Bill Summary: SF2585

• Expands medical assistance eligibility for pregnant women and infants from 60 days postpartum to two years postpartum, effective July 1, 2012, or upon federal approval.

• Requires development of maternal depression screening and referral practices in family home visiting programs, with the commissioner of human services providing technical assistance to health care providers on culturally competent screening.

• Adds parenting skills to adult rehabilitative mental health services and includes serious mental illness, specifically maternal depression, as a risk factor in early intervention systems for children under age three.

• Modifies child care assistance programs to allow families with a parent diagnosed with mental illness to retain eligibility for up to 12 months while seeking mental health treatment, and increases reimbursement for absent days when a parent is receiving documented mental health services.

• Establishes a task force on low-income families to review state programs and tax policies, with recommendations due to the legislature by January 15, 2014, and requires Head Start programs to provide staff training on maternal depression as a condition of funding.