Bill > A5319

Introduced Session

This bill establishes a 25-member Council for Community Recovery and Family Success in, but not of, the Department of Children and Families. The purpose of the council is to guide and oversee the development and implementation of a Statewide initiative focusing on the social and economic well-being of children and families and the provision of holistic, age and developmentally appropriate services to support a child's development from birth to young adulthood. The membership of the council will include the Commissioners of Children and Families, Community Affairs, Corrections, Education, Health, Human Services, Labor and Workforce Development, and the Executive Director of the Juvenile Justice Commission in the Department of Law and Public Safety, or their designees, who will serve ex officio; and 17 public members, with 13 appointed by the Governor and two each to be appointed by the Senate President and the Speaker of the General Assembly. The public members appointed by the Governor will include representatives of various organizations that advocate for, or provide services to, at-risk children and youth and their parents. In order to implement the Statewide initiative, the council is to: (1) develop a Children's Bill of Rights, based on the United Nations International Treaty on the Rights of Children, which shall provide a framework for the initiative's implementation; (2) conduct a comprehensive study identifying policies, procedures, practices, and financial priorities relating to preventive services for at-risk children and families and the gaps in those policies, procedures, practices, and financial priorities, and promotes the well-being of children and youth, and encourages family success; (3) review the programs, policies, and initiatives of the Departments of Children and Families, Community Affairs, Corrections, Education, Health, Human Services, Labor and Workforce Development, and Law and Public Safety, and other State departments or community-based organizations, as appropriate, and make recommendations that will enable them to better coordinate and improve the effectiveness of such programs, policies, and initiatives; (4) conduct ongoing, comprehensive cost benefit analyses of all State department and community-based organization budgets, and State and local funding mechanisms for the child welfare system to identify and make recommendations on how to redirect resources and programmatic focus from distress services to preventive services for at-risk child and families and family success initiatives; (5) explore strategies to maximize and effectively utilize all State, county, municipal, and federal funding sources, and business and philanthropic investments available for the purpose of providing preventive services to at-risk children and families and to improve family success outcomes; and (6) establish community recovery and family success councils in each county of the State that will: assess local children and youth demographics, including age, gender, race, socio-economic status, and ethnicity, and indicators of well-being; collect and analyze information concerning current services and resources available, the cost and availability of services and programs, and the met and unmet needs of at-risk children and families; and develop recommendations on methods that support innovative preventive services for at-risk children and families and the development of local family success initiatives. The goal of the Statewide initiative established by the council will be to: (1) promote positive family relationships, community connections, and preventive services to ensure financial security quality education, good health, safety, permanency, and well-being of children and families through an integrated service planning and delivery system of care; (2) develop and recommend the adoption of community-informed family success outcomes, including specified performance based outcome measures and objectives; (3) identify obstacles that impede or prevent family success and develop strategies to successfully overcome such obstacles (4) explore the role of institutional racism and bias in the delivery of services to at-risk children and families, and how racism and bias can impede or prevent family success; (5) identify policies and practices that promote the delivery of preventive services to at-risk children and families and encourage family success; and (6) incorporate input from key stakeholders, including parents, family members, community members, and children receiving preventive services from the Departments of Children and Families, Community Affairs, Corrections, Education, Health, Human Services, Labor and Workforce Development, and Law and Public Safety, and other State departments or community-based organizations, on the development of a plan to design, strengthen, or implement local family success initiatives. All State departments and agencies and community-based organizations that provide relevant distress or preventive services, maintain relevant data sets, or perform functions pertinent to these programs will be required to assist the council in its responsibilities under the bill. As used in the bill, "distress services" means services intended to remediate circumstances, including but not limited to, educational, social, and parental failures, and family crises, that endanger the safety, permanency, health and well-being of children and "preventive services" means services that promote the safety, permanency, health, and well-being of children and their families and divert the need for crisis-related services. The council is to submit an annual report to the Governor and the Legislature, pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), on recommendations for legislative and administrative actions regarding the Statewide investments of federal, State, county, municipal, and business and philanthropic investments to support the development and implementation of innovative family success initiatives and preventive services for at-risk children and families. The bill appropriates $1,800,000 from the General Fund to the Department of Children and Families to implement the provisions the bill.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

JoAnn Downey (D)*,  Jamel Holley (D)*, 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Human Services Committee (on 01/29/2021)