Salaam asks who would deliver and fund Intro 453 services

For intro 453, who would actually deliver these services and how would it be funded since DOC is not a healthcare provider?

That's a great question.

So we greatly support making sure that

children and young people visiting family members and loved ones and parents do receive the support and referrals that they need.

I think part of this bill, so DOC, as you mentioned, we currently do not provide mental health clinical treatment.

So DOC staff providing it would not be the answer in this scenario.

I don't think that we at this time have an exact determination of who would be best suited to provide that treatment.

We do have multiple partners that we actually work with right now on smaller scale initiatives.

I can share some of those.

First and foremost, we have a partnership at the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice with the Visiting and Family Assistance Program that partners with our children and the Osborne Association.

with a small subgroup of participants and parents that get and receive additional support for their children.

We also participate with the Administration of Children's Services, ACS, who has the longstanding CHIP program, I mean decades longstanding CHIP program that provides support to children, but that's specific to those who might be in the foster care system.

We recently started a partnership with the New York City Public Schools, where we're working with their counselors and caseworkers at the New York City Public Schools in a televisit pilot with parents who are also incarcerated.

And a core component of that is that the parents are going through a parenthood program simultaneously.

And then last, one of our most successful parenthood programs that we've been working with is in partnership with DYCD.

And that partnership has grew from one pilot to multiple facility sites now.

And that parenthood program also offers support.

Through family days and activities intended to improve family, like parent-child bonding.

And then we have obviously partnered with the Children's Museum of Manhattan and the Brooklyn Children's Museum to provide off-site visits.

We've worked with the Children's Museum of Manhattan to improve our visit spaces, but I think when we

think more globally about partnerships and who would be that primary person for the referrals for clinical mental health treatment.

I don't know if we at this time know exactly who that would be or where that funding would come from and how much funding would be necessary to make sure that the right provider or the right age

is providing that level of treatment and services that is greatly needed for children.

Definitely agree.