SECTIONS 18994-18994.9 - California Statutes

WELFARE AND INSTITUTIONS CODE

SECTION 18994-18994.9

18994. (a) This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the
California Families and Children Home Visit Program.
(b) The department shall implement this chapter only to the extent
that funds are appropriated for that purpose in the annual Budget
Act.

18994.1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) About 26 percent of California's children under the age of 18
years live in families with incomes below the federal poverty line,
an increase of 56 percent since 1980. Poverty is associated with
numerous problems, including low educational performance, poor
nutrition, the mistreatment of children, and juvenile delinquency.
(b) State vital statistics data indicate that about 33 percent of
California's children were born out-of-wedlock in 1991, an increase
of 61 percent since 1980. Growing up in a single parent household is
associated with greater likelihood of living in poverty, higher
school dropout rates, higher incidence of teenage pregnancy, and
reduced levels of employment.
(c) Research has found that poor parenting practices and family
stress can increase the incidence of child behavior problems in
children as young as three years of age. These behavioral problems
can affect a variety of children's life outcomes including success in
school and incidence of juvenile delinquency.
(d) Over one-fourth of California's children speak a foreign
language.
(e) California's children are becoming more culturally and
ethnically diverse.
(f) Recent findings in the area of brain development research
indicate that inadequate parent-child interaction can negatively
affect the cognitive development of children.
(g) High quality voluntary home visit programs have been shown to
improve a variety of parental and child outcomes. Specifically, these
outcomes include reductions in poor birth outcomes, reductions in
the mistreatment of children, reductions of and greater spacing
between pregnancies, reduced use of welfare, and increased amounts of
parental employment. Studies show that low-income, single parents
exhibit the largest improvements over the long run from these
programs.
(h) Research also shows that home visit programs that address a
broad array of family needs are more likely to improve life outcomes
for families and children. Examples of improved life outcomes include
reductions in the mistreatment of children, increased rates of
school completion, reduced incidence of teenage pregnancy, reduced
interaction with the juvenile justice system, and improved health.
(i) It is the intent of the Legislature, in enacting this chapter,
to establish a high-quality voluntary home visiting program for
at-risk families.

18994.2. (a) "At risk" means families who experience multiple
stress factors, and who are more likely than the general population
to have adverse health, social, and economic outcomes.
(b) "Home visit" means a strategy of service delivery in which
specially trained professional or paraprofessional personnel provide
services in the client's home. These personnel typically make contact
with at-risk families during pregnancy or at childbirth and continue
contact with the client in the parent's home for between two and
five years with the purpose of providing information and family
support services.
(c) "Family support services" means any services intended to
improve parent-child interaction, aid families to become more
self-sufficient, or reduce family stress. These services include help
with goal setting, information about parent-child interaction,
information about and help in accessing other health and social
services, and development of problem-solving skills.

18994.3. (a) The Office of Child Abuse Prevention in the State
Department of Social Services shall be responsible for award of
implementation grants and continued operation of the California
Families and Children Home Visit Program.
(b) Office of Child Abuse Prevention's responsibilities include:
(1) Provision of technical assistance to local home visit
programs.
(2) Evaluation and assessment of local programs with the objective
of improving program results.
(3) Certification that local programs continue to meet standards
determined by the agency to be important for successful positive life
outcomes for clients. The Office of Child Abuse Prevention shall,
when reviewing grant applications under this chapter, take into
consideration geographical and population diversity.

18994.4. (a) Each county that chooses to participate in the
California Families and Children Home Visit Program shall develop and
submit to the Office of Child Abuse Prevention a three-year plan for
phasing in a home visit program for eligible families.
(b) Each implementation plan shall include:
(1) The method of determining, and a description of the at-risk
population served. Counties shall assess local community needs, and
make modifications that are consistent with the California Safe and
Healthy Families Model Program, or its successor.
(2) A clearly defined mission statement, and specific goals and
objectives that are consistent with the mission statement.
(3) A proposed voluntary home visit service delivery model,
incorporating the key components and standards of the California Safe
and Healthy Families Model Program, or its successor. The essential
components and standards of the California Safe and Healthy Families
Program Model include:
(A) A comprehensive service array that includes, but is not
limited to, systematic assessment, individualized family service
planning, intensive home visiting, child health and development
monitoring and intervention, center-based activities that serve
parents, infants, and older siblings, linkage to health care and
other community resources, and an on-going problem solving case
coordination.
(B) Services provided by a multidisciplinary team, that includes
appropriate supervision to home visitors and other team members,
management of the caseload, and ensuring that service quality is
maintained.
(C) Caseloads that are balanced in size, not to exceed 25 cases
per home visitor, and intensity (service intensity varies with client
need).
(D) On-going training and skill development.
(E) An approach to implementation that addresses relationships
with existing service systems.
(4) A description of how home visit "best practices" are
incorporated into a proposed model.
(5) A description of how the applicant proposes to coordinate and
collaborate with other community service providers including
community-based organizations, schools, religious organizations,
community police, health care districts, and welfare and social
service agencies.
(6) Provisions for families participating in the voluntary home
visit program, to provide informed consent and to ensure the
confidentiality of the records pertaining to the program.
(7) Specified quality assurance and improvement processes.
(8) Projected results by which positive outcomes and the success
of the home visit program is to be measured.
(c) The Office of Child Abuse Prevention shall evaluate
implementation plans and award implementation grants to selected
voluntary home visit programs. In order to ensure that implementation
proposals reflect the prevention and early intervention focus of
home visits, the Office of Child Abuse Prevention shall develop
proposed criteria for awarding implementation grants in accordance
with each plan's addressing of those elements set forth in
subdivision (b).

