ASSEMBLY WOMEN AND CHILDREN COMMITTEE

 

STATEMENT TO

 

ASSEMBLY, No. 5672

 

with committee amendments

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

DATED:  JUNE 16, 2021

 

      The Assembly Women and Children Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 5672.

      As amended by the committee, this bill increases the maximum number of monthly respite care service hours funded through the Department of Children and Families (department) for certain families.

      Under the bill, the family of a child that is eligible to receive respite care services for the child, which services are funded through the Division of the Children’s System of Care in the department, is to be eligible to receive no more than 30 hours of respite care each calendar month through funding provided by the department.  The Commissioner of Children and Families (commissioner) is to use available  State and federal funds to effectuate the bill’s provisions. 

      The bill defines "respite care" to mean the provision of temporary, short-term care for, or the supervision of, an eligible child on behalf of the caregiver, in emergencies or on an intermittent basis to relieve the daily stresses and demands of caring for a child with a functional impairment.  Respite care may be provided hourly, daily, overnight, or on weekends, may be paid or volunteer, but may not exceed service and cost limitations as determined by the commissioner.

 

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS

      The committee amendments make various technical corrections involving grammar, syntax, and punctuation, as well as to reorganize certain provisions to put them in their proper order.