(a) If a client ordered to receive services from the department as a resident in a facility pursuant to this chapter is eligible for hospital care or treatment by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs or any other federal agency, the department, upon receipt of a certificate from such hospital showing that facilities are available and that the client is eligible for care, treatment, education, habilitation, or other specialized services therein, may transfer him to the custody of such agency. No such transfer shall occur if it would be harmful to or less effective in the client's habilitation or if it does not meet the requirements of the client's individualized program plan. When any such person is admitted under this Code section to any such facility within or outside the state, he shall be subject to the rules and regulations of such agency. The superintendent of any facility operated by such agency in which the individual becomes a resident shall, with respect to such individual, be vested with the same powers and duties as the superintendent of facilities within this state with respect to all matters under this chapter. Jurisdiction is retained in the appropriate courts of this state at any time to inquire into the condition of such an individual, to determine the necessity for continuance of his care in said facility, and to order his release; and every such person shall retain the rights delineated in Code Section 37-4-100. Every transfer of a client by the department pursuant to this Code section is so conditioned.

(b) An order of a court of competent jurisdiction of another state, territory, or possession, or of the District of Columbia authorizing hospitalization of a mentally retarded person by any agency of the United States shall have the same force and effect as to the person while in this state as in the jurisdiction in which is situated the court entering the order; and the courts of the state, territory, possession, or district issuing such order shall be deemed to have retained jurisdiction of the person so hospitalized for the purpose of inquiring into his condition and determining the necessity for continuance of his hospitalization as is provided in subsection (a) of this Code section with respect to clients ordered to receive services from the department by the courts of this state. Consent is given to the application of the law of the state, territory, possession, or district in which is located the court issuing the order for hospitalization, with respect to the authority of the superintendent of any hospital or institution operated in this state by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs or any other federal agency, to retain custody, transfer, furlough, or discharge the person therein hospitalized.