Enact the Family Home Visits Act

hb885_00_IN

As Introduced

136th
General Assembly

Regular
Session
H. B. No. 885

2025-2026

Representatives Brennan, Humphrey

Cosponsors: Representatives
Synenberg, Piccolantonio, Upchurch

To
enact section 5180.23 of the Revised Code
to
require the Children and Youth Advisory Council to develop a plan to
establish a universal home visiting program for parents and
caregivers of children and to name this act the Family Home Visits
Act.

BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:

Section
1.
That
section 5180.23 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:

Sec.
5180.23.
(A)
As used in this section:

(1)
"Eligible family" means a family that may receive
evidence-based home visiting services under the universal home
visiting program established in accordance with the plan required
under division (B) of this section, including the following:

(a)
A foster caregiver of a child in a planned permanent living
arrangement;

(b)
An adoptive parent of a newly adopted child of any age;

(c)
A new family, friend, and neighbor care provider;

(d)
A pregnant or postpartum inmate who maintains parental rights.

(2)
"Family, friend, and neighbor care provider" means an
individual who is caring for a child other than the individual's own
child in a home setting and who is not licensed as a caregiver,
including a kinship caregiver, as defined in section 5180.50 of the
Revised Code, or a child care provider.

(3)
"Home visiting program" means an evidence-based home
visiting model that is proven to improve child health and to be cost
effective, as measured by the "Home Visiting Evidence of
Effectiveness (HomVEE)" review established by the United States
department of health and human services.

(4)
"Planned permanent living arrangement" has the same meaning
as in section 2151.011 of the Revised Code.

(B)(1)
Not later than one hundred days after the effective date of this
section, the children and youth advisory council established under
section 5180.04 of the Revised Code shall develop a plan to implement
a universal home visiting program for eligible families. The council
shall submit the plan to the director of children and youth, and the
director shall publish the plan on the department of children and
youth's internet web site and, in accordance with section 101.68 of
the Revised Code, submit the plan to the general assembly.

(2)
The plan may include the following:

(a)
Expansion of existing programs that offer home visiting, including
the help me grow program established under section 5180.21 of the
Revised Code, or the establishment of a new program to offer
universal home visiting;

(b)
Proposed applications for federal and private grant funding;

(c)
Recommendations regarding pay for success and social impact bond
programs;

(d)
Any other programs or actions the council identifies that would
result in the efficient expansion of home visiting service offerings,
including seeking opportunities to expand home visiting to foster
caregivers of children in planned permanent living arrangements, new
adoptive families, and new family, friend, and neighbor care
providers;

(e)
Establishment or expansion of home visiting programs for pregnant and
postpartum inmates who have maintained parental rights.

(3)
The plan shall do the following:

(a)
Target expansion of home visiting by at least twenty per cent
annually over a five-year period;

(b)
Specify actions the department of children and youth may take in
accordance with the plan that do not require legislative action;

(c)
For actions that require legislative action, specify what actions are
needed, including appropriation requests.

(C)
Not later than sixty days after the council submits the plan, the
department of children and youth shall begin to implement the actions
identified under division (B)(3)(b) of this section.

(D)
Not later than one year after the effective date of this section, the
department of children and youth shall develop and execute an
outreach plan to notify new family, friend, and neighbor care
providers of their eligibility for home visiting programs.

(E)
Not later than one hundred twenty days after the effective date of
this section, the director of children and youth, the director of job
and family services, and the director of health shall adopt rules to
establish processes for automatic enrollment of eligible families in
the universal home visiting program through the central intake and
referral system operated by the department of children and youth
under section 5180.22 of the Revised Code.

(1)
The processes shall include enrollment through the following
mechanisms:

(a)
A checkbox or similar mechanism on forms related to filing a birth
certificate where a parent may consent to enroll in a home visiting
program;

(b)
A checkbox or similar mechanism on forms related to foster care or
adoption where an eligible foster caregiver of a child in a planned
permanent living arrangement or new adoptive parent may consent to
enroll in a home visiting program;

(c)
A checkbox or similar mechanism on forms related to postpartum care
and annual pediatric and gynecological exams where an expectant
parent, parent, guardian, or custodian may consent to enroll in a
home visiting program;

(d)
A checkbox or similar mechanism on any integrated application for
public assistance benefits and services provided by the state where
an expectant parent, parent, guardian, or custodian may consent to
enroll in a home visiting program.

(2)
After an individual consents to enroll in the universal home visiting
program, the department of children and youth shall ensure that
consent is entered into the central intake and referral system, shall
cross-reference information to the extent possible to determine the
individual's eligibility, and shall contact the individual to discuss
any additional information needed and, if eligible, how to complete
enrollment.

Section
2.
This
act shall be known as the Family Home Visits Act.