NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A748
SPONSOR: Hevesi TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the executive law, in relation to establishing the
kinship legal network program
PURPOSE:
To establish the Kinship Legal Network for the purposes of providing
legal services to kinship caregivers.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS OF BILL:
Section 1: Establishes the Kinship Legal Network within the auspices of
the Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) and outlines the scope
of the program. It creates an $8 million fund to provide annual grants
to eligible not-for-profit legal services organizations and not-for-pro-
fit agencies that are part of the Kinship Legal Network. Allows up to
15% of the funding to be awarded to one not-for-profit legal organiza-
tion to coordinate and support the Network. Further, it requires the
OCFS commissioner to submit a report to the chair of the senate finance
committee and the chair of the assembly ways and means committee on or
before the first day of October, two thousand and twenty-five and bian-
nually thereafter.
Section 2: Sets forth an immediate effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
New York families have been hit with multiple crises; the number of
children who are unable to be with their parents has increased in recent
years due to effects first from the opioid epidemic, and now the COVID-
19 pandemic. Parents are facing issues that affect their ability to
safely care for their children including substance use, mental health,
physical health, domestic violence, housing instability, income issues,
and other poverty-related concerns. The trauma children suffer when they
are removed from their parents is compounded when they are placed with
strangers in non-relative foster care. There are roughly 400,000 chil-
dren in kinship care including in hidden foster care in New York State
today. Research has shown that children who cannot be with their parents
have vastly improved short- and long-term outcomes when they remain with
kin. Studies show that children who live with relatives have fewer
school changes, are better connected to their siblings, and have better
mental health outcomes.
When a child is removed from their parents not only is it often the most
traumatic experience of their lives, but it is also traumatic for their
kinship caregivers. These caregivers are now caring for a child or
multiple children with minimal resources and having to navigate a
complicated and overwhelmed court system - usually without the assist-
ance of an attorney. It is rare for a caregiver to have the resources to
take in children they did not plan for and afford to retain a private
attorney.
Without representation, kinship caregivers are frequently excluded from
participating in court, as they are considered interested parties and do
not receive court notices. Kin need to engage in concurrent planning
from day one - they must work to help the parents and children maintain
a healthy relationship, have frequent contact, and work towards reunifi-
cation - but also consider and plan for all of the child's permanency
options if the child cannot be safely returned home. Kin need an attor-
ney whose role is to advise them, ensure that they are aware of their
rights, and help them navigate the system. Kinship caregivers sometimes
make mistakes which can disrupt placement - they need an attorney to
help prevent these issues. Some kinship caregivers have barriers to
placement such as criminal history or inadequate housing - barriers and
issues which can be mitigated through the assistance of counsel. Parents
and other persons who are accused of abuse or neglect in Family Court
are entitled to have an attorney appointed to them if they cannot afford
one. This guaranteed representation does not extend to the kin who are
caring for these children while they are placed outside of their home.
This bill would therefore establish the Kinship Legal Network ("the
Network") to meet the challenges described above. The Network would
provide legal representation, information and advice to non-parent care-
givers interfacing with New York's justice and social services systems.
The Network will use a proven model that has been replicated in a varie-
ty of legal services areas; it will develop a network of legal services
providers who will serve clients, as well as look across the state to
collect data and recognize trends as a means to identify success
stories, systemic challenges and solutions, and to document the benefit
of the program to NY families and the State. The program will leverage
the existing Kinship Navigator, a successful statewide program operated
by Catholic Family Center which provides an information and referral
network for kinship caregivers across all of New York State.
Along with preventing placement disruptions and mitigating barriers to
placement, attorneys who represent kinship caregivers also assist in
achieving permanency goals through family reunification, custody, guar-
dianship, and adoption; ensure the caregiver and children receive all
benefits to which they are entitled; represent caregivers in related
child support, family offense, and administrative matters; and connect
caregivers to community service partners to ensure all needs, not just
legal needs, are being met.
Importantly, the legislation would also establish funding to support the
Kinship Legal Network. It would further require data collection and a
report on the program to monitor its progress and allow for resources
and services to be targeted to the areas of the state most in need.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-2024:A. 9222 - referred to Children and Families S. 478-A (Sen.
Salazar) - referred to Finance
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
The bill provides $8 million in operating funding to support the Kinship
Legal Network.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
748
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 8, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. HEVESI -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Children and Families
AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to establishing the
kinship legal network program
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The executive law is amended by adding a new section 501-i
2 to read as follows:
3 § 501-i. Kinship legal network program. 1. There is hereby created
4 within the office of children and family services a kinship legal
5 network program. Such program shall be comprised of not-for-profit legal
6 services organizations and not-for-profit agencies serving kinship care-
7 givers, as defined by subdivision twenty-two of section three hundred
8 seventy-one of the social services law.
9 2. The kinship legal network program shall:
10 (a) provide legal representation to kinship caregivers in matters
11 including, but not limited to:
12 (i) custody and guardianship;
13 (ii) child support;
14 (iii) abuse and neglect;
15 (iv) adoption;
16 (v) eligibility for public benefits, including, but not limited to,
17 public assistance and supplemental nutrition assistance program bene-
18 fits; and
19 (vi) foster care certification; and
20 (b) establish and coordinate a statewide kinship information and
21 referral network.
22 3. (a) The office of children and family services shall provide grants
23 of not less than eight million dollars annually to eligible not-for-pro-
24 fit legal services organizations and not-for-profit agencies serving
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01348-01-5
A. 748 2
1 kinship caregivers to provide kinship legal network services pursuant to
2 subdivision two of this section.
3 (b) Each not-for-profit legal organization shall be awarded no more
4 than fifteen percent of the funding provided pursuant to paragraph (a)
5 of this subdivision to coordinate and support the kinship legal network
6 program through the following activities:
7 (i) data collection;
8 (ii) assisting in preparing the report required pursuant to subdivi-
9 sion four of this section;
10 (iii) task force meetings; and
11 (iv) technical assistance.
12 4. The commissioner of children and family services, on or before
13 October first, two thousand twenty-six, and biannually thereafter, shall
14 submit a report to the chair of the senate finance committee and the
15 chair of the assembly ways and means committee. Such report shall
16 include, but not be limited to:
17 (a) a review of the basis for selection of entities participating in
18 the kinship legal network program;
19 (b) the administrative method used to carry out the kinship legal
20 network program;
21 (c) the number of kinship caregivers assisted through the kinship
22 legal network program and whether their legal matter was resolved by
23 counsel and advice or representation at an administrative or court
24 proceeding, and the outcomes of such proceedings; and
25 (d) whether such outcomes were reached by settlement or administrative
26 or judicial decision.
27 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
