Bill > S743

Introduced Session

This bill establishes the Training Clinicians to Support Adults with Autism Workforce Development Program in the Rutgers Center for Adult Autism Services. The purpose of the program will be to recruit and train individuals to serve adults with autism and drive innovations to improve the quality of life for adults with autism. In general, the Rutgers Center for Adult Autism Services will have discretion to determine the scope and details of the program, including the duration of the program and whether to offer different iterations of the program to different student populations. However, the bill specifies that, at a minimum, the program is to seek to annually enroll eight to 10 students and provide 20 to 40 hours of intensive training per week. The program will seek to recruit students enrolled in baccalaureate, master's, and doctoral programs across a range of disciplines, with a focus on recruiting students who demonstrate a commitment to a future career supporting adults with autism. The training provided under the program will include intensive hands-on training alongside senior clinical staff, academic coursework, opportunities to work alongside senior faculty to develop research involving best practices, and the completion of an innovative capstone project. The bill appropriates $500,000 to the Rutgers Center for Adult Autism Services to support the establishment and implementation pf the program. Many adults with autism in New Jersey are currently without access to high-quality services and supports. As a result, people with autism are often relegated to an adulthood marked by social isolation, unemployment, untreated psychological and physical health conditions, and near-complete reliance on parents, family, and other caregivers to meet basic needs. This situation represents a crisis for many adults with autism and their families. A lack of trained support staff for this growing population, limited research-based support practices, and limited research-based service delivery models all contribute to these issues. It is the sponsor's belief that the program established under the bill will help address this Statewide crisis using an innovative, multifaceted approach to support adults with autism. Since its creation in early 2017, the Rutgers Center for Adult Autism Services has provided a variety of training experiences for 197 students from a range of disciplines including psychology, social work, education, pre-medicine, public health, and occupational therapy. It is the only center of its kind in New Jersey, and one of a select few in the nation.

Committee Categories

Kristin Corrado (R)*,  Patrick Diegnan (D)*,  Angela Mcknight (D), 

Referred to Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee (on 03/14/2024)

Official Document