Relates to reporting of youth placed in foster care settings and recruitment of foster parents; requires information including the total number of youth placed in foster care, the reasons why such youth were placed and the efforts the state has taken to recruit and retain foster parents; repeals provisions relating to directing the office of children and family services to make information publicly available on the number of youth placed in foster care settings and recruitment of foster parents and the effectiveness thereof.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A2176
SPONSOR: Epstein
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the social services law, in relation to reporting of
youth placed in foster care settings and recruitment of foster parents;
and to repeal section 2 of chapter 11 of the laws of 2021, relating to
directing the office of children and family services to make information
publicly available on the number of youth placed in foster care settings
and recruitment of foster parents and the effectiveness thereof
 
PURPOSE:
To improve the reporting of status of youth placed in foster care
settings, including youth separated from parents pursuant to a contract,
grant or other agreement with the federal government
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 repeals section 2 of chapter 11 of the laws of 2021
Section 2 amends section 17 of the social services law by adding a new
subdivision to:
- require that the commissioner of social services submit a biannual
report to the governor, speaker of the assembly, and temporary' presi-
dent of the senate containing information on:
* the total number of youth placed in foster care settings in comparison
to the number in the previous report, and whether such youth have been
previously placed in foster care settings in the state
* the reason why the youth were placed in such foster care settings
* what, if any, specialized services youth placed in foster care
settings require to address mental health and other health and educa-
tional needs
* the total number of foster families certified in the state at the time
of the report, what efforts the state has taken to increase the number
of foster families, and the total number of placement options certified
as a qualified residential treatment program
-Section 3 provides the effective date
 
JUSTIFICATION:
A large but indeterminate number of immigrant children have been sepa-
rated from their parents by the federal office of Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) and then sent off to all points by the Office
of Refugee Resettlement. Many of these children are in the custody of
nonprofit children's protective and orphanage placement agencies in New
York State. Despite a federal court order to return the alien children
to their parents, there was no public or transparent record of the
number of such children separated from their parents, their status, or
what special mental health or educational needs they may have until late
2021 when the OCFS released its first report compelled by chapter 11 of
the laws of 2021.
This bill would make the frequency of type of report issued by OCFS at
the end of 2021 biannual to addresses the lack of information we have
about these children and provide better transparency about the whole of
the state's foster care system to ensure that the legislature and the
public have adequate information to ensure the best outcomes for chil-
dren in foster care.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2022: A9800A (Epstein) / S 8833-A (Brisport) - Passed Assembly referred
to Senate Committee / Senate Social Services
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Minimal; staff time to compile and publish submitted data.
 
LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately after becoming law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2176
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 23, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. EPSTEIN, GONZALEZ-ROJAS, GIBBS, OTIS -- read once
and referred to the Committee on Children and Families
AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to reporting of
youth placed in foster care settings and recruitment of foster
parents; and to repeal section 2 of chapter 11 of the laws of 2021,
relating to directing the office of children and family services to
make information publicly available on the number of youth placed in
foster care settings and recruitment of foster parents and the effec-
tiveness thereof
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 2 of chapter 11 of the laws of 2021, relating to
2 directing the office of children and family services to make information
3 publicly available on the number of youth placed in foster care settings
4 and recruitment of foster parents and the effectiveness thereof, is
5 REPEALED.
6 § 2. Section 17 of the social services law is amended by adding a new
7 subdivision (l) to read as follows:
8 (l) submit a report to the governor, the speaker of the assembly, the
9 temporary president of the senate, the minority leader of the assembly
10 and the minority leader of the senate beginning December thirty-first,
11 two thousand twenty-four, and biannually thereafter, regarding youth
12 placed in foster care settings and the recruitment of foster parents.
13 Such report shall be made publicly available online and shall provide
14 information, as required pursuant to this subdivision, aggregated by
15 local social services districts and foster care settings. For the
16 purposes of this subdivision, foster care settings shall include, but
17 not be limited to, foster boarding homes, approved relative homes, group
18 homes, group residences, agency operated boarding homes, supervised
19 independent living arrangements, therapeutic foster care and child care
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03463-01-3
A. 2176 2
1 institutions. The report shall include, but not be limited to, the
2 following information:
3 (i) the total number of youth placed in a foster care setting at the
4 time of the report, as well as a comparison to the total number of youth
5 in care since the previous report was submitted;
6 (ii) the reasons why such youth have been placed in a foster care
7 setting, with the total number of youth per category at the time of the
8 report. Such reasons shall include, but not be limited to, voluntary
9 placement pursuant to section three hundred fifty-eight-a of this chap-
10 ter, a termination of parental rights pursuant to section three hundred
11 eighty-four-b of this chapter, placements pursuant to articles ten and
12 ten-C of the family court act, or pursuant to a contract, grant or other
13 agreement with the federal government;
14 (iii) to the extent such information is available, the total number of
15 youth placed in a foster care setting at the time of the report that are
16 in need of or receiving specialized services, either due to a mental
17 health illness or another disorder that may require additional supports
18 and services, including specialized educational services;
19 (iv) to the extent such information is available, how many youth at
20 the time of the report have been previously placed in a foster care
21 setting in the state;
22 (v) the total number of foster families that are currently certified
23 in the state at the time of the report and whether that number has
24 increased or decreased since the previous report was submitted;
25 (vi) how many children and/or families have received preventive
26 services through a local social services district, and of those children
27 and/or families, how many youth were successfully kept out of foster
28 care due to such services within the last calendar year for the initial
29 report, and then since the previous report was submitted for all subse-
30 quent reports;
31 (vii) the total number of placement options that have been certified
32 as a qualified residential treatment program, as defined by 42 USCS §
33 672; and
34 (viii) the efforts the state has taken to recruit and retain foster
35 parents in the state.
36 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.