Bill Text: IL SB1794 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Enrolled

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Amends the Department of Human Services Act. Requires the Department of Human Services to establish a home visiting program to support communities in providing intensive home visiting programs to pregnant persons and families with children from birth up to elementary school enrollment. Provides that services shall be offered on a voluntary basis to families. Provides that, in awarding grants under the program, the Department shall prioritize populations or communities in need of such services, as determined by the Department, based on data including, but not limited to, statewide home visiting needs assessments. Provides that eligibility under the program shall also take into consideration requirements of the federal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program to ensure appropriate alignment. Provides that the overall goals for these services are to: (1) improve maternal and newborn health; (2) prevent child abuse and neglect; (3) promote children's development and readiness to participate in school; and (4) connect families to needed community resources and supports. Contains provisions concerning grants to community-based organizations to implement home visiting and family support services; services provided under the home visiting program; infrastructure supports for grantees such as professional development for the workforce, technical assistance and capacity-building, and infant and early childhood mental health consultation; collaboration between the Department and other specified agencies to implement the home visiting services to ensure service alignment with services provided through the Early Childhood Block Grant and the State's Medical Assistance Program; and the establishment of an advisory committee. Grants the Department rulemaking authority.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 13-0)

Status: (Passed) 2023-08-04 - Public Act . . . . . . . . . 103-0498 [SB1794 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2023-SB1794-Enrolled.html

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SB1794 Enrolled LRB103 26871 KTG 53235 b
AN ACT concerning State government.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Department of Human Services Act is amended
by adding Section 10-16 as follows:
(20 ILCS 1305/10-16 new)
Sec. 10-16. Home visiting program.
(a) The General Assembly finds that research-informed home
visiting programs work to strengthen families' functioning and
support parents in caring for their children to ensure optimal
child development.
(b) The Department shall establish a home visiting program
to support communities in providing intensive home visiting
programs to pregnant persons and families with children from
birth up to elementary school enrollment. Services shall be
offered on a voluntary basis to families. In awarding grants
under the program, the Department shall prioritize populations
or communities in need of such services, as determined by the
Department, based on data including, but not limited to,
statewide home visiting needs assessments. Eligibility under
the program shall also take into consideration requirements of
the federal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home
Visiting Program and Head Start and Early Head Start to ensure

SB1794 Enrolled - 2 - LRB103 26871 KTG 53235 b
appropriate alignment. The overall goals for these services
are to:
(1) improve maternal and newborn health;
(2) prevent child abuse and neglect;
(3) promote children's development and readiness to
participate in school; and
(4) connect families to needed community resources and
supports.
(b) Allowable uses of funding include:
(1) Grants to community-based organizations to
implement home visiting and family support services with
fidelity to research-informed home visiting program
models, as defined by the Department. Services may
include, but are not limited to:
(A) personal visits with a child and the child's
parent or caregiver at a periodicity aligned with the
model being implemented;
(B) opportunities for connections with other
parents and caregivers in their community and other
social and community supports;
(C) enhancements to research-informed home
visiting program models based on community needs
including doula services, and other program
innovations as approved by the Department; and
(D) referrals to other resources needed by
families.

SB1794 Enrolled - 3 - LRB103 26871 KTG 53235 b
(2) Infrastructure supports for grantees, including,
but not limited to, professional development for the
workforce, technical assistance and capacity-building,
data system and supports, infant and early childhood
mental health consultation, trauma-informed practices,
research, universal newborn screening, and coordinated
intake.
(c) Subject to appropriation, the Department shall award
grants to community-based agencies in accordance with this
Section and any other rules that may be adopted by the
Department. Successful grantees under this program shall
comply with policies and procedures on program, data, and
expense reporting as developed by the Department.
(d) Funds received under this Section shall supplement,
not supplant, other existing or new federal, State, or local
sources of funding for these services. Any new federal funding
received shall supplement and not supplant funding for this
program.
(e) The Department shall collaborate with relevant
agencies to support the coordination and alignment of home
visiting services provided through other State and federal
funds, to the extent possible. The Department shall
collaborate with the State Board of Education, the Department
of Healthcare and Family Services, and Head Start and Early
Head Start in the implementation of these services to support
alignment with home visiting services provided through the

SB1794 Enrolled - 4 - LRB103 26871 KTG 53235 b
Early Childhood Block Grant and the State's Medical Assistance
Program, respectively, to the extent possible.
(f) An advisory committee shall advise the Department
concerning the implementation of the home visiting program.
The advisory committee shall make recommendations on policy
and implementation. The Department shall determine whether the
advisory committee shall be a newly created body or an
existing body such as a committee of the Illinois Early
Learning Council. The advisory committee shall consist of one
or more representatives of the Department, other members
representing public and private entities that serve and
interact with the families served under the home visiting
program, with the input of families engaged in home visiting
or related services themselves. Family input may be secured by
engaging families as members of this advisory committee or as
a separate committee of family representatives.
(g) The Department may adopt any rules necessary to
implement this Section.