Introduced Version
Senate Bill 349 History
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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
Senate Bill No. 349
(By Senators Cookman, Snyder, Yost, Plymale, McCabe, Fitzsimmons
and Wells)
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[Introduced February 22, 2013; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance .]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §49-2-4, relating to
state responsibilities for the protection and care of
children; requiring the West Virginia Department of Health and
Human Resources, Child Protective Services and the West
Virginia Division of Juvenile Services to develop, coordinate
and implement the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths
(CANS) evaluation developed by the Buddin Praed Foundation as
the accepted system for outcomes evaluation in the State of
West Virginia; requiring the West Virginia Department of
Health and Human Resources to adopt certain rules and
procedures to require staff members of residential and other
out-of-home child care programs to meet qualifications;
definitions; and requiring reports to the Governor and Legislature.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §49-2-4, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 2. STATE RESPONSIBILITIES FOR THE PROTECTION AND CARE OF
CHILDREN.
§49-2-4. Residential child care programs; out of home placement
standards for staff and system for outcomes evaluation.
(a) In this article the following words have the meanings
indicated:
(1) "Cooperating Department" means a unit of government of the
State of West Virginia responsible for out-of-home placement of
children, including, but not limited to, the West Virginia
Department of Health and Human Services, Child Protective Services,
The West Virginia Division of Juvenile Justice, and the courts of
the State of West Virginia.
(2) "Direct Care Staff' means staff assigned to perform direct
responsibilities related to activities of daily living, self-help,
and socialization skills of children in a residential or other
out-of-home child care program.
(3) "Out-Of-Home Placement" means: (A) The removal of a child
from the child's family and the placement of the child by a cooperating department or court in a public or private child care
program for more than twenty-four hours; or (B) when a child is
placed in a nonresidential treatment facility by a cooperating
department or court, for periods less than twenty-four hours a day,
when done as a prediversionary alternative to an adjudication and
placement.
(4) "System for Outcomes Evaluation" is an objective and
standardized method of measuring the effectiveness of residential
and other out-of-home child care programs. This shall be
satisfied at the outset by the adoption by the state department and
cooperating departments of the Child and Adolescent Needs and
Strengths" (CANS), evaluation developed by the Buddin Praed
Foundation.
(b) On or before January 2014, the state department and
cooperating departments shall develop, coordinate and implement a
system for outcomes evaluation for "out-of home" placement of the
children of the State of West Virginia and the system shall be the
Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths" (CANS), evaluation
developed by the Buddin Praed Foundation.
(c) The system for outcomes evaluation shall be used to:
(1) Monitor the care, supervision, education and treatment
provided by residential and other out-of home child care programs
so that successful services can be expanded and services that do
not produce positive results can be identified;
(2) Assess the capacity of residential and other out-of-home
child care programs to meet the needs of a child requiring
out-of-home placement in the child's community;
(3) Effectively allocate resources based on demonstrated
outcomes;
(4) Establish an evaluation system for program performance,
including measures of safety, quality and effectiveness; and
(5) Complete an assessment of the state's residential and
other out-of-home child care program capacity that identifies
residential and other out-of-home child care programs in each
community to serve the needs of a family that resides in the
community.
(d) The system for outcomes evaluation shall use standardized
measures of function to evaluate the child's:
(1) Protection from harm while in out-of-home placement;
(2) Stability of living environment;
(3) Family situation and efforts to treat and counsel the
family unit;
(4) Educational and vocational development;
(5) Job skills and employment readiness;
(6) Cessation of drug and alcohol abuse;
(7) Learning positive, nonaggressive behavioral habits; and
(8) Post-discharge status.
(e) The measures of function to evaluate the child's post-discharge transition include:
(1) Arrest;
(2) Rearrest;
(3) Rearrest with a charge of a serious or violent offense;
(4) Rearrest with a waiver to the adult justice system;
(5) Rereferral to the State of West Virginia, Department of
Health and Human Services or cooperating departments;
(6) Readjudication and recommitment; and
(7) Graduation from high school or successful completion of a
high school equivalency examination.
(f) The state department and cooperating departments shall
consult with West Virginia University in planning and implementing
CANS as the system for outcomes evaluation.
(g) The state department and the system for outcomes
evaluation shall ensure that collection and use of data in the
system maintain confidentiality of information on the children from
the cooperating departments.
(h) The system for outcomes evaluation shall ensure that a
cooperating department shall:
(1) Facilitate and require the participation of residential or
other out-of-home child care programs operated by the cooperating
department or private agencies with which the cooperating
department has a contract for the placement of children in
out-of-home care; and
(2) Include in the cooperating department's contract with a
private residential or other out-of home care program, provisions
requiring the program to collect and report to the cooperating
department:
(A) Child-specific demographic information; and
(B) Data necessary to evaluate changes in functioning of the
child.
(i) When reporting demographic information and data under a
cooperating department:
(1) May not disclose personal identifiers; and
(2) Shall ensure the confidentiality of the information about
the children under it responsibility.
(j) On or before October 1 of each year, the state department,
in coordination with the cooperating departments, shall submit a
report to the Governor, the West Virginia Legislature and the West
Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals on the progress of implementing
the system for outcomes valuation and its results.
(k) The Governor's office, the state department and the
departments that license residential and other out-of-home child
care programs in the State of West Virginia, in cooperation with
the West Virginia Childcare Association, representatives of
residential child care programs and other advocacy groups for
children shall:
(1) Develop the rules and procedures required to fully implement the intent of the Legislature expressed in this section;
(2) Develop recommendations and any necessary changes for the
process and standards for certification of the direct care staff of
residential and other out-of-home child care programs, taking into
consideration the needs of children served by each licensing
agency;
(3) On or before January 1, 2015 report to the West Virginia
Legislature on any recommendations for the process and standards
for certification of direct care staff.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to
require the West Virginia
Department of Health and Human Resources, Child Protective Services
and the West Virginia Division of Juvenile Services to develop,
coordinate and implement the Child and Adolescent Needs and
Strengths" (CANS), evaluation developed by the Buddin Praed
Foundation as the accepted system for outcomes evaluation in the
State of West Virginia.
§49-2-4 is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring
have been omitted.