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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Beam

DATE TYPED 3/1/2005 HB 954

SHORT TITLE At-Home Infant Care Program

SB

ANALYST Dunbar

APPROPRIATION

Appropriation Contained Estimated Additional Impact Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY05

FY06

FY05

FY06

$180.0

Recurring General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Children Youth and Families Department (CYFD)

Department of Health (DOH)

Health Policy Commission (HPC)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 954 appropriates $180,000 from the General Fund in FY06 to Children, Youth and

Families Department (CYFD) to continue their pilot at-home infant care program.

HB 954 provides for payments to unemployed parents in Dona Ana County to stay at home and

take care of their infant child for the purpose of promoting parent/child bonding, and in doing so

also requires the parent/s to participate in early childhood and parenting training. Since August

of 2004, the program provides eligible parents a small stipend to complete “Families Strengthen-

ing Partnership” coursework through New Mexico Sate University (NMSU) in childcare, child

development and general life skills. The goal of the program is to encourage these same parents,

who now have considerable child development information to become childcare providers for

other families in their communities. It is anticipated that 50 to 60 families will be served in

FY06.

House Bill 954 Page 2

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY06 shall revert to the Gen-

eral Fund.

Significant Issues

These parents are paid by CYFD at a rate equivalent to that of child care providers in registered

and licensed family child care homes for toddlers and preschool children.

Parent/s enrolled in the Families Strengthening Partnership classes are given pre- and post-

questionnaires to rate their knowledge of parenting and general life skills. Data collected by

NMSU indicates a marked improvement of positive parenting practices in all subject matter

components of the course. (Information from CYFD’s In-Home Infant Child Care Program

handout)

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $180 thousand dollars contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the

general fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY06 shall re-

vert to the general fund.

The appropriation is in the CYFD budget request and in the LFC budget recommendation

adopted by HAFC.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

CYFD will continue to administer the pilot program with existing resources

.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

Research and literature show the importance of providing a caring a supportive environment for

infants and young children. HB 954 enables parents of infants to remain home with their infant

as well as to receive parenting training.

The advantages of continuing the at-home infant care program include:

Parents in this program will gain useful information in areas of child growth and devel-

opment and in childcare best practices. Results in pre and post questionnaires from the

40 parents completing coursework indicated a marked improvement of positive parenting

practices in all subject matter components of the course.

These same parents are encouraged to begin childcare provision in their communities,

thus building the supply of childcare providers in Dona Ana County. Since the parents

(child care providers) have completed extensive courses in childcare and child develop-

ment, they will be able to provide a highly valuable service to their communities.

Becoming childcare providers will supplement income of these low-income families.

Children will benefit from “enriching environments” provided by caregivers who clearly

understand child development and how to interact effectively with children to foster

health growth and development.

BD/yr