SENATE DOCKET, NO. 436        FILED ON: 1/13/2009

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 52

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Nine

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An Act to assess the impact of the public welfare system on the health and well-being of children..

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. The Department of Public Health, in conjunction with other child and family-serving agencies, shall conduct an annual child assessment as part of a child surveillance study on the impact of the public welfare system on the health and well-being of the children and youth (birth through age 18) of the Commonwealth. Said child health assessment shall include but not be limited to: the measure and assessment of nutritional status (through height and weight measurements); birth outcomes status (especially birthweights); poverty status; school readiness status and safety status (including injury prevalence rates and hospitalization rates) of children and youth in the Commonwealth. Said annual child health assessment statement shall be submitted to the House and Senate Ways and Means Committees, the Human Services Committee, the Health Care Committee, the Educational Committee, and the Massachusetts Legislative Children’s Caucus April 1, of each year.