(1) If a minor is committed for one hundred eighty-day inpatient treatment and is to be placed in a state-supported program, the secretary shall accept immediately and place the minor in a state-funded long-term evaluation and treatment facility.

     (2) The secretary's placement authority shall be exercised through a designated placement committee appointed by the secretary and composed of children's mental health specialists, including at least one child psychiatrist who represents the state-funded, long-term, evaluation and treatment facility for minors. The responsibility of the placement committee will be to:

     (a) Make the long-term placement of the minor in the most appropriate, available state-funded evaluation and treatment facility, having carefully considered factors including the treatment needs of the minor, the most appropriate facility able to respond to the minor's identified treatment needs, the geographic proximity of the facility to the minor's family, the immediate availability of bed space, and the probable impact of the placement on other residents of the facility;

     (b) Approve or deny requests from treatment facilities for transfer of a minor to another facility;

     (c) Receive and monitor reports required under this section;

     (d) Receive and monitor reports of all discharges.

     (3) The secretary may authorize transfer of minors among treatment facilities if the transfer is in the best interests of the minor or due to treatment priorities.

     (4) The responsible state-funded evaluation and treatment facility shall submit a report to the department's designated placement committee within ninety days of admission and no less than every one hundred eighty days thereafter, setting forth such facts as the department requires, including the minor's individual treatment plan and progress, recommendations for future treatment, and possible less restrictive treatment.

[1985 c 354 § 10. Formerly RCW 71.34.100.]