THE SENATE

S.C.R. NO.

45

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2004

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

requesting a one year extension of the statewide interagency task force to continue to develop a plan for coordination and expansion of services provided through healthy start to young children and their families.

 

WHEREAS, the Healthy Start program model was initiated in 1985 by the Department of Health as a pilot project to reduce child abuse and neglect through early identification of at-risk families; and

WHEREAS, by 2000, the State Legislature funded Healthy Start to provide services statewide; and

WHEREAS, these program sites are situated in all urban and rural communities and screen over ninety per cent of Hawaii's pregnant women for risk factors that would identify them for home visiting services; and

WHEREAS, although the Department of Health administers the Healthy Start program, the responsibility for assessing reports of child abuse and neglect is assigned to the Child Protective Services program within the Department of Human Services; and

WHEREAS, the 2003 Legislature passed S.C.R. 13, which established an interagency task force to develop an implementation plan for the coordination and expansion of services provided to young children at risk and their families; and

WHEREAS, the preliminary recommendations developed by the task force may require legislative action, changes in resources, or commitments from additional agency resources; and

WHEREAS, the task force has requested an extension to further develop implementation plans to assure coordination and monitoring of services to the very highest risk families with newborns and infants; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-Second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2004, the House of Representatives concurring, that the statewide interagency task force be extended for one more year; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED the task force may work to achieve the following:

(1) Further discuss the preliminary recommendations and develop working agreements between the Department of Health and the Department of Human Services, and other parties to operationalize and implement the recommendations;

(2) Implement a general plan for tracking, monitoring, assessing, and reporting on progress on indicators related to achievement of the overall goal;

(3) Complete discussion on topics identified but not addressed by the task force; and

(4) Develop any necessary legislation for consideration in the 2005 legislative session; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force is requested to submit a report of its findings and recommendations to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the 2005 Regular Session; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of the Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Health, Director of Human Services, the Administrative Director of the Courts, the head of the Healthy Start program, the head of the Alliance for Health and Human Services, the chairs of the Child Protective Services Citizen Review Panels, the chairs of the Child and Welfare Services Advisory Councils, the head of the Good Beginnings Alliance, the head of Like a Child, the head of the Hawaii Children's Trust Fund, the head of the Blueprint for

Change, the head of the Consuelo Zobel Alger Foundation, the Hawaii Family Support Institute, the head of the Child-at-Risk Evaluation program, and the Salvation Army.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:

Healthy Start Task Force