TITLE 23

Health and Safety

CHAPTER 23-13

Maternal and Child Health Services for Children with Special Health Care

Needs

SECTION 23-13-20



   § 23-13-20  Coordination of community-based

family life and sex education. –

(a) The director of health, with the consultation from the commissioner of

elementary and secondary education, the director of human services, the Family

Life Center at the Community College of Rhode Island, and the director of the

department of children, youth, and families, is authorized to establish a

family life and sex education coordination program to assist in the

establishment of community networks of educators, counselors, and health and

human service providers in the maternal and child health planning areas of the

state with high rates of teenage pregnancy. The epidemic of teenage pregnancy

is, in part, a result of a deteriorating quality of family life reflected in

high divorce rates, confusion between love and sex, and increasing reports of

isolation and hopelessness. This community-based approach can address the

problem of teenage pregnancy created by the demographic, economic, and cultural

phenomena that have dramatically changed both the definition and the role of

the family. This program shall include counseling in substance abuse prevention.



   (b) It is the intent of the general assembly that the complex

social problem of teenage pregnancy be addressed by the thoughtful

orchestration of community institutions and interest groups to support a sound

school program designed both to enhance the personal competence and self-esteem

of youth, and improve parent skills in providing explicit sexuality education

in the home.



History of Section.

(P.L. 1988, ch. 414, § 1; P.L. 1990, ch. 79, § 1.)