Committee recommits House Bill 1098 to Appropriations after unanimous vote to fund youth, family engagement and juvenile-justice oversight staffing

The Family and Children Services Committee voted 7-0 to recommit House Bill 1098 to the Appropriations Committee after members heard testimony that the bill would create staff capacity for a statewide youth, family and caregiver engagement initiative and add staffing support to the statewide juvenile justice oversight body.

Senator Jackson, who presented the bill to the committee, said, "House Bill 1098 would require the commission on improving the status of children in Indiana to create the staff a state a statewide youth, family, and caregiver engagement initiative aimed at increasing their effectiveness participating in the process of policy with impact to children and youth." She told the committee the bill had passed the Indiana House unanimously.

Mark Fairchild, executive director of the Commission on Improving the Status of Children, described the commission’s role and the rationale for the bill. "The commission was created in 2013, really designed as an entity that looks across all branches of state government and all state agencies that interface with children and families and saying how can we work collectively together?" he said. Fairchild said the commission has already included youth members with direct experience in state systems and wants to expand mechanisms to solicit input from youth, families, caregivers and foster parents across the state.

An amendment adopted by the committee (Amendment No. 2) instructs the commission to solicit direct feedback from youth, family members and caregivers to inform recommendations about points of complexity and inefficiency in child-serving instances, duplication of services, potential points of consolidation, improving time to permanency and reducing the trauma of systems involvement. The amendment was described on the record as narrowing and specifying the commission’s duties on engagement and system review.

Committee members asked how the proposal would coordinate with related efforts. In response to a question from Senator Ford, Fairchild said the commission intends the bill to complement a separate panel (referred to in committee discussion as the child welfare/task force work) by focusing on community-based perspectives and the direct experiences of families and youth. He noted overlap in membership between the bodies and said the commission aims to avoid siloed initiatives.

A motion "to move the bill as amended, with a recommit to appropriations" was made and seconded on the record. The clerk called roll and recorded the following affirmative votes: Senator Ford; Senator Spencer; Senator Schmidt; Senator Gaskell; Senator Rogers; Senator Goode; and Chairman Walker. Senator Johnson was recorded as excused. The chair announced a 7-0 vote to recommit the bill to Appropriations.

Committee members and witnesses emphasized that the bill is designed to streamline collaboration across state agencies, reduce duplication of services, improve time to permanency for children, and shore up staffing support for the youth justice oversight body that manages certain grant distributions for diversion and transitional services. The committee’s action was a recommit to appropriations; no final funding decision was made at the committee meeting.

The committee adjourned after the vote and concluded its business for the interim meeting cycle.