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| 1 | AN ACT concerning children.
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| 2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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| 3 | represented in the General Assembly:
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| 4 | Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Shaken | ||||||
| 5 | Baby Prevention Act. | ||||||
| 6 | Section 5. Definitions. In this Act: | ||||||
| 7 | "Department" means the Department of Public Health. | ||||||
| 8 | "Director" means the Director of Public Health. | ||||||
| 9 | "Parent" means a biological mother or father, | ||||||
| 10 | foster-mother or father, adoptive mother or father, or | ||||||
| 11 | step-mother or step-father. | ||||||
| 12 | "Primary caregiver" means any person who is not a parent, | ||||||
| 13 | but who provides temporary care to an infant or child, | ||||||
| 14 | including but not limited to, a babysitter, child care | ||||||
| 15 | provider, extended family member, nanny, or custodian.
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| 16 | "Shaken baby" means the vigorous shaking of an infant or a | ||||||
| 17 | young child that may result in bleeding inside the head and | ||||||
| 18 | cause one or more of the following conditions: irreversible | ||||||
| 19 | brain damage; blindness, retinal hemorrhage, or eye damage; | ||||||
| 20 | cerebral palsy; hearing loss; spinal cord injury, including | ||||||
| 21 | paralysis; seizures; learning disability; central nervous | ||||||
| 22 | system injury; closed head injury; rib fracture; subdural | ||||||
| 23 | hematoma; or death. | ||||||
| 24 | Section 10. Shaken Baby Prevention Program. Subject to | ||||||
| 25 | appropriation, the Director shall establish a statewide Shaken | ||||||
| 26 | Baby Prevention Program to educate parents and primary | ||||||
| 27 | caregivers about the dangers of shaken baby and to provide | ||||||
| 28 | alternative techniques to venting anger and frustration. The | ||||||
| 29 | program shall allow for voluntary participation and use | ||||||
| 30 | multimedia educational vehicles, such as a video recording, to | ||||||
| 31 | target the parents and primary caregivers of babies from birth | ||||||
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| 1 | through 3 years of age. Parents of newborns may choose to sign | ||||||
| 2 | a participation form and fill out an evaluation form to record | ||||||
| 3 | their participation in the program after viewing the multimedia | ||||||
| 4 | educational materials. The Director, or the Director's | ||||||
| 5 | designee, shall develop companion written materials, a program | ||||||
| 6 | participation form, and an evaluation form. The Director shall | ||||||
| 7 | designate and enter into contracts with experts, health care | ||||||
| 8 | providers, and other State agencies to design and implement the | ||||||
| 9 | program in all hospitals and child care facilities. | ||||||
| 10 | Section 15. Local health departments. Local health | ||||||
| 11 | departments shall assist the Director in implementing and | ||||||
| 12 | administering the Shaken Baby Prevention Program in local | ||||||
| 13 | hospitals and child care facilities. Local health departments' | ||||||
| 14 | specific duties may include, but are not limited to, | ||||||
| 15 | distributing the multimedia program materials and assisting in | ||||||
| 16 | the collection of the data on program participation and the | ||||||
| 17 | program evaluation forms for the Department's annual report | ||||||
| 18 | required under Section 30. | ||||||
| 19 | Section 20. Responsibilities of hospitals, health care | ||||||
| 20 | providers, and child care providers. | ||||||
| 21 | (a) Every hospital, maternal or pediatric health care | ||||||
| 22 | provider, and child care provider shall encourage parents and | ||||||
| 23 | primary caregivers to participate in the voluntary Shaken Baby | ||||||
| 24 | Prevention Program by: | ||||||
| 25 | (1) informing parents of all newborn children about the | ||||||
| 26 | program;
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| 27 | (2) making available to parents the shaken baby | ||||||
| 28 | awareness and prevention multimedia materials provided by | ||||||
| 29 | the Department; | ||||||
| 30 | (3) making program participation forms developed by | ||||||
| 31 | the Department available for signing by parents after | ||||||
| 32 | viewing the multimedia materials; and | ||||||
| 33 | (4) keeping all program participation forms and | ||||||
| 34 | evaluation forms on file. | ||||||
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| 1 | (b) Hospitals shall report to the Department by no later | ||||||
| 2 | than the first of November of each year: (i) the total number | ||||||
| 3 | of births that occurred at the hospital that year; (ii) the | ||||||
| 4 | total number of viewings of the shaken baby multimedia | ||||||
| 5 | educational materials; and (iii) the total number of Shaken | ||||||
| 6 | Baby Prevention Program participation forms signed at the | ||||||
| 7 | hospital. All evaluation forms filled out during the year shall | ||||||
| 8 | be forwarded to the Department with that data. | ||||||
| 9 | Section 25. Parent support service. The Department may | ||||||
| 10 | establish and operate a voluntary support service for parents | ||||||
| 11 | who struggle with infant crying. The support service may | ||||||
| 12 | include, but need not be limited to, telephone consultation and | ||||||
| 13 | referrals to appropriate professional assistance. | ||||||
| 14 | Section 30. Annual report. The Department shall make an | ||||||
| 15 | annual report to the General Assembly of its findings and | ||||||
| 16 | recommendations concerning the effectiveness, impact, and | ||||||
| 17 | benefits derived from the Shaken Baby Prevention Program. The | ||||||
| 18 | report shall contain evaluations of the program and | ||||||
| 19 | recommendations for legislation deemed necessary and proper. | ||||||
| 20 | The Department shall submit the report on or before the first | ||||||
| 21 | day of January, beginning in 2007.
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| 22 | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect January | ||||||
| 23 | 1, 2006.
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