SECTIONS 124175-124200 - California Statutes

HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE

SECTION 124175-124200

124175. The Legislature hereby finds and declares that:
(a) Adolescent pregnancy and parenthood is a problem with
significant social, medical, educational, and economic consequences
to the teen parent and child, her family, and the State of
California.
(b) In an attempt to address the problems of pregnant and
parenting adolescents, the Governor, in 1985, created the Adolescent
Family Life Demonstration Program, that was designed to bring
pregnant and parenting teenagers into programs that provide services
of demonstrated cost benefit and effectiveness by organizing networks
of local agencies focused on providing services to adolescents and
ensuring the most timely and effective utilization of services.
(c) Independent evaluations indicate that the program has been
successful and effective in achieving its intended goals of providing
pregnant adolescents with prenatal care, reducing the incidence of
low birthweight babies born to adolescent mothers, keeping or
reenrolling pregnant and parenting adolescents in school, and
reducing the rate of repeat teen pregnancies.

124180. (a) The department may conduct the Adolescent Family Life
Program to assure that pregnant adolescents receive comprehensive
continuous prenatal care in order to deliver healthy babies; to
establish networks within regions to provide to pregnant and
parenting teens and their children necessary services including
medical care, psychological and nutritional counseling, maternity
counseling, adoption counseling, academic and vocational programs,
and day care; to provide a continuous case manager to each family
unit; and to maintain a data base to measure outcomes of adolescent
pregnancies. Specific procedures to operate this program will be
defined and carried out through standards and guidelines established
by the department.
(b) No grant funds may be used for essential services to pregnant
adolescents or schoolage parents unless the services are not
available in the county or are insufficient to meet the basic needs
of the population to be served; in that case, funds may be used for
essential services only as set forth in the approved grant
application. No grant funds may be expended for abortions, abortion
referrals, or abortion counseling.

124185. (a) The department, through its program of maternal and
child health, shall award contract augmentations to four Adolescent
Family Life Programs that meet the requirements of this section and
develop plans for a comprehensive coordinated substance abuse
prevention, intervention, and counseling program, designed
specifically to meet the developmental, social, and educational needs
of high-risk pregnant or parenting adolescents. The program shall,
to the extent practicable, feasible, and appropriate, leverage
existing programs and funding rather than creating new, duplicative
programs and services.
(b) The department shall adopt guidelines and criteria setting
forth the terms and conditions upon which the department will offer
contract augmentations pursuant to this section. The department also
shall disseminate information designed to publicize the availability
of contract augmentations for a comprehensive coordinated substance
abuse prevention, intervention, and counseling program to high-risk
pregnant or parenting adolescents.
(c) The department shall encourage Adolescent Family Life Programs
with small caseloads to develop plans and submit applications that
reflect sharing of services among two or more programs.
(d) At least one program that is awarded a contract augmentation
shall be located in northern California, at least one program shall
be located in central California, and at least one program shall be
located in southern California.
(e) This section shall become operative on July 1, 1994.

124190. A comprehensive coordinated substance abuse prevention,
intervention, and counseling program, as used in Section 124185,
shall include, but not be limited to, programs that:
(a) Have demonstrated a capacity for developing interagency
cooperative approaches to reduce the incidence of high-risk pregnant
or parenting adolescents. This shall include documentation of program
development and plans for coordination and collaboration with
existing perinatal substance abuse programs in the county, including
state pilot projects on perinatal substance abuse established under
the direction of the Local Perinatal Substance Abuse Coordinating
Council.
(b) Employ maximum utilization of existing available programs and
facilities.
(c) Have developed goals and objectives for reducing the incidence
of high-risk pregnant and parenting adolescents.
(d) Are culturally and linguistically appropriate to the
population being served.
(e) Include staff development training by substance abuse
counselors.
(f) This section shall become operative on July 1, 1994.

124195. The department shall require reports to be prepared by all
programs funded pursuant to this article.

124200. Funding for the purpose of this article shall be provided
through funds appropriated to the department through the annual
Budget Act.