Youth Empowerment Services (YES) Waiver

Youth Empowerment Services (YES) is a Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) Waiver program focused on the prevention or reduction of institutionalization of children and adolescents ages 3 -18 with serious emotional disturbances (SED). YES Waiver services enable more flexibility in providing intensive community-based services for children and adolescents with SED and provide support for their families by improving access to care. The YES Waiver is administered under Social Security Act §1915(c) and approved by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

To be eligible for the YES Waiver, the following is required:

--Be between 3 – 18 years of age.

--Reside in current YES Waiver community.

--Reside in a non-institutional setting with the child’s or adolescent’s Legally Authorized Representative or in the youth’s own home or apartment, if legally emancipated.

--Client must score at identified levels in one or more domains of the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) Assessment.

--There is a reasonable expectation that, without YES Waiver services, the child or youth would qualify for inpatient care.

--Child or Adolescent must be eligible for Medicaid.

The goals of the YES Waiver are:

--Improve the clinical and functional outcomes of children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbance.

--Provide a more complete continuum of community-based services and supports for children and adolescents with SED and their families.

--Ensure families have access to parent partners and other flexible non-traditional support services as identified in a family-centered planning process.

--Prevent entry and recidivism into the foster care system and relinquishment of parental custody.

--Reduce out-of-home placements and inpatient psychiatric treatment by all child-serving agencies.