Skip to main content

Serious Emotional Disturbance Waiver

Waiver for Children with Serious Emotional Disturbance (SEDW)

The children's SEDW provides services that are enhancements or additions to the Medicaid state plan coverage for individuals through age 21 who meet eligibility requirements. The SEDW enables Medicaid to fund necessary home and community-based services for children with SED who meet the criteria for admission to the state inpatient psychiatric hospital and are at risk of hospitalization without waiver services. 

Key Provisions

The SEDW enables Medicaid to fund necessary home and community-based services for children with serious emotional disturbance who meet the criteria for admission to the state inpatient psychiatric hospital and/or are at risk of hospitalization without waiver services. The CMHSP is responsible for assessment of potential waiver candidates.

Application for the SEDW is made through the CMHSP.  The Wraparound Facilitator, the child and his/her family and friends, and other professional members of the planning team work together to identify the child/family's strengths, needs, interventions and outcomes following the Wraparound Practice Model.  The Wraparound Individual Plan of Service (IPOS) identifies all the services and supports necessary to meet the needs and outcomes.

Eligibility

A child in foster care is eligible for the waiver if all of the following apply:

  • The child is under the age of 18 at the time of the initial approval.
  • Resides with their birth parent, a relative, or in a foster home that is willing to commit to caring for the child for at least one year.
  • Has a primary Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders (DSM), mental health diagnosis.
  • Meets CMHSP contract criteria for and is at risk of inpatient hospitalization in the state psychiatric hospital.
  • Demonstrates serious limitations that impair their ability to function in the community.

Resources

If you are a parent or caregiver seeking additional information about SEDW services, please visit Children with Serious Emotional Disturbances Waiver (michigan.gov)

Please see FOM 802 for additional information.  If you have further questions or concerns regarding the SEDW, please contact Erica Barrett at BarrettE1@michigan.gov.