TITLE 37 MENTAL HEALTH

Section 4. Habilitation of the Developmentally Disabled Generally, 37-4-1 through 37-4-127.

ARTICLE 1 GENERAL PROVISIONS

37-4-2. Definitions.

As used in this chapter, the term:

1. "Client" means any person with a developmental disability who seeks habilitation under this chapter or any person for whom such habilitation is sought.
2. "Clinical record" means a written record pertaining to an individual client and includes habilitation record, progress notes, charts, admission and discharge data, and all other information which is recorded by a facility and which pertains to the client's habilitation. Such other information as may be required by rules and regulations of the board shall also be included.
3. "Community services" means all services deemed reasonably necessary by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities to provide for the education, training, habilitation, and care of developmentally disabled individuals. Such services shall include, but not be limited to, diagnostic and evaluation services, day-care and training services, work activity services, community residential services such as group family care homes, transportation services, social services, medical services, and specified home services.
4. "Comprehensive habilitation team" means and shall consist of a group of persons with special training and experience in the assessment of needs and provision of services for developmentally disabled persons. The group shall include, at a minimum, persons qualified to provide social, psychological, medical, and other services. The department shall specify the qualifications of the individuals who comprise a comprehensive habilitation team and shall ensure that such teams are located throughout the state so as to provide diagnostic, evaluation, and habilitation services for all citizens of Georgia.
5. "Court" means:
   1. In the case of an individual who is 17 years of age or older, the probate court of the county of residence of the client or the county in which such client is found. Notwithstanding Code Section 15-9-13, in any case in which the judge of said probate court is unable to hear a case brought under this chapter within the time required for such hearing, said judge shall appoint a person to serve and exercise all the jurisdiction of the probate court in such case. Any person so appointed shall be a member of the State Bar of Georgia and shall be otherwise qualified for his or her duties by training and experience. Such appointment may be made on a case-by-case basis or by making a standing appointment of one or more persons. Any person receiving such standing appointment shall serve at the pleasure of the judge making the appointment or the judge's successor in office to hear such cases if and when necessary. The compensation of a person so appointed shall be as agreed upon by the judge who makes the appointment and the person appointed with the approval of the governing authority of the county for which such person is appointed and shall be paid from the county funds of said county. All fees collected for the services of such appointed person shall be paid into the general funds of the county served; or
   2. In the case of an individual who is under the age of 17 years, the juvenile court of the county of residence of the client or the county in which such client is found.
6. "Facility" means any state owned or state operated institution utilized 24 hours a day for the habilitation and residence of persons who are developmentally disabled, any facility operated or utilized for such purpose by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs or any other federal agency, and any other facility within the State of Georgia approved for such purpose by the department.
7. "Full and fair hearing" or "hearing" means a proceeding before an administrative law judge, under Code Section 37-4-42, or before a court, as defined in paragraph (5) of this Code section. The hearing may be held in a regular courtroom or in an informal setting, in the discretion of the administrative law judge or the court, but the hearing shall be recorded electronically or by a qualified court reporter. The client shall be provided with effective assistance of counsel. If the client cannot afford counsel, the court shall appoint counsel for him or her or the administrative law judge shall have the court appoint such counsel. The client shall have the right to confront and cross-examine witnesses and to offer evidence. The client shall have the right to subpoena witnesses and to require testimony before the administrative law judge or in court in person or by deposition from any physician upon whose evaluation the decision of the administrative law judge or the court may rest. The client shall have the right to obtain a continuance for any reasonable time for good cause shown. The administrative law judge and the court shall apply the rules of evidence applicable in civil cases. The burden of proof shall be upon the party seeking treatment of the client. The standard of proof shall be by clear and convincing evidence. At the request of the client, the public may be excluded from the hearing, and the client need not be present if the court consents; in either of these events, the record shall reflect the reason for the administrative law judge's or the court's action.
8. "Habilitation" means the process by which program personnel help clients acquire and maintain those life skills which will enable them to cope more effectively with the demands of their own persons and of their environment and to raise the level of their physical, mental, social, and vocational abilities.
9. "Individualized program plan" means a proposed habilitation program written in behavioral terms, developed by the comprehensive habilitation team, and specifically tailored to the needs of an individual client. Each plan shall include:
   1. A statement of the nature of the client's specific problems and specific needs;
   2. A description of intermediate and long-range habilitation goals and a projected timetable for their attainment;
   3. A description of the proposed habilitation program and its relation to habilitation goals;
   4. Identification of the facility and types of professional personnel responsible for execution of the client's habilitation program;
   5. A statement of the least restrictive environment necessary to achieve the purposes of habilitation, based upon the needs of the client;
   6. An explanation of criteria for acceptance or rejection of alternative environments for habilitation; and
   7. Proposed criteria for release of the client into less restrictive habilitation environments upon obtaining specified habilitation goals.
10. "Least restrictive alternative," "least restrictive environment," or "least restrictive appropriate habilitation" means that which is the least restrictive available alternative, environment, or appropriate habilitation, as applicable, within the limits of state funds specifically appropriated therefor.
11. "Person in charge of a client's habilitation" means a superintendent or regional state hospital administrator of a facility, a case manager, or any other service provider designated by the department to have overall responsibility for implementation of a client's individualized program plan. The department shall designate such a person for each individual ordered to receive services from the department under this chapter.
12. "Representatives" means the persons appointed as provided in Code Section 37-4-107 to receive any notice under this chapter.
13. "Superintendent" means the chief administrative officer who has overall management responsibility at any facility, other than a regional state hospital or state owned or operated community program, receiving developmentally disabled persons under this chapter or an individual appointed as the designee of such superintendent.

(Code 1933, § 88-2502, enacted by Ga. L. 1964, p. 499, § 1; Ga. L. 1972, p. 700, § 3; Ga. L. 1978, p. 1826, § 1; Code 1933, § 88-2503.12, enacted by Ga. L. 1978, p. 1826, § 1; Ga. L. 1979, p. 734, § 1; Ga. L. 1986, p. 1092, § 1; Ga. L. 1990, p. 45, § 1; Ga. L. 1991, p. 94, § 37; Ga. L. 2002, p. 1324, § 1-12; Ga. L. 2009, p. 453, § 3-13/HB 228; Ga. L. 2011, p. 337, § 1/HB 324.)

The 2011 amendment, effective July 1, 2011, in paragraph (4), deleted "'evaluation team' or 'comprehensive'" following "'Comprehensive" at the beginning, substituted "persons. The group" for "persons, which group" at the end of the first sentence, and deleted "a comprehensive evaluation team or" following "who comprise" in the third sentence; deleted former paragraphs (6) and (7), relating to developmentally disabled persons in need of community services and requiring temporary and immediate care; redesignated former paragraphs (8) through (15) as present paragraphs (6) through (13), respectively; in paragraph (7), substituted "administrative law judge" for "hearing examiner" throughout, substituted "an administrative law judge" for "a hearing examiner" in the first sentence, and substituted "administrative law judge's" for "hearing examiner's" in the last sentence; and substituted "habilitation team" for "evaluation team" in the first sentence of the introductory language of paragraph (9).