The Florida Senate

411.203  Continuum of comprehensive services.--The Department of Education and the ¹Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services shall utilize the continuum of prevention and early assistance services for high-risk pregnant women and for high-risk and handicapped children and their families, as outlined in this section, as a basis for the intraagency and interagency program coordination, monitoring, and analysis required in this chapter. The continuum shall be the guide for the comprehensive statewide approach for services for high-risk pregnant women and for high-risk and handicapped children and their families, and may be expanded or reduced as necessary for the enhancement of those services. Expansion or reduction of the continuum shall be determined by intraagency or interagency findings and agreement, whichever is applicable. Implementation of the continuum shall be based upon applicable eligibility criteria, availability of resources, and interagency prioritization when programs impact both agencies, or upon single agency prioritization when programs impact only one agency. The continuum shall include, but not be limited to:

(1)  EDUCATION AND AWARENESS.--

(a)  Education of the public concerning, but not limited to, the causes of handicapping conditions, normal and abnormal child development, the benefits of abstinence from sexual activity, and the consequences of teenage pregnancy.

(b)  Education of professionals and paraprofessionals concerning, but not limited to, the causes of handicapping conditions, normal and abnormal child development, parenting skills, the benefits of abstinence from sexual activity, and the consequences of teenage pregnancy, through preservice and inservice training, continuing education, and required postsecondary coursework.

(2)  INFORMATION AND REFERRAL.--

(a)  Providing information about available services and programs to families of high-risk and handicapped children.

(b)  Providing information about service options and providing technical assistance to aid families in the decisionmaking process.

(c)  Directing the family to appropriate services and programs to meet identified needs.

(3)  CASE MANAGEMENT.--

(a)  Arranging and coordinating services and activities for high-risk pregnant women, and for high-risk children and their families, with identified service providers.

(b)  Providing appropriate casework services to pregnant women and to high-risk children and their families.

(c)  Advocating for pregnant women and for children and their families.

(4)  SUPPORT SERVICES PRIOR TO PREGNANCY.--

(a)  Basic needs, such as food, clothing, and shelter.

(b)  Health education.

(c)  Family planning services, on a voluntary basis.

(d)  Counseling to promote a healthy, stable, and supportive family unit, to include, but not be limited to, financial planning, stress management, and educational planning.

(5)  MATERNITY AND NEWBORN SERVICES.--

(a)  Comprehensive prenatal care, accessible to all pregnant women and provided for high-risk pregnant women.

(b)  Adoption counseling for unmarried pregnant teenagers.

(c)  Nutrition services for high-risk pregnant women.

(d)  Perinatal intensive care.

(e)  Delivery services for high-risk pregnant women.

(f)  Postpartum care.

(g)  Nutrition services for lactating mothers of high-risk children.

(h)  A new mother information program at the birth site, to provide an informational brochure about immunizations, normal child development, abuse avoidance and appropriate parenting strategies, family planning, and community resources and support services for all parents of newborns and to schedule Medicaid-eligible infants for a health checkup.

(i)  Appropriate screenings, to include, but not be limited to, metabolic screening, sickle-cell screening, hearing screening, developmental screening, and categorical screening.

(j)  Followup family planning services for high-risk mothers and mothers of high-risk infants.

(6)  HEALTH AND NUTRITION SERVICES FOR PRESCHOOL CHILDREN.--

(a)  Preventive health services for all preschool children.

(b)  Nutrition services for all preschool children, including, but not limited to, the Child Care Food Program and the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children.

(c)  Medical care for seriously medically impaired preschool children.

(d)  Cost-effective quality health care alternatives for medically involved preschool children, in or near their homes.

(7)  EDUCATION, EARLY ASSISTANCE, AND RELATED SERVICES FOR HIGH-RISK CHILDREN AND THEIR FAMILIES.--

(a)  Early assistance, including, but not limited to, developmental assistance programs, parent support and training programs, and appropriate followup assistance services, for handicapped and high-risk infants and their families.

(b)  Special education and related services for handicapped children.

(c)  Education, early assistance, and related services for high-risk children.

(8)  SUPPORT SERVICES FOR ALL EXPECTANT PARENTS AND PARENTS OF HIGH-RISK CHILDREN.--

(a)  Nonmedical prenatal and support services for pregnant teenagers and other high-risk pregnant women.

(b)  Child care and early childhood programs, including, but not limited to, subsidized child care, licensed nonsubsidized child care, family day care homes, therapeutic child care, Head Start, and preschool programs in public and private schools.

(c)  Parent education and counseling.

(d)  Transportation.

(e)  Respite care, homemaker care, crisis management, and other services that allow families of high-risk children to maintain and provide quality care to their children at home.

(f)  Parent support groups, such as the community resource mother or father program as established in s. 402.45, the Florida First Start Program as established in s. 230.2303, or parents as first teachers, to strengthen families and to enable families of high-risk children to better meet their needs.

(g)  Utilization of the elderly, either as volunteers or paid employees, to work with high-risk children.

(h)  Utilization of high school and postsecondary students as volunteers to work with high-risk children.

(9)  MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS AND PROCEDURES.--

(a)  Resource information systems on services and programs available for families.

(b)  Registry of high-risk newborns and newborns with birth defects, which utilizes privacy safeguards for children and parents who are subjects of the registry.

(c)  Local registry of preschoolers with high-risk or handicapping conditions, which utilizes privacy safeguards for children and parents who are subjects of the registry.

(d)  Information sharing system among the ¹Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, the Department of Education, local education agencies, and other appropriate entities, on children eligible for services. Information may be shared when parental or guardian permission has been given for release.

(e)  Well-baby insurance for preschoolers included in the family policy coverage.

(f)  Evaluation, to include:

1.  Establishing child-centered and family-focused goals and objectives for each element of the continuum.

2.  Developing a system to report child and family outcomes and program effectiveness for each element of the continuum.

(g)  Planning for continuation of services, to include:

1.  Individual and family service plan by an interdisciplinary team, for the transition from birth or the earliest point of identification of a high-risk infant or toddler into an early assistance, preschool program for 3-year-olds or 4-year-olds, or other appropriate programs.

2.  Individual and family service plan by an interdisciplinary team, for the transition of a high-risk preschool child into a public or private school system.

History.--s. 1, ch. 89-379.

¹Note.--The Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services was redesignated as the Department of Children and Family Services by s. 5, ch. 96-403, and the Department of Health was created by s. 8, ch. 96-403.