18994.5. County programs are eligible for continued funding
following an implementation assessment if both of the following are
true:
(a) The assessment results in a determination that the county
program has been implemented in accordance with the plan, and that
the county program has established mechanisms to continue
high-quality program operation.
(b) County administrators agree in writing that continued funding
is contingent on the program continuing to produce high-quality
results.

18994.55. A grant for operation of a program under this chapter may
be awarded to a county that has demonstrated readiness to begin
operation of a program or to expand an existing support services
program. A grant to operate a program under this chapter shall
supplement, and not supplant, existing services and funds.

18994.6. A planning grant may be awarded under this chapter to a
county that has demonstrated a need to implement a program, but which
is not ready to implement the program, or that is in need of
additional planning to expand existing support services.

18994.61. Each grantee shall be required to provide matching funds
with one dollar ($1) for every two dollars ($2) awarded. The match
may be either in cash or through in-kind services or resources with
comparable value.

18994.65. (a) Research and program evaluation shall provide
information for the development and implementation of this chapter.
The Office of Child Abuse Prevention shall incorporate new research
and program evaluation information in order to improve program
quality and effectiveness as this information becomes available
pursuant to this chapter.
(b) Research and program evaluation shall provide information for
the development and implementation of this chapter. The Office of
Child Abuse Prevention shall incorporate new research and program
evaluation information to improve program quality and effectiveness
as this information becomes available pursuant to the program.

18994.7. The Office of Child Abuse Prevention shall provide
administrative oversight for the California Families and Children
Home Visit Program.

18994.72. (a) Of the funds appropriated in the Budget Act of 1998
for purposes of this chapter, not less than one hundred fifty
thousand dollars ($150,000) shall be used for research and program
evaluation. The Office of Child Abuse Prevention shall maximize its
research capacity by using these funds to match foundation or
university research and program evaluation grants.
(b) The department shall be responsible for performing an
evaluation of the programs under this chapter. In conjunction with
participating research entities, the department shall develop a
research design methodology that describes data collection, data
validation, and research techniques to be used in conducting the
program evaluation, and the extent to which related evaluation
research will be incorporated. Focus areas to measure whether
outcomes for families and children are improved may relate to all or
some of the following:
(1) Child well-being.
(2) Child protective services.
(3) Foster care.
(4) Family preservation and self-sufficiency.
(5) Parental or child involvement in the justice system.
(6) School achievement.
(7) Substance abuse.
(8) Parental employment.

18994.74. Of the funds appropriated for purposes of this chapter,
not more than 7.5 percent shall be used for state support staff to
facilitate the Office of Child Abuse Prevention's ability to manage
this program, provide for program evaluation oversight, and manage
the activities of the task force created pursuant to Section 18994.9.

18994.8. It is the intent of the Legislature that the State
Department of Social Services, in consultation with other relevant
state officials, seek and use any federal funds that may be available
for the purposes of this chapter.

18994.9. (a) There is hereby established the California Families
and Children Home Visit Program Task Force, which shall be convened
by the Office of Child Abuse Prevention.
(b) The membership of the task force shall include, but need not
be limited to, all of the following:
(1) The head of the Office of Child Abuse Prevention or his or her
designee.
(2) The directors, or designees, of all of the following:
(A) The State Department of Social Services.
(B) The State Department of Health Services.
(C) The State Department of Mental Health.
(D) The Department of the Youth Authority.
(E) The State Department of Education.
(F) The Office of Criminal Justice Planning.
(3) At least two county administrators from counties participating
in this program, to be appointed by the director, with the consent
of the county.
(4) The manager of this program from the Office of Child Abuse
Prevention.
(5) Two legislative representatives, who shall be members of
policy committees with jurisdiction over social services issues
pertaining to children, with at least one each to be appointed by the
Speaker of the Assembly and the Senate Committee on Rules.
(c) The task force shall do both of the following:
(1) Identify permanent funding sources from federal and state
programs. Sources from which funding may be integrated for purposes
of this chapter may include, but are not limited to, Medi-Cal
Targeted Case Management and Administrative Program funds, provided
for pursuant to Sections 14132.44 and 14132.47, family preservation
funds, private health care providers, including health maintenance
organizations and nonprofit hospitals, the California Special
Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants and Children, federal
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act funds, and Healthy
Families Program funds.
(2) Develop recommendations for permanent funding for this
chapter, in order that eligible families who choose to participate
have access to the program.
(d) Each member of the task force shall serve without
compensation, but shall be reimbursed, by his or her employing
agency, for actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance
of his or her duties.
(e) The task force shall be supported by a reasonable amount of
staff time, which shall be provided by the agencies represented on
the task force, to the extent feasible within an agency's existing
resources. The task force may request data from, and may utilize the
technical expertise of, other state agencies.
(f) The task force, under the guidance of the Office of Child
Abuse Prevention, shall submit its report to the Legislature not
later than November 1, 1999.