Dear Legislator, I adamantly oppose these bills that will cause my family potential harm . It is a safety issue. We have spent a fortune on our dental care, We do not want uneducated , unlicensed staff taking X-rays or cleaning our teeth. We love our dental hygienist. We spend more time with her than the dentist or our PCP! She reviews our vitals , medications and looks for cancer as well as thoroughly cleaning our teeth and providing care tips. Proper cleanings prevent gum disease and heart disease which are both present in our family history. Please do not reduce our family’s care. I see this other healthcare professions are facing g the same elimination. One can only speculate to what the goal of your bills if safety is not the main issue ? I vote No.

Creating a centralized DSS intake for child abuse and neglect reports would effectively create a system of accountability. As it stands now, the miscommunications between localities and failed follow-ups creates a huge margin of error, resulting in countless families and cases enduring (what should have been) preventable harm. As a mandated reporter, it is alarming to witness the urgency of a neglected infant and child in a locality that is overwhelmed and overburdened. Centralizing intake also prevents diffusion of responsibility in cases of unhoused families between localities.

As a domestic violence survivor who fled to protect her children and has fallen through every crack in the system, I have seen the failures of the current model of state funded locally administered DSS. 99% of reports made on behalf of my children by professionals have been thrown out before intake due to bias (I was emotional when I fled to protect my children and therefore must have been the problem according to them). This is the norm when it comes to protective parents who are domestic violence survivors. By requiring all reports be entered into the system, patterns can be tracked. By having the state determine validity of reports, local bias can be reduced. This would help protect more children. I urge you to please support this bill and help other families not suffer like mine have. Thank you