Oregon Statutes - Chapter 417 - Interstate Compacts on Juveniles and Children; Children and Family Services - Section 417.795 - Healthy Start Family Support Services programs; standards; coordination.

(1) The State Commission on Children and Families established under ORS 417.730 shall establish Healthy Start Family Support Services programs through contracts entered into by local commissions on children and families in all counties of this state as funding becomes available.

(2) These programs shall be nonstigmatizing, voluntary and designed to achieve the appropriate early childhood benchmarks and shall:

(a) Ensure that express written consent is obtained from the family prior to any release of information that is protected by federal or state law and before the family receives any services;

(b) Ensure that services are voluntary and that, if a family chooses not to accept services or ends services, there are no adverse consequences for those decisions;

(c) Offer a voluntary comprehensive screening and risk assessment of all newly born children and their families;

(d) Ensure that the disclosure of information gathered in conjunction with the voluntary comprehensive screening and risk assessment of children and their families is limited pursuant to ORS 417.728 (6) to the following purposes:

(A) Providing services under the programs to children and families who give their express written consent;

(B) Providing statistical data that are not personally identifiable;

(C) Accomplishing other purposes for which the family has given express written consent; and

(D) Meeting the requirements of mandatory state and federal disclosure laws;

(e) Ensure that risk factors used in the risk assessment are limited to those risk factors that have been shown by research to be associated with poor outcomes for children and families;

(f) Identify, as early as possible, families that would benefit most from the programs;

(g) Provide parenting education and support services, including but not limited to community-based home visiting services and primary health care services;

(h) Provide other supports, including but not limited to referral to and linking of community and public services for children and families such as mental health services, alcohol and drug treatment programs that meet the standards promulgated by the Department of Human Services pursuant to ORS 430.357, child care, food, housing and transportation;

(i) Coordinate services for children consistent with the voluntary local early childhood system plan developed pursuant to ORS 417.777;

(j) Provide follow-up services and supports from birth through five years of age;

(k) Integrate data with any common data system for early childhood programs implemented pursuant to section 7, chapter 831, Oregon Laws 2001;

(L) Be included in a statewide independent evaluation to document:

(A) Level of screening and assessment;

(B) Incidence of child abuse and neglect;

(C) Change in parenting skills; and

(D) Rate of child development;

(m) Be included in a statewide training program in the dynamics of the skills needed to provide early childhood services, such as assessment and home visiting; and

(n) Meet voluntary statewide and local early childhood system quality assurance and quality improvement standards.

(3) The Healthy Start Family Support Services programs, local health departments and other providers of prenatal and perinatal services in counties, as part of the voluntary local early childhood system, shall:

(a) Identify existing services and describe and prioritize additional services necessary for a voluntary home visit system;

(b) Build on existing programs;

(c) Maximize the use of volunteers and other community resources that support all families;

(d) Target, at a minimum, all first birth families in the county; and

(e) Ensure that home visiting services provided by local health departments for children and pregnant women support and are coordinated with local Healthy Start Family Support Services programs.

(4) Through a Healthy Start Family Support Services program, a trained family support worker or nurse shall be assigned to each family assessed as at risk that consents to receive services through the worker or nurse. The worker or nurse shall conduct home visits and assist the family in gaining access to needed services.

(5) The services required by this section shall be provided by hospitals, public or private entities or organizations, or any combination thereof, capable of providing all or part of the family risk assessment and the follow-up services. In granting a contract, a local commission may utilize collaborative contracting or requests for proposals and shall take into consideration the most effective and consistent service delivery system.

(6) The family risk assessment and follow-up services for families at risk shall be provided by trained family support workers or nurses organized in teams supervised by a manager and including a family services coordinator who is available to consult.

(7) Each Healthy Start Family Support Services program shall adopt disciplinary procedures for family support workers, nurses and other employees of the program. The procedures shall provide appropriate disciplinary actions for family support workers, nurses and other employees who violate federal or state law or the policies of the program. [1993 c.677 §1; 1999 c.1053 §21; 2001 c.831 §14; 2003 c.14 §209; 2005 c.271 §3]

(Evaluation of Local Plans)

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Last modified: August 7, 2008