Rep. Robyn Gabel

Filed: 3/7/2018

 

 


 

 


 
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1
AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 4442

2    AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 4442 by replacing
3everything after the title and before the enacting clause with
4the following:
 
5    "WHEREAS, Research-based prevention and wellness promotion
6efforts that strengthen positive parenting practices and
7enhance a child's resilience in the face of adversity have been
8shown to have a significant impact on a child's mental health,
9physical health, and educational outcomes; and
 
10    WHEREAS, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
11define positive parenting skills as good communication,
12appropriate discipline, and responding to a child's physical
13and emotional needs; and
 
14    WHEREAS, Studies in the last decade have shown that
15well-designed programs created to promote healthy cognitive,

 

 

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1emotional, and social development can improve the prospects and
2quality of life of many children; and
 
3    WHEREAS, Parenting programs have been shown to provide
4critical information on child development and safety, promote
5positive parenting behaviors, teach effective discipline
6strategies, alter adverse family patterns, and reduce levels of
7child abuse and neglect; and
 
8    WHEREAS, Positive parenting practices are directly linked
9to adaptive behaviors in children and can buffer adverse
10outcomes, even amongst at-risk families; and
 
11    WHEREAS, While positive parenting strategies can promote
12adjustment and achievement, child abuse and neglect can
13interrupt healthy development in children and can lead to
14maladaptive functioning; and
 
15    WHEREAS, In the first major study of child abuse and
16neglect in 20 years, researchers with the National Academy of
17Sciences reported that the damaging consequences of abuse can
18reshape a child's brain (resulting in consequences that last
19throughout his or her life), influence the child's amygdala
20(the part of the brain that regulates emotions, particularly
21fear and anxiety), and change how the functioning prefrontal
22cortex works (the part of the brain responsible for thinking,

 

 

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1planning, reasoning, and decision-making), which can lead to
2behavioral and academic problems; and
 
3    WHEREAS, Research shows an association between child
4maltreatment and a broad range of social problems, including
5substance abuse, violence, criminal behavior, teenage
6pregnancy, anxiety, sexually transmitted diseases, smoking,
7obesity, and diabetes; and
 
8    WHEREAS, Child abuse and neglect is a serious health
9problem that costs the United States $103 billion annually,
10which includes $33 billion in direct costs for foster care
11services, hospitalization, mental health treatment, and law
12enforcement and $70 billion in indirect costs, including
13productivity, chronic health problems, and special education;
14and
 
15    WHEREAS, Nobel prize-winning economist James J. Heckman
16and others have shown that for every dollar devoted to the
17nurturing of young children, the need for greater government
18spending on remedial education, teenage pregnancy, and prison
19incarceration may be eliminated; and
 
20    WHEREAS, Researchers have found that, left untreated, the
21effects of child abuse and neglect can profoundly influence a
22victim's physical and mental health, emotions and impulses,

 

 

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1achievements in school, and relationships formed as a child and
2as an adult; and
 
3    WHEREAS, The American Academy of Pediatrics' Psychological
4Maltreatment Clinical Report posits that emotional abuse is
5linked with mental illness, delinquency, aggression, school
6troubles, and lifelong relationship problems in children;
7these effects of ill-treatment on a child's brain and
8behavioral development are not static and can be reversed with
9quick intervention and positive changes in a child's
10environment; the negative changes present in a child's brain
11can be countered by positive brain changes that take place when
12the abuse ends and when the child is given the support he or
13she requires; parenting education is an effective way to
14prevent abuse and mental illness before it starts; therefore";
15and
 
16by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the
17following:
 
18    "Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Section
1927-23.1 as follows:
 
20    (105 ILCS 5/27-23.1)  (from Ch. 122, par. 27-23.1)
21    Sec. 27-23.1. Parenting education.
22    (a) The State Board of Education must assist each school

 

 

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1district that offers an evidence-based parenting education
2model. School districts may provide instruction in parenting
3education for grades 6 through 12 and include such instruction
4in the courses of study regularly taught therein. School
5districts may give regular school credit for satisfactory
6completion by the student of such courses.
7    As used in this subsection (a) section, "parenting
8education" means and includes instruction in the following:
9        (1) Child growth and development, including prenatal
10    development.
11        (2) Childbirth and child care.
12        (3) Family structure, function and management.
13        (4) Prenatal and postnatal care for mothers and
14    infants.
15        (5) Prevention of child abuse.
16        (6) The physical, mental, emotional, social, economic
17    and psychological aspects of interpersonal and family
18    relationships.
19        (7) Parenting skill development.
20    The State Board of Education shall assist those districts
21offering parenting education instruction, upon request, in
22developing instructional materials, training teachers, and
23establishing appropriate time allotments for each of the areas
24included in such instruction.
25    School districts may offer parenting education courses
26during that period of the day which is not part of the regular

 

 

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1school day. Residents of the school district may enroll in such
2courses. The school board may establish fees and collect such
3charges as may be necessary for attendance at such courses in
4an amount not to exceed the per capita cost of the operation
5thereof, except that the board may waive all or part of such
6charges if it determines that the individual is indigent or
7that the educational needs of the individual requires his or
8her attendance at such courses.
9    (b) Beginning with the 2019-2020 school year, from
10appropriations made for the purposes of this Section, the State
11Board of Education shall implement and administer a 3-year
12pilot program supporting the health and wellness
13student-learning requirement by utilizing a unit of
14instruction on parenting education in participating school
15districts that maintain grades 9 through 12, to be determined
16by the participating school districts. The program is
17encouraged to include, but is not be limited to, instruction on
18(i) family structure, function, and management, (ii) the
19prevention of child abuse, (iii) the physical, mental,
20emotional, social, economic, and psychological aspects of
21interpersonal and family relationships, and (iv) parenting
22education competency development that is aligned to the social
23and emotional learning standards of the student's grade level.
24Instruction under this subsection (b) may be included in the
25Comprehensive Health Education Program set forth under Section
263 of the Critical Health Problems and Comprehensive Health

 

 

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1Education Act. The State Board of Education is authorized to
2make grants to school districts that apply to participate in
3the pilot program under this subsection (b). The State Board of
4Education shall by rule provide for the form of the application
5and criteria to be used and applied in selecting participating
6urban, suburban, and rural school districts. The provisions of
7this subsection (b), other than this sentence, are inoperative
8at the conclusion of the pilot program.
9(Source: P.A. 84-534.)
 
10    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
11becoming law.".