(1)The general assembly finds and
declares that:
(a)Young children from low-income families often struggle to achieve the
same outcomes as their peers from higher-income families because they rarely
have access to the same supports, particularly those supports with a focus on the
development of social-emotional skills like emotion regulation, pro-social
communication, and problem solving;
(b)Exposure to poverty, a stressful home environment, and delays in the
development of behavioral and academic skills at a young age are strong predictors
of later academic challenges, health issues, behavior problems, substance abuse,
lower educational attainment, lower rates of employment, teen parenthood, and the
likely recurrence of these risk factors for the next generation of children;
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(1) The general assembly finds and
declares that:
(a) Young children from low-income families often struggle to achieve the
same outcomes as their peers from higher-income families because they rarely
have access to the same supports, particularly those supports with a focus on the
development of social-emotional skills like emotion regulation, pro-social
communication, and problem solving;
(b) Exposure to poverty, a stressful home environment, and delays in the
development of behavioral and academic skills at a young age are strong predictors
of later academic challenges, health issues, behavior problems, substance abuse,
lower educational attainment, lower rates of employment, teen parenthood, and the
likely recurrence of these risk factors for the next generation of children;
(c) Research demonstrates that the opportunity to support positive
development experiences during early childhood using evidence-based
interventions that support sensitive and responsive caregiver-child interactions are
linked to children's academic and social competence; and
(d) Helping teachers and parents learn when and how to use these evidence-based interventions has demonstrated reductions in parental depression and
increases in parental self-confidence; increases in positive family communication
and problem solving; increases in children's appropriate cognitive problem-solving
strategies and in the use of pro-social conflict management strategies with peers;
reductions in conduct problems at home and conduct problems in school that often
lead to suspension and expulsion; and increases in children's positive affect and
cooperation, positive interactions with peers, school readiness, and engagement
with school activities.
(2) (a) The general assembly finds, therefore, that it is in the best interests of
the state to authorize the department to implement proven, evidence-based, two-generation prevention programs to teach teachers and parents strategies and skills
to connect with all children, especially those who demonstrate challenging
behaviors; to promote children's social competence; to reduce behavior problems;
and to provide programming to children to help them learn problem-solving and
emotion-control skills. The goals of providing these programs are to strengthen
teacher-child and parent-child relationships and promote child behavioral change,
including self-regulation and decreased aggressive behavior and impulsivity.
(b) The general assembly further finds that, to implement these programs
efficiently and effectively and to promote successful partnerships between state
agencies and the private sector, it is appropriate to divide responsibility for the
programs between the department, which is responsible for financial administration
of the programs, and an implementation partner, which is responsible for
programmatic and clinical support, evaluation, and monitoring for the programs,
and such other responsibilities as may be described in this part 6. It is the intent of
the general assembly that the department and the implementation partner work
collaboratively to share information as necessary to promote efficient and effective
program implementation.