Eligibility

General Criteria


In order to receive case management services:
  • The child must meet the state mental health criteria written below
  • The guardian must live in Itasca County.
  • The child's guardian must request or consent to services.
  • The child needs to qualify for and obtain Medical Assistance (MA). Children with mental health disabilities may be eligible for MA based on income or through a program called TEFRA. In certain circumstances children can be eligible for county paid case management services.

Mental Health Criteria

To be eligible for Rule 79 Children's Mental Health Services, a child must meet the criteria for "Child with severe emotional disturbance," according to MN Statute 245.4871 Subd. 6.

For purposes of eligibility for case management and family community support services, "child with severe emotional disturbance" means a child who has an emotional disturbance and who meets one of the following criteria:
  1. The child has been admitted within the last three years or is at risk of being admitted to inpatient treatment or residential treatment for an emotional disturbance.
  2. The child is a Minnesota resident and is receiving inpatient treatment or residential treatment for an emotional disturbance through the interstate compact
  3. The child has one of the following as determined by a mental health professional:
    • Psychosis or a clinical depression
    • Risk of harming self or others as a result of an emotional disturbance
    • Psychopathological symptoms as a result of being a victim of physical or sexual abuse or of psychic trauma within the past year
  4. The child, as a result of an emotional disturbance, has significantly impaired home, school, or community functioning that has lasted at least one year or that, in the written opinion of a mental health professional, presents substantial risk of lasting at least one year. The term "child with severe emotional disturbance" shall be used only for purposes of county eligibility determinations. In all other written and oral communications, case managers, mental health professionals, mental health practitioners, and all other providers of mental health service shall use the term "child eligible for mental health case management" in place of "child with severe emotional disturbance."