The Florida Senate

402.45  Community resource mother or father program.--

(1)  The Department of Health shall establish a community resource mother or father program pursuant to this section within the resources allocated. The purpose of the program shall be to demonstrate the benefits of utilizing community resource mothers or fathers to improve maternal and child health outcomes; to enhance parenting and child development, including the educational enrichment of children through the promotion of increased awareness by mothers and fathers of their own strengths and potentials as home educators; to support family integrity through the provision of social support and parent education and training; to provide assistance to children at high risk for delinquent behavior and their parents; and to provide assistance to high-risk pregnant women and to high-risk or handicapped infants, toddlers, and preschool children and their parents.

(2)  No later than January 1, 1990, the department shall have community resource mother or father programs operational in some counties with high incidences of medically underserved high-risk children, low birthweight babies, and infant mortality. The programs shall be established in areas where the Florida First Start Program established under s. 230.2303 is not operational or is not able to serve the entire population needs in a community.

(3)  The Department of Health shall contract with county health departments, other public agencies, or not-for-profit agencies, or any combination thereof, to carry out the programs utilizing community resource mother or father services.

(4)  A community resource mother or father shall be an individual who by residence and resources is able to identify with the target population, and meets the following minimum criteria:

(a)  Is at least 25 years of age.

(b)  Is a mother or father.

(c)  Is a recipient of temporary cash assistance or a person with an income below the federal poverty level, or has an income equivalent to community clients.

(5)  The Department of Health may, in addition to the criteria in subsection (4), require other criteria to contract for community resource mother or father services.

(6)  The community resource mother or father program shall be included under the jurisdiction of the State Coordinating Council for School Readiness Programs established pursuant to s. 411.222. The council shall make recommendations for effective implementation of the program and shall advise the Department of Health in the development of program guidelines, the schedule for implementation, the establishment of evaluation procedures, the provision of technical assistance to individual programs, and the development of the program evaluation report.

(7)  The Department of Health shall develop the program guidelines.

(8)  Individuals under contract to provide community resource mother or father services shall participate in preservice and ongoing training as determined by the Department of Health in consultation with the State Coordinating Council for School Readiness Programs. A community resource mother or father shall not be assigned a client caseload until all preservice training requirements are completed.

(9)  The community resource mother or father shall be assigned a caseload based on the criteria established by the Department of Health, which criteria consider geographic distance, severity of problems on the caseload, and skills needed to address the problems. A plan shall be developed for each case that includes, at a minimum:

(a)  A statement of the high-risk pregnant woman's problems or high-risk child's problems and needs.

(b)  The goals and objectives of the intervention program.

(c)  The services to be provided by the community resource mother or father.

(d)  Community resources to be used.

(e)  Schedule of visits between community resource mothers or fathers and clients.

(10)  Supervision of the community resource mother or father shall be the responsibility of the county health department or other public agency or nonprofit agency under contract to the department, whichever is appropriate, and may be delegated to a community agency under contract.

(11)  The department may adopt rules necessary to implement this section.

History.--s. 9, ch. 89-379; s. 2, ch. 90-192; s. 5, ch. 91-429; s. 123, ch. 94-209; s. 84, ch. 96-175; s. 192, ch. 97-101; s. 35, ch. 99-5; s. 151, ch. 99-8; s. 90, ch. 2000-165; s. 20, ch. 2000-337.