S 4412 New Jersey Senate · 2026-2027 Regular Session

Provides for youth mental health care professionals in family court.

This New Jersey bill establishes a new role for youth mental health care professionals within the state's Family Court system to support minors involved in legal proceedings. These professionals, who must be licensed social workers, psychologists, or psychiatrists with specific trauma and youth development experience, will assist judges by identifying mental health needs, recommending interventions, and connecting families with appropriate services. The legislation grants these employees access to sensitive records held by courts and child protection agencies while providing them with legal immunity for actions taken in good faith. Additionally, the bill amends existing privacy laws to ensure that the confidential information these professionals review remains protected from public disclosure.

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jun 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jun 8, 2026 Last action Jun 11, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced → Reprint · 5 edits

MODERATE

The First Reprint of S4412 makes two major substantive changes: it lowers the age threshold for 'youth' from under 21 to under 18, and it narrows when a youth mental health care professional must be involved in family court proceedings from every case to only those where a judge requests their involvement and determines the youth may benefit. A collaboration requirement with other practitioners was also added.

ELIGIBILITY

The definition of 'youth' was changed from an individual under 21 years of age to an individual under 18 years of age, narrowing who qualifies as a youth under the bill.

SCOPE

The professional's role in family court proceedings was narrowed from being involved in every action or proceeding involving a youth to only being involved upon the request of a judge and where the judge determines the youth may benefit from mental health services. This makes involvement discretionary rather than automatic.

REQUIREMENT

A new requirement was added that the youth mental health care professional must collaborate with other mental health practitioners and service providers as necessary to assist the court.

TECHNICAL

The statutory cross-reference in section d was updated from 'section 1 of P.L.1991, c.119 (C.2B:5-1)' to 'N.J.S.2B:5-1', a citation format cleanup.

The entire STATEMENT section at the end of the bill was removed, which is standard practice after committee report.

Floor votes

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Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Jun 11, 2026

Committee

Referred to Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee

upper

Jun 8, 2026

Introduced

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee

upper

2 primary · 0 co-sponsors