New Jersey Administrative Code
Title 10 - HUMAN SERVICES
Chapter 37A - LICENSED COMMUNITY RESIDENCES FOR ADULTS WITH MENTAL ILLNESSES
Appendix A
Each consumer in a licensed supervised residence is to be provided with a copy of the following consumer rights regarding discharge and exclusion from the facility (with the appropriate names, addresses, and phone numbers of the individuals listed on page two of this appendix):
STATEMENT OF CONSUMER RIGHTS REGARDING DISCHARGE AND EXCLUSION FROM A SUPERVISED RESIDENCE
As a consumer residing in a Supervised Residence licensed by the New Jersey Department of Human Services, you are protected from being discharged or excluded from the residence against your will and without sufficient cause as outlined in the service agreement. Also, specific procedures must be followed by the Provider Agency before any discharge or exclusion can occur.
The reasons for discharge or exclusion and the procedures to be followed are as follows:
REASONS FOR DISCHARGE:
To be discharged or excluded from a supervised residence, one of the following conditions must occur:
1. You have received the maximum clinical benefit offered by the program and another place (not a hospital or shelter) is available for you to live in, and discharge would be in your clinical best interests.
2. You behave in a manner which substantially threatens the physical safety or emotional or psychological health of others.
3. You repeatedly break a written rule of the residence after being given a written warning to stop.
4. You behave in a manner which breaks the law or causes the residence to violate its lease or other agreements.
5. You leave the residence for 30 days without informing staff that you will return soon.
6. You refuse to participate in many of the services listed in your previously agreed upon treatment plan, have not offered a reasonable alternative plan of daily activities, and there is another place available for you to live, other than a hospital.
PROCEDURES FOR DISCHARGE OR EXCLUSION:
A. The following procedures must be followed in the case of all discharges or exclusions from a Community Residence:
1. Your assigned clinical staff must fully explain the reasons.
2. If you wish, you must be offered the opportunity to speak with the Agency Ombudsperson and to follow the consumer Complaint Procedure. If you wish more information about this procedure, the Agency which operates this Supervised Residence will give you the full details in writing.
3. In the case of discharge, clinical staff must make a discharge plan for you and attempt to locate another place for you to live and other appropriate treatment services.
B. If you disagree with the decision to discharge or exclude you, the following procedures must be followed:
1. The Agency's Chief Executive Officer must review the decision and approve it.
2. A representative of the Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services must review the decision and you must be given the opportunity to meet with that representative.
-- You will receive at least ten (10) days notice before a meeting is scheduled.
-- You must be given the opportunity to bring a lawyer or another person to the meeting if you desire and to have other persons present to tell what they know.
-- You must be given the opportunity to say or show anything that helps the Division representative understand why you disagree with the plan to discharge or exclude you. You must also be read any letters or written statements made by others and be allowed to respond to them.
3. The Division's representative may make any decision he or she reasonably considers to be fair and send the decision to you in writing. If the decision is made to approve the discharge or exclusion, you must be given at least seven (7) days from the date you receive the letter to move out of the residence. If the decision does not approve the discharge or exclusion, the Agency which operates this Community Residence will comply with the terms of the decision or otherwise be subject to administrative sanction.
OTHER PROCEDURES:
1. In the event you are hospitalized or leave the residence temporarily, your place in the residence must be held for you for thirty (30) days.
2. In the event you are discharged or excluded and you have not taken all of your personal property with you, the Agency must safeguard that property for a reasonable period of time, at least thirty (30) days.
3. In the event of an emergency where your behavior endangers others and there is no other effective way of dealing with the situation, you may be removed from the residence temporarily without prior review by the Division. If that occurs, you must be given the opportunity to meet within three (3) days with a representative of the Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services. The procedures set forth in 10:37A-11.3(d) and 11.4(b)2 will be followed.
4. You may not be discharged or excluded from a community residence as a retaliation or reprisal for trying to state or obtain your rights or anything you may want or need.
This statement is a summary of your full discharge rights, which appear at N.J.A.C. 10:37A-11, and which shall be available at your request at the Agency. Nothing in this statement is intended to alter or interpret the provisions of N.J.A.C. 10:37A-11.
WHERETO CALL FOR HELP:
If you need assistance regarding your rights in a licensed Community Residence, you may call any of the following:
Agency Ombudsperson
Provider to insert name, and contact information
County Mental Health Administrator
Provider to insert name and contact information
Department of Human Services
Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services
Capital Place One, 3rd floor
222 S. Warren Street
PO Box 700
Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0700
1-800-382-6717
(staff to circle where geographically appropriate):
Community Health Law Project
Atlantic, Salem, and Camden Counties:
Station House Office Bldg.,
900 Haddon Ave., Suite 400
Collingswood, NJ 08108
(856) 858-9500
Fax: (856) 858-9545
TTY: (856) 858-9500
Email: collingswood@chlp.org
Essex and Passaic Counties:
650 Bloomfield Ave. Suite 210
Bloomfield, NJ 07003
(973) 680-5599
Fax: (973) 680-1488
TTY: (973) 680-1116
Hudson and Union Counties:
65 Jefferson Ave., Suite 402
Elizabeth, NJ 07201
(908) 355-8282
Fax (908) 355-3724
TTY: (908) 355-3369
Email: elizabeth@chlp.org
Mercer and Burlington Counties:
225 E. State St., Suite 5
Trenton, NJ 08618
(609) 392-5553
Fax: (609)392-5369
TTY: (609) 392-5369
Email: trenton@chlp.org
Monmouth and Ocean Counties:
1 Main St., Suite 413
Eatontown, NJ 07724
(732) 380-1012
Fax: (732) 380-1015
Email: eatontown@chlp.org
For all other counties:
185 Valley Street
South Orange, New Jersey 07079
(973) 275-1175
FAX: (973) 275 - 5210
TTY: (973)275-1721
Email: chlpinfo@chlp.org
Internet: www.chlp.org
Disability Rights New Jersey
210 South Broad Street (Third Floor)
Trenton, New Jersey 08608
1-800-922-7233
TTY: (609) 633-7106)
Fax: (609)777-0187
Email: advocate@drnj.org
Internet:
