Maryland State Officials to Limit ‘Return and Divert Services’ Program

Services for some children with psychiatric problems in Maryland's Return and Divert Services program will be discontinued soon, the Washington Post reports. Program officials announced recently that children will only receive services for two years or less and in the future, new applicants "will face more stringent eligibility requirements." The program, which costs $14 million per year to run, provides in-home services to about 200 Maryland children who might otherwise be institutionalized. Begun in 1993, Return and Divert Services originally was intended to "bring home" Maryland children who were institutionalized out of the state and keep in Maryland other children who were in danger of out-of-state placements. Initially, the program served children with psychiatric problems that could improve with treatment and time, the Post reports. Bonnie Kirkland, special secretary for Children, Youth and Families, the state agency that oversees the program, said that the program's intent "always" has been to provide children with services for two years or fewer so the program could cover new children. However, according to the Post, as the program "developed," it began to provide services to children with "long term problems" like autism or brain damage. Now, because the program provides services for so many children, it is unable to accept new children, prompting state officials to clarify the program's rules.

The Situation in Montgomery County
Some parents of children in the program contend that the state has "chang[ed] the rules in the middle of the game," the Post reports. Nearly 80 parents and local and state officials attended a Montgomery County Council subcommittee meeting July 19 to "demand answers" about the program. The decision to limit services will most impact Montgomery County, which has 37% of the program's children and accounts for slightly more than 50% of the children who have received the program's services for two years or more, the Post reports. Under the clarified policy, only one of the county's 67 children in the program will remain eligible after August 2002. Montgomery County officials are "openly contemplating" whether to use county funds to continue services. For the state's part, it maintains that it was "merely clarifying an existing policy" and partly "blame[s]" the county for "accepting children ... who were never eligible." According to state officials, Montgomery County spends more than the state average of $12,000 to $14,000 per child (Becker, Washington Post, 7/20).