§ 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.