Bill > S3862

This bill requires the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to expand the services offered by the NJ Statewide Student Support Services program to include support for eating disorders. This means that the regional hubs, which are contracted by the DCF to provide social, emotional, youth mental health, and prevention services to students in kindergarten through 12th grade and their families, will now be responsible for assessing community needs related to eating disorders. They will also need to determine if students are receiving adequate services and then develop policies and procedures to offer eating disorder awareness, prevention, and referral to counseling and treatment services. These policies will include guidelines for providing these services within the existing "tiered services" framework of the program, which ranges from universal supports (Tier 1) to targeted interventions (Tier 2) and crisis stabilization and referrals (Tier 3), and will also establish protocols for assigning qualified mental health clinicians and specialists to deliver these new services. The DCF will need to adopt regulations to implement these changes, which will take effect a few months after the bill is enacted.

Health and Social Services

https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/bill-search/2024/S3862