Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Texas ICF Consents


There are roughly 700-800 ICF/IID programs in Texas and all have a need for consents to meet the federal and state standards.  Sometimes the two, federal and state, can appear to be at odds with one another, but regardless of your view on that issue Texas has a specific avenue to obtain consent for just about any issue.  In the ICF, you need consent to spend money on a t-shirt up to consent for psychotropic medications.   I work with facilities that have upward of five different types of consents depending on the person's ability (client).

There is an easy way to decide what type of consent is needed in Texas.  You have only a handful of avenues as described below:


  1. Guardian - no matter what age the guardian gives the approval for just about everything including psychotropic medications. 
  2. Surrogate Decision Maker - an involved family member can give consent for just about everything except psychotropic medications and certain medical procedures - but very limited in that area.
  3. Person - the person (client) can give consent if the IDTeam has assessed them to have the ability to give informed consent.
  4. IDTeam - when a person can not give consent, the IDTeam can give consent for things like spending, and daily needs, but can not for medical issues, psychotropic medications or highly restrictive procedures (usually restrictive behavior plans, etc.)
  5. Supportive Decision Maker - not really making a decision, but providing the information to the person (client), giving him or her options and then providing the person's answer back to the IDTeam - this helps when a person needs support to make decisions. 
  6. Surrogate Decision Making Committee - a group of volunteers through the state makes decisions on anything not reserved for the Surrogate Decision Maker, or the IDTeam - can make decisions on psychotropic medications, medical procedures, and restrictive procedures.