Practitioner’s Guidebook: Best Practices in Assessment for the Kansas Serious Emotional Disturbance Waiver

Abstract

The Kansas Serious Emotional Disturbance (SED) Waiver Best Practices Guide for Assessment was developed to share best practices in assessment for Kansas children and families. Additionally, this guide was developed to support community mental health centers (CMHCs) in conducting accurate and equitable SED Waiver eligibility processes. CMHCs can supplement their initial staff CAFAS training and CAFAS booster training with this guide, as it accounts for specific challenges or concerns that are unique to Kansas and Kansas’ SED Waiver eligibility process.

The Guide is organized as follows:

• Brief introduction to the CAFAS and PECFAS;

• Developer identified CAFAS/PECFAS administration guidelines;

• Summary of the common challenges observed regarding the CAFAS administration in Kansas and accompanying best practice recommendations; and

• General best practices for conducting child and family assessments in mental health contexts.

This guide closes with an example case vignette and decision flow charts for some of the CAFAS domains.