900.6 Admissions.
(a) Any homeless family which applies to a social services district may
be considered for referral to a tier I or tier II facility. Any homeless pregnant woman,
16 years of age or older, who applies to a social services district, may be considered for
referral to a congregate shelter for homeless pregnant women.
(b) Local social services districts will not be reimbursed for the
costs of providing shelter care and services to families referred to a facility which does
not have an approved operational plan.
(c) To the extent possible, referrals must be made to facilities whose
location will minimize the dislocation of the family from the family's community and
schools.
(d) Social services districts may not refer a family which includes a
pregnant woman or an inf ant under six months of age to a tier I shelter.
(e) Social services districts may not refer to a tier I shelter a
family which includes a member having a medical, physical or other special need which
cannot be adequately served in the facility.
(f) A district may not refer to a family shelter any family containing
a member who:
(1) has a mental or physical condition that
makes such placement inappropriate or otherwise may cause danger to him/herself or others;
(2) is likely to substantially interfere with
the health, safety, welfare or care of other residents;
(3) is in need of a level of medical, mental
health, nursing care or other assistance that cannot be rendered safely and effectively by
the facility, or that cannot be reasonably provided by the facility through the assistance
of other community resources; or
(4) has a generalized systemic communicable
disease or a readily communicable local infection which cannot be properly isolated and
quarantined in the facility.
(g) When a family cannot be referred to a facility for any of the
reasons set forth in subdivision (f) of this section, the local social services district
must ensure that action is taken which is appropriate to the health, safety and needs of
the family member and the family. Such action may include referral to appropriate medical
services, child welfare agency, adult protective or law enforcement agency, or similar
entity. All reasonable efforts must be made to keep the family intact. No such alternate
referral may be made unless the family has been advised of the reasons and informed of its
placement options for remaining together as a family.
(h) (1) All applicants for admission to a facility
must have a preliminary health examination completed preferably at or before the time of
intake, but in no case later than 24 hours after admission to the facility. Such
examination must be performed by qualified medical personnel to ascertain the general
health of the family and/or the presence of communicable diseases, and to verify
pregnancy. In no event may a person exhibiting symptoms of a generalized systemic
communicable disease or a readily communicable local infection be admitted, unless the
person can be properly isolated and quarantined in the facility.
(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1) of this
subdivision, a new preliminary health examination is not required when a family moves from
one temporary housing placement to another temporary housing placement while staying in
the social services district's emergency housing system, if the original preliminary
health examination is less than one year old and the preliminary health examination and
relevant health and medical information is sent to the receiving facility at or prior to
the family's arrival. Sending facilities or social services districts are required to send
relevant health and medical information to receiving facilities, including any
recommendation for additional health screening due to a family member's medical condition,
promptly upon the family's arrival, but in no instance later than 72 hours after the
family's arrival.
(3) Additional screening and referral for
physical examination, laboratory and tuberculin tests, inoculations and other appropriate
treatment must be provided at the request of the medical personnel performing the
preliminary health examination or at the request of the family.