Today's Law As Amended


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SB-426 Community-based home visitation pilot program.(2017-2018)



As Amends the Law Today


SECTION 1.

 Article 2.5 (commencing with Section 16519.75) is added to Chapter 5 of Part 4 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:

Article  2.5. Community-Based Home Visitation Program
16519.75.
 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Child abuse and neglect continue to pose serious threats to our state’s children.
(b) In 2016, almost 71,000 children in California were found to be victims of abuse or neglect.
(c) In 2012, according to the State Department of Public Health, 85 children in California died as a result of child abuse and neglect.
(d) Children who have been abused or neglected have a higher risk of developing various health problems as adults, including alcoholism, depression, drug abuse, eating disorders, obesity, suicide, and certain chronic diseases.
(e) California’s children deserve to grow up in a safe and nurturing environment free from fear, abuse, and neglect.
(f) Statewide, child abuse and neglect cases disproportionately involve children of color.
(g) Prevention of child abuse and neglect depends on the involvement of people throughout the community.
(h) Child abuse and neglect have long-term economic and societal costs.
(i) Providing community-based prevention services to families whose children may be at risk of child abuse or neglect is less costly than addressing the emotional and physical damage that can result from child abuse and neglect.
(j) Providing community-based prevention services to those families can reduce the costs of protective services, law enforcement, the judicial system, foster care, and the treatment of adults recovering from abuse as children.
(k) Quality home visitation programs have demonstrated results in improved health, increased access to services, reduced risk of child abuse and neglect, increased breastfeeding, increased school performance, and more.
(l) The federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and other federal legislation have demonstrated the benefits of home visitation to the child and whole family.
(m) The State of California is utilizing federal funds to provide limited funding for home visitation. CaliforniaVolunteers, in particular, has invested in a home visitation program that utilizes AmeriCorps members recruited from the community in which they serve to provide home visitation to at-risk families. A recent quasi-experimental design evaluation of the program showed significant results. Children in families served by AmeriCorps home visitors were 173 percent less likely to enter the child welfare system than the comparison group.
(n) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature to establish a home visitation pilot program with community-based home visitors to work with children and families in the community to prevent child abuse and neglect and strengthen families.
16519.76.
 (a) The Community-Based Home Visitation Program is hereby established as a pilot program in no more than three counties in the state to provide child abuse and neglect prevention and intervention services to families through one family resource center in each county that would provide wrap-around child abuse and neglect prevention services for families. The pilot program shall be implemented only to the extent an appropriation is made by the Legislature for the purposes of this article.
(b) The State Department of Social Services’ Office of Child Abuse Prevention of the State Department of Social Services shall administer the program and may contract with a vendor or vendors for administration of some or all of the Community-Based Home Visitation Program, including, but not limited to, management, training, and evaluation related to the pilot programs. The office, or a contractor if one is chosen, shall solicit applications from family resource centers and may select up to three centers, each representing a separate county, to participate in the pilot program based on the following criteria:
(1) The home-visiting services proposed to be provided by or through the family resource center under the pilot program shall meet all of the following conditions:
(A) Be provided through a program that would meet the criteria of evidence-based home-visiting models.
(B) Not be duplicated in the community.
(C) Be based on the needs of children and families at risk.
(2) The family resource center meets all of the following conditions:
(A) It provides and accesses an array of services for the target families, including wrap-around services, which may include, but are not limited to, crisis intervention, mental health services, and domestic violence services.
(B) It demonstrates strong connections to the community being served and community leadership.
(C) It trains and utilizes individuals from the local community in the delivery of services to children and families.
(D) It is located in a county with a high rate of child abuse and neglect cases reported and other factors potentially correlated with child abuse and neglect, including poverty and substance abuse.
(c) For purposes of this article, “family resource center” means an agency based within a community, that is focused on providing family-centered and family-strengthening services that are community-based and culturally sensitive and that includes cross-system collaboration to assist in transforming families and communities through reciprocity and asset development based on impact-driven and evidence-based approaches.
16519.77.
 (a) The Office of Child Abuse Prevention shall allocate any pilot program funds according to the provisions of this article. The office may delegate the administration of the pilot program funds to the contractor chosen to administer the program.
(b) Any funds appropriated for the implementation of the pilot program shall not supplant or replace any existing funding for programs currently serving the needs of at-risk children and families, but may only supplement the expansion of existing programs or the collaboration of separate existing programs provided by the family resource center as part of an evidence-based, community-staffed home visitation program.
(c) The administering agency of a county in which a pilot site is located may integrate the pilot program into its county system improvement plan, county self-assessments, and county plan for other federal and state child abuse prevention programs. To the extent applicable, the county shall provide similar assurances, data, and outcome assessments to the Office of Child Abuse Prevention with respect to the pilot program as are provided regarding other federal and state child abuse prevention programs.
16519.78.
 Each family resource center that participates in the pilot program shall do all of the following:
(a) Provide services that are respectful of all members of the community and reflect the diversity of the population culturally and linguistically.
(b) Commit to all of the following:
(1) (A) Using an evidence-based, community-based home visitation model, including a parenting curriculum and an assessment, to determine a parent’s risk level for child abuse and neglect.
(B) Following the assessment described in subparagraph (A), facilitating a plan, developed by the home visitor and parents, that prescribes the content and number of parent education lessons over the course of home visits as determined by the identified risk level.
(2) Using members from the community in which the family resource center is located to provide the home visitation services, deemed “home visitors” under the program. The family resource center may coordinate with CaliforniaVolunteers or one of its grantees to utilize AmeriCorps members to carry out this function.
(3) Participating in and providing consistent, intensive training to all home visitors. Training shall include, but is not limited to, the following key components for each home visitor:
(A) The service site or agency culture, the history, mission, and policies of the center, acceptable behavior, community characteristics, and available resources.
(B) A code of conduct, performance measures, and the role of the home visitor services, including the role of supervisors and expectations for daily service.
(C) Mandated child abuse reporting requirements and guidelines, professional boundaries and confidentiality, and sensitivity training.
(D) Evidence-based parenting curriculum.
(E) Protective factors.
(F) Child development.
(G) Domestic violence.
(H) Trauma-informed care.
(4) Providing ongoing training, including regular coaching and consultation with the home visitation supervisor.
(c) Upon implementation of the Community-Based Home Visitation Program, agree to provide data, on a quarterly basis, to the Office of Child Abuse Prevention and the program administration contractor, if one is chosen. All of the following shall be included in the data collection on a continuous basis:
(1) The number of children and families receiving home visitation services.
(2) The types of services provided to the children and families being served by the home visitation program.
(3) For each child and family receiving services under the pilot program, data regarding the history of contact with the local child welfare agency prior to services being provided, as available, and regarding contact made during the pilot program.
(4) Other data indicating any improvements in the health and well-being of children and their families.
16519.79.
 (a) The Office of Child Abuse Prevention shall secure an independent evaluator to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the effectiveness of each pilot program in providing services to at-risk children and families, reducing and preventing child abuse and neglect allegations reported to the child welfare system, and achieving other positive outcomes for these children and families. The office shall report interim results of this evaluation to the Legislature by December 31, 2021, and shall report final results to the Legislature by December 31, 2024.
(b) A report submitted pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
16519.80.
 This article shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2025, and as of that date is repealed.