Bill > A538

Introduced Session

This bill establishes a brain injury screening and education program in the Department of Children and Families (DCF). The objective of the program would be to: identify children and young adults with brain injury, ages five to 21, who are involved, or who may be at risk of involvement, with the State's mental health or juvenile justice systems; and provide education to, and raise awareness and promote outreach among, parents and guardians, educators, judges, law enforcement officials, health care providers, and employees of State psychiatric facilities, State juvenile facilities, county psychiatric hospitals, county juvenile detention facilities, county probation departments, children's crisis intervention services units, screening services, and the divisions and offices of DCF, including, but not limited to, the Divisions of Child Protection and Permanency, Children's System of Care, Family and Community Partnerships, and the Office of Adolescent Services. The education, awareness, and outreach efforts would include providing information about brain injury in children and young adults and the availability of treatment services and rehabilitative programs geared to the their specific needs. For purposes of the program, the Commissioner of DCF, in consultation with the New Jersey Traumatic Brain Injury Advisory Council (the council), would implement: (1) a reliable and validated screening tool and structured interviews, conducted by persons with foundational knowledge of brain injury, to assess prior history of brain injury: (2) training and consultancy to gain foundational knowledge of the brain in order to identify, evaluate, and provide appropriate treatment services and rehabilitative programs to children and young adults with traumatic brain injury in order to prevent admissions to psychiatric hospitals and reduce the recidivism rates of juveniles adjudicated delinquent; (3) measures to increase awareness of, and provide education on, traumatic brain injury in children and young adults, including, information on the links between brain injury, juvenile delinquency, and the early onset of psychiatric diagnoses, the value of early detection, and the treatment services and rehabilitative programs available to children and young adults with brain injury; (4) outreach strategies to disseminate information about brain injury and the treatment services and rehabilitative programs available to children and young adults with such injury through a variety of entities; and (5) guidelines for the completion of a more detailed assessment of children and young adults, and the information and resources made available to parents and guardians, following a positive screening of children and young adults for a prior history of brain injury. The provisions of the bill also direct the commissioner to apply for and accept any grant of money from the federal government, private foundations, or other sources, which may be available for programs for children and young adults with brain injury, as determined by the commissioner to be appropriate for the State's system of programs and services for children and young adults with brain injury. Finally, the commissioner, in consultation with the council, would report to the Governor and the Legislature, no later than 12 months after the effective date of the bill, and annually thereafter, on the activities of the screening program and the program's effectiveness in meeting its objectives.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Clinton Calabrese (D)*,  Sterley Stanley (D)*,  Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D), 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Children, Families and Food Security Committee (on 01/09/2024)

Official Document