Amd 1095, Fam Ct Act; amd 398, Soc Serv L; amd 113, Dom Rel L
Allows the court to enter an order regarding a destitute minor freeing the child for adoption and granting guardianship and custody to the commissioner of social services for the purposes of consenting to an adoption; authorizes agencies, commissioners of public welfare and city public welfare officers to consent to such adoptions.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7920--A
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
May 14, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sens. PERSAUD, MYRIE -- read twice and ordered printed,
and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Children and
Families -- recommitted to the Committee on Children and Families in
accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill
amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit-
tee
AN ACT to amend the family court act, the social services law and the
domestic relations law, in relation to dispositional alternatives for
children placed with local social services agencies as destitute
minors
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision (d) of section 1095 of the family court act, as
2 amended by chapter 3 of the laws of 2012, is amended to read as follows:
3 (d) If the court sustains the petition pursuant to subdivision (b) of
4 this section, it may immediately convene a dispositional hearing or may
5 adjourn the proceeding for further inquiries to be made prior to dispo-
6 sition provided however, that if a petition pursuant to article six of
7 this act has been filed by a person or persons seeking custody or guar-
8 dianship of the child, or if a petition pursuant to article seventeen of
9 the surrogate's court procedure act seeking guardianship of the child
10 has been filed, the court shall consolidate the dispositional hearing
11 with a hearing under section one thousand ninety-six of this article,
12 unless consolidation would not be appropriate under the circumstances.
13 If the court does not consolidate such dispositional proceedings it
14 shall hold the dispositional hearing under this section in abeyance
15 pending the disposition of the petition filed pursuant to article six of
16 this act or article seventeen of the surrogate's court procedure act.
17 Based upon material and relevant evidence presented at the dispositional
18 hearing, the court shall enter an order of disposition stating the
19 grounds for its order and directing one of the following alternatives:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13035-02-6
S. 7920--A 2
1 (1) placing the child in the care and custody of the commissioner of
2 social services; [or]
3 (2) granting an order of custody or guardianship to relatives or suit-
4 able persons pursuant to a petition under article six of this act or
5 guardianship of the child to a relative or suitable person under article
6 seventeen of the surrogate's court procedure act and in accordance with
7 section one thousand ninety-six of this article; or
8 (3) freeing the child for adoption and granting guardianship and
9 custody to the commissioner of social services for the purposes of
10 consenting to an adoption where both of the child's parents are
11 deceased, or where one of the child's parents is deceased and the other
12 parent is not entitled to consent or notice pursuant to sections one
13 hundred eleven and one hundred eleven-a of the domestic relations law or
14 section three hundred eighty-four-c of the social services law and no
15 other guardian or custodian has been appointed.
16 § 2. Section 1095 of the family court act is amended by adding a new
17 subdivision (h) to read as follows:
18 (h) If the child has been freed for adoption pursuant to paragraph
19 three of subdivision (d) of this section, the court shall include the
20 following in its order:
21 (1) a date certain for the permanency hearing in accordance with para-
22 graph two of subdivision (a) of section one thousand eighty-nine of this
23 act;
24 (2) a direction that the child be placed together with or, at mini-
25 mum, to visit and have regular communication with, the child's siblings,
26 if any, unless contrary to the best interests of the child and/or the
27 siblings;
28 (3) if the child is or will be fourteen or older by the date of the
29 permanency hearing, the services and assistance that may be necessary to
30 assist the child in learning independent living skills; and
31 (4) a direction for the commissioner of social services to provide or
32 arrange for services or assistance, limited to those authorized or
33 required to be made available under the comprehensive annual services
34 program plan then in effect, to facilitate the child's permanency plan.
35 § 3. Paragraphs (b) and (c) of subdivision 1 of section 398 of the
36 social services law, paragraph (b) as added and paragraph (c) as amended
37 by chapter 3 of the laws of 2012, are amended and a new paragraph (d) is
38 added to read as follows:
39 (b) report to the local criminal justice agency and to the statewide
40 central register for missing children as described in section eight
41 hundred thirty-seven-e of the executive law such relevant information as
42 required on a form prescribed by the commissioner of the division of
43 criminal justice services, in appropriate instances; [and]
44 (c) assume charge of and provide care and support for any child who is
45 a destitute child pursuant to paragraph (a) of subdivision three of
46 section three hundred seventy-one of this article who cannot be properly
47 cared for in [his or her] the child's home, and if required, petition
48 the family court to obtain custody of the child in accordance with arti-
49 cle ten-C of the family court act[.]; and
50 (d) consent to the adoption of a child whose custody and guardianship
51 has been transferred to a social services district in accordance with
52 section one thousand ninety-five of the family court act or paragraph
53 (a) of subdivision four of section three hundred eighty-four-b of this
54 article, where both of the child's parents are deceased, or where one of
55 the child's parents are deceased and the other parent is not entitled
56 to consent or notice pursuant to sections one hundred eleven and one
S. 7920--A 3
1 hundred eleven-a of the domestic relations law or section three hundred
2 eighty-four-c of this article and no other guardian has been appointed.
3 § 4. Subdivision 1 of section 113 of the domestic relations law, as
4 amended by chapter 607 of the laws of 1996, is amended to read as
5 follows:
6 1. An authorized agency may consent to the adoption of a minor whose
7 custody and guardianship has been transferred to such agency. An author-
8 ized agency may also consent to the adoption of a minor whose care and
9 custody has been transferred to such agency pursuant to section one
10 thousand fifty-five or paragraph (d) of subdivision one of section one
11 thousand ninety-five of the family court act or section three hundred
12 eighty-four-a of the social services law, where [such] both of the
13 child's parents are [both] deceased, or