{"data":{"id":"us-ri/r.i.-gen.-laws-23-13.7-2","jurisdiction":"us-ri","citation":"R.I. Gen. Laws § 23-13.7-2","heading":"Home-visiting system components.","body":"(a) The Rhode Island department of health shall coordinate the system of early childhood home-visiting services in Rhode Island and shall work with the department of human services and department of children, youth and families to identify effective, evidence-based, home-visiting models that meet the needs of vulnerable families with young children.\n(b) The Rhode Island department of health shall implement a statewide home-visiting system that uses evidence-based models proven to improve child and family outcomes. Evidence-based, home-visiting programs must follow with fidelity a program model with comprehensive standards that ensure high-quality service delivery, use research-based curricula, and have demonstrated significant positive outcomes in at least two (2) of the following areas:\n(1) Improved prenatal, maternal, infant, or child health outcomes;\n(2) Improved safety and reduced child maltreatment and injury;\n(3) Improved family economic security and self-sufficiency;\n(4) Enhanced early childhood development (social-emotional, language, cognitive, physical) to improve children’s readiness to succeed in school.\n(c) The Rhode Island department of health shall implement a system to identify and refer families prenatally, or as early after the birth of a child as possible, to voluntary, evidence-based, home-visiting programs. The referral system shall prioritize families for services based on risk factors known to impair child development, including:\n(1) Adolescent parent(s);\n(2) History of prenatal drug or alcohol abuse;\n(3) History of child maltreatment, domestic abuse, or other types of violence;\n(4) Incarcerated parent(s);\n(5) Reduced parental cognitive functioning or significant disability;\n(6) Insufficient financial resources to meet family needs;\n(7) History of homelessness; or\n(8) Other risk factors as determined by the department.\n(d) The Rhode Island department of health shall issue a state home-visiting report due annually by March 1 of each year that outlines the components of the state’s family home-visiting system that shall be made publicly available on the department’s website. The report shall include:\n(1) The number of families served by each evidence-based model; and\n(2) Demographic data on families served; and\n(3) Duration of participation of families; and\n(4) Cross-departmental coordination; and\n(5) Outcomes related to prenatal, maternal, infant and child health, child maltreatment, family economic security, and child development and school readiness; and\n(6) An annual estimate of the number of children born to Rhode Island families who face significant risk factors known to impair child development, and a plan including the fiscal costs and benefits to gradually expand access to the existing evidence-based, family home-visiting programs in Rhode Island to all vulnerable families.\n(e) State appropriations for this purpose shall be combined with federal dollars to fund the expansion of evidence-based, home-visiting programs, with the goal of offering the program to all the state’s pregnant and parenting teens; families with a history of involvement with the child welfare system; and other vulnerable families.","path":["Title 23 Health and Safety","Chapter 13.7 The Rhode Island Family Home-Visiting Act"],"source_url":"https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Statutes/TITLE23/23-13.7/23-13.7-2.htm","current_through":"site files published 2025-08-13","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-09-05T19:56:42Z","sha256":"c2943cc8a1662e7a1b2e9b53650db084dc0a98c8e5071616bd38a64250f22451","source_id":"us-ri","stale":true,"prev":"us-ri/r.i.-gen.-laws-23-13.7-1","next":"us-ri/r.i.-gen.-laws-23-13.8-1"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}