secretary. The assessment shall be used to classify each child as high risk, medium risk, or low risk by evaluating risk factors, including but not limited to age, sex, criminogenic, and aggressive tendencies. The results of an assessment shall determine facility placement of a child. (2) A medical, educational, and psychological evaluation of each child to be performed upon placement in the custody of the office of juvenile justice. (3) A continuum of care plan for each child in the custody of the office of juvenile justice, which, at a minimum, shall include treatment, service, academic, and vocational opportunities. C. For the purposes of this Section: (1) A child is deemed "in the custody of the office of juvenile justice" if he is judicially committed to the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, youth services, office of juvenile justice, regardless of where the child is physically held, including but not limited to state-run secure facilities, state-run nonsecure facilities, contracted facilities, and detention centers. (2) A "juvenile facility" is any facility in which a child judicially committed to the office of juvenile justice is placed, whether the facility is run directly by the state or contracted by any agency of the state. Acts 2022, No. 693, §1.