(a) Not later than December 1, 2014, the Office of Early Childhood, through the Early Childhood Education Cabinet, shall provide recommendations for implementing the coordination of home visitation programs within the early childhood system that offer a continuum of services to vulnerable families with young children, including prevention, early intervention and intensive intervention, to the joint standing committees of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to appropriations, human services, education and children. Vulnerable families with young children may include, but are not limited to, those facing poverty, trauma, violence, special health care needs, mental, emotional or behavioral health care needs, substance abuse challenges and teen parenthood. The recommendations shall address, at a minimum:

(1) A common referral process for families requesting home visitation programs;

(2) A core set of competencies and required training for all home visitation program staff;

(3) A core set of standards and outcomes for all programs, including requirements for a monitoring framework;

(4) Coordinated training for home visitation and early care providers, to the extent that training is currently provided, on cultural competency, mental health awareness and issues such as child trauma, poverty, literacy and language acquisition;

(5) Development of common outcomes;

(6) Shared reporting of outcomes, including information on any existing gaps in services, disaggregated by agency and program, which shall be reported annually, pursuant to section 11-4a, to the joint standing committees of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to appropriations, human services and children;

(7) Home-based treatment options for parents of young children who are suffering from severe depression; and

(8) Intensive intervention services for children experiencing mental, emotional or behavioral health issues, including, but not limited to, relationship-focused intervention services for young children.

(b) The Office of Early Childhood, in collaboration with the Departments of Children and Families, Education and Public Health, to the extent that private funding is available, shall design and implement a public information and education campaign on children's mental, emotional and behavioral health issues. Such campaign shall provide:

(1) Information on access to support and intervention programs providing mental, emotional and behavioral health care services to children;

(2) A list of emotional landmarks and the typical ages at which such landmarks are attained;

(3) Information on the importance of a relationship with and connection to an adult in the early years of childhood;

(4) Strategies that parents and families can employ to improve their child's mental, emotional and behavioral health, including executive functioning and self-regulation;

(5) Information to parents regarding methods to address and cope with mental, emotional and behavioral health stressors at various ages of a child's development and at various stages of a parent's work and family life;

(6) Information on existing public and private reimbursement for services rendered; and

(7) Strategies to address the stigma associated with mental illness.

(c) Not later than October 1, 2014, and annually thereafter, to the extent that private funding is available under subsection (b) of this section, the Office of Early Childhood shall report, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a, to the joint standing committees of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to children and public health on the status of the public information and education campaign implemented pursuant to subsection (b) of this section.

(P.A. 13-178, S. 5, 6; P.A. 15-45, S. 2; 15-143, S. 10.)

History: P.A. 15-45 made a technical change in Subsec. (b), effective June 5, 2015; P.A. 15-143 made identical change as P.A. 15-45, effective June 30, 2015.