2023 New York Laws › SOS - Social Services › Article 6 - Children › Title 6-A - Home Visiting › 429 - Home Visiting.

§  429.  Home  visiting. 1. In accordance with a plan developed by the
office of children and family services and approved by the  director  of
the  budget  and  within  the  amounts  which the director of the budget
determines  should  be  made  available  therefor,   such   office,   in
conjunction with the department of health, is authorized to issue grants
for  home  visiting  programs  to  prevent child abuse and maltreatment,
enhance positive parent child interactions,  increase  healthy  outcomes
for   families  and  empower  families  to  develop  and  achieve  their
self-sufficiency goals. To the extent that federal  funds  are  used  to
support  home  visiting  programs,  such  programs  must  be operated in
accordance with all applicable federal  laws  and  regulations.  To  the
extent  possible  and appropriate, funding for the home visiting program
shall be coordinated  with  other  available  funding  to  maximize  the
effective  use  of  federal,  state  and local moneys and to promote the
program's purposes.
2. Each home visiting program funded under this section shall include,
but not be limited to, the following activities:
(a) providing screening of families in the targeted geographical  area
upon the birth of a child and prenatally, if possible;
(b)  engaging  those  expectant  parents  and  families with an infant
determined to be at risk of child  abuse  or  maltreatment  and/or  poor
health outcomes to participate in the home visiting program;
(c)  providing home visits by nurses or by community workers under the
supervision of a health or social services professional to those at risk
expectant parents and families who choose to participate in the program;
(d) requiring the home visitors to:
(i) assist parents in learning about child development principles;
(ii) assist parents in accessing appropriate  preventive  health  care
for their children and themselves; and
(iii)  link  the  families  to  other  supports  and activities in the
community;
(e) determining the frequency of the home visiting  services  provided
to each participating family based on the family's needs;
(f)  continuing  home  visits  for a particular family until the child
enters school or a head start program, when necessary; and
(g) assisting families to develop and obtain the necessary supports to
achieve their self-sufficiency goals.
3. A request for proposals shall be issued to solicit applications for
home  visiting  programs.  Priority  for  funding  shall  be  given   to
applicants  from  communities identified as high need by such factors as
poverty rates, rates of adolescent pregnancy, rates of child  abuse  and
maltreatment, immunization rates and infant mortality rates.
4.  Not-for-profit  organizations  and  local  public agencies such as
community-based organizations, family  resource  centers,  local  health
departments,  local  social services departments, schools, hospitals and
other health  agencies  shall  be  eligible  to  apply  for  the  grants
available pursuant to this section.
5. Each applicant shall demonstrate among other things:
(a)  a  working  relationship with the applicable local departments of
health and social services and key services providers in the community;
(b) the commitment of local  hospitals,  prenatal  clinics  and  early
intervention  programs  servicing  families in the targeted geographical
area to promote the effective screening of families so that the  program
can  be  offered  to the maximum number of at-risk expectant parents and
families possible;
(c) its  administrative  and  fiscal  viability  and  the  community's
support for the home visiting program; and
(d)  how  the  home  visiting  program  would be integrated with other
available services, programs and funding streams.
6.  The  commissioner  of  the  office of children and family services
shall   establish   policies    governing    enrollees'    rights    and
confidentiality,  and  each  home  visiting program shall, in accordance
with such policies, inform  enrollees  of  their  rights,  and  of  such
policies governing confidentiality.
7.  The  office  of  children  and family services shall submit to the
governor and the legislature by December first, two thousand, and  every
three years thereafter, a report which shall include a review of all the
home  visiting  programs  funded  under  this  section; and comments and
recommendations based on a comprehensive evaluation regarding  the  most
effective  models  for  providing  home  visiting services and statutory
changes which could improve the state's ability to prevent  child  abuse
and  maltreatment,  improve  healthy  outcomes  for families and empower
families to develop and obtain their self-sufficiency goals.
8. Any home visiting program that meets  the  criteria  delineated  in
this  section as determined by factors set by the office of children and
family services and the department of health, regardless of whether such
program contracts with or receives funding from the state,  may  provide
the  necessary information to such offices as is required by subdivision
(i) of section seventeen of this chapter or paragraph (w) of subdivision
one of section two hundred one of the public health  law  in  order  for
their  program  to  be  made  available on the internet mapping resource
maintained by the council on children and families pursuant  to  section
four hundred eighty-three-h of this chapter.