Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 969 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to make an appropriation for the Blueprint for Change project.

Testimony in support of this measure was received from the Department of Human Services, Blueprint for Change, Hale Naau Pono-Waianae Coast Community Mental Health Center, Inc., Neighborhood Place of Kona, and two individuals.

Your Committee finds that the State needs to continue funding child abuse prevention and diversion services in order to remove the risk of child abuse within the family rather than removing the child from the family. The rate of child abuse and neglect cases continues to rise dramatically in both numbers and severity of cases with an overwhelming majority of these families having problems with substance abuse, mental health issues, domestic violence, and poverty.

In response to the need for child welfare reform, Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 89, adopted during the 1994 Regular Session, created a child welfare services reform task force, known as the Blueprint for Change Task Force, for the purpose of developing a blueprint for reform in child protective services.

As a result of the work of the Blueprint for Change task force, the Legislature enacted Act 302, Session Laws of Hawaii 1996, to create the "neighborhood places". Sites were established throughout the State to allow professionals to work with families identified by the child welfare system or by community members as families at-risk for child abuse and neglect. Through the neighborhood places sites, families are provided services before the risk level rises to the point of more costly intervention efforts within the child welfare system.

Your Committee further finds that without the continued funding for the Blueprint for Change project, the neighborhood places program could not continue to carry out important system reform to assist at-risk families.

Your Committee has amended this measure by increasing the amount to $890,000 for each of the fiscal biennium, on recommendation of the Blueprint for Change project.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 969, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 969, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.