_______________________________________________
HOUSE
BILL 1991
_______________________________________________
Passed
Legislature - 1993 Regular Session
State
of Washington 53rd Legislature 1993
Regular Session
By
Read
first time 02/19/93. Referred to Committee on Human Services.
Authorizing the home health visitor program to address child abuse and
neglect.
AN ACT Relating to the home health visitor
program; adding a new section to chapter 43.70 RCW; creating a new section; and
declaring an emergency.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.
The incidence of child abuse and neglect has reached epidemic proportions in
the nation. In Washington state alone, there were sixty-two thousand five
hundred reports of child abuse and neglect in 1991. That is one occurrence for
every twenty-one children in this state. Research shows that most reported
cases of physical abuse and neglect occurs among children under the age of
five. Research also shows that child abuse and neglect can be prevented. One
of the most effective strategies for preventing child abuse and neglect is to
provide parents who are most at risk of abuse, with education and supportive
services beginning at the time their infant is born and continuing in the
home. Therefore, it is the legislature's intent to develop the home health
visitor program in this state.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A
new section is added to chapter 43.70 RCW to read as follows:
The department of health, the department of
social and health services, the department of community development, the
superintendent of public instruction, and the employment security department
shall, collectively and collaboratively, develop a plan for a home health
visitor program that shall have as its primary purpose the prevention of child
abuse and neglect through the provision of selected educational and supportive
services to high risk parents of newborns.
(1) The program shall: (a) Be community-based;
(b) include early hospital-based screening to identify high risk parents of
newborns; (c) provide for an effective, in-home outreach and support program
for high risk parents of newborns that involves: (i) Frequent home visits,
(ii) parent training on early childhood development, parenting, and the stress
factors that lead to abuse and neglect, and (iii) referrals to needed social
and health services; and (d) demonstrate effective coordination among current
community-based programs that may also serve high risk parents and their
infants, including child abuse prevention programs, first steps, second steps,
the early childhood education and assistance program, the healthy kids program,
child welfare services, the women, infants, and child program, the high
priority infant tracking program, the birth to six program, local and state
public health prevention and early intervention services, and other services as
identified.
(2) The plan shall: (a) Include an estimate
and a description of the high risk groups to be served; (b) detail the
screening process and mechanisms to be used to identify high risk parents; (c)
detail the services to be included in the in-home program; (d) describe
staffing that may include the use of teams of professionals, paraprofessionals,
and volunteers; (e) describe how the program will be evaluated, including the
measurable outcomes to be achieved; and (f) provide an estimate of the costs to
fully implement the program state-wide, and for possible consideration, a
series of pilot projects with a phased-in schedule.
(3) The plan shall be provided to the
appropriate legislative committees by December 1, 1993.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.
This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace,
health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public
institutions, and shall take effect immediately.
