What is residential treatment?

When a child goes to residential treatment, that program wears many different hats. It provides for your child’s housing, food, mental health services, and education. It may also transport him to program venues, provide clothing and other personal care items. It may cover some aspects of health insurance while he is in the program. 

The reason for mentioning these different elements is that you, the party responsible for paying for this package of services, may be able to fund different parts of the costs from different sources.

Who pays for residential treatment?

• Many parents pay for treatment out of their own pockets.
• Your local school district may reimburse you for the part of treatment that relates directly to education.
• Local mental health services may have a fund for covering a portion of treatment. 
• Your insurance policy may cover only those parts of treatment that relate to mental health, psychiatric, or pharmacological costs. Your treatment program should be able to disaggregate the costs of the program for purposes of seeking reimbursement.

Here is a list of the major expenses we incurred while our child was in residential treatment. You might not have all these expenses, you might incur others we never thought about. Let us know in the Comments section below.

• Testing and Evaluation. Tests are used to assess a child’s condition, and determine the best educational and healthcare options. Frequently, a therapist, educational consultant or school guidance counselor will ask for assessment tests in order to make a good placement. 
• Educational Consultants. The educational consultants are the gatekeepers to many of the best residential treatments. They work with the family in selecting a program tailored to the child’s needs. 
• Transportation. In cases, parents fear their child might run away before going to treatment. A transportation company escorts the child from home, and takes her to the program. This is also not unusual in the case of especially recalcitrant children.
• Treatment Programs. There are a variety of ways to approach treatment for your child. In this section, we discuss wilderness programs, residential treatment, therapeutic boarding schools, and transition programs.
• Attorneys/Non-attorney Advocates. These legal professionals will advocate on your child’s behalf at special education hearings, to ensure your child receives state funding for residential treatment. 
• Ancillary Costs. There are always unforeseen costs for coaching services,private investigators (if your child runs away),home visits by the child, family visits to the program, field trips,special projects, and other considerations. 

Next: Testing and Evaluation Costs

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