Authorizes children who will be 18 or older on the date of a permanency hearing to apply to dispense with the provision of notice and copy of such hearing and to redact portions of the hearing report.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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IN SENATE
April 22, 2026
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Introduced by Sen. BRISPORT -- (at request of the Unified Court System)
-- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to
the Committee on Children and Families
AN ACT to amend the family court act, in relation to protection of the
confidentiality rights of youth over the age of 18 in foster care with
respect to permanency hearings
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivisions (b) and (e) of section 1089 of the family
2 court act, as added by section 27 of part A of chapter 3 of the laws of
3 2005, subparagraphs (i) and (ii) of paragraph 1 of subdivision (b) as
4 amended by chapter 573 of the laws of 2015, subparagraph (iii) of para-
5 graph 1 as amended and paragraph 1-a as added by chapter 14 of the laws
6 of 2016, and paragraph 2 of subdivision (b) as amended by section 8 of
7 part B of chapter 327 of the laws of 2007, are amended to read as
8 follows:
9 (b) Notice of permanency hearings. (1) No later than fourteen days
10 before the date certain for a permanency hearing scheduled pursuant to
11 this section, the local social services district shall serve the notice
12 of the permanency hearing and the permanency hearing report by regular
13 mail upon:
14 (i) except as provided in paragraph one-b of this subdivision, the
15 child's parent, including any non-respondent parent, unless the parental
16 rights of the parent have been terminated or surrendered, and any other
17 person legally responsible for the child's care at the most recent
18 address or addresses known to the local social services district or
19 agency, and the foster parent in whose home the child currently resides,
20 each of whom shall be a party to the proceeding;
21 (ii) the agency supervising the care of the child on behalf of the
22 social services district with whom the child was placed, the child's
23 attorney, and the attorney for the respondent parent; and
24 (iii) the attorney for the child.
25 (1-a) If the child is age ten or older, no later than fourteen days
26 before the date certain for a permanency hearing scheduled pursuant to
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14966-01-6
S. 10000 2
1 this section, the local social services district shall serve the notice
2 of the permanency hearing by regular mail upon the child. Nothing herein
3 shall be deemed to prevent an attorney for the child from consulting
4 with the child about the child's participation in the permanency hearing
5 as required by section one thousand ninety-a of this article prior to
6 the service of the notice required pursuant to this paragraph.
7 (1-b) (i) If the child will be eighteen years of age or older on the
8 date certain of the permanency hearing scheduled pursuant to this
9 section, no later than forty-five days before such date certain, the
10 child or the child's attorney may apply to the court by motion or order
11 to show cause for an order dispensing with provision of the notice and
12 copy of the permanency hearing report in accordance with subparagraph
13 (i) of paragraph one and paragraph two of this subdivision and/or for an
14 order redacting portions of the permanency hearing report prior to
15 dissemination of the report to the individual or individuals named in
16 such subparagraph. The application shall set forth grounds as to why
17 the provision of such notice and permanency report or unredacted
18 portions of the report to such individual or individuals would violate
19 the confidentiality of medical or other information and would not be in
20 the child's best interests. The motion or order to show cause may also
21 request a court order on confidentiality that would apply prospectively
22 to any future permanency hearings that may be scheduled during the
23 remainder of the child's stay in foster care.
24 (ii) The motion or order to show cause filed pursuant to this para-
25 graph shall be served by mail or by electronic means upon such individ-
26 ual or individuals and the agency supervising the care of the child,
27 each of whom shall have an opportunity to be heard in person or in writ-
28 ing no later than thirty days before the date certain for the permanency
29 hearing.
30 (iii) The court shall determine the application no later than twenty
31 days before the date certain for the permanency hearing and shall
32 provide its determination forthwith to the agency supervising the care
33 of the child, the child and the child's attorney, such that the agency
34 can provide notices and permanency reports, if any, in compliance with
35 paragraph one of this subdivision. In no event shall an application
36 under this paragraph delay the permanency hearing beyond the deadlines
37 specified in paragraph two of subdivision (a) of this section.
38 (2) [The] Except as provided in paragraph one-b of this subdivision,
39 notice and the permanency hearing report shall also be provided to any
40 pre-adoptive parent or relative providing care for the child and shall
41 be submitted to the court. The notice of the permanency hearing only
42 shall be provided to a former foster parent in whose home the child
43 previously had resided for a continuous period of twelve months in
44 foster care, if any, unless the court, on motion of any party or on its
45 own motion, dispenses with such notice on the basis that such notice
46 would not be in the child's best interests. However, such pre-adoptive
47 parent, relative, or former foster parent, on the basis of such notice,
48 shall have the right to be heard but shall not be a party to the perman-
49 ency hearing. The failure of such pre-adoptive parent, relative or
50 former foster parent to appear at a permanency hearing shall constitute
51 a waiver of the right to be heard. Such failure to appear shall not
52 cause a delay of the permanency hearing nor be a ground for the invali-
53 dation of any order issued by the court pursuant to this section.
54 (e) Service of court order and permanency hearing report. [A] Except
55 as provided in paragraph one-b of subdivision (b) of this section, a
56 copy of the court order which includes the date certain for the next
S. 10000 3
1 permanency hearing and the permanency hearing report as approved,
2 adjusted, or modified by the court, shall be given to the parent or
3 other person legally responsible for the child.
4 § 2. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
5 have become a law.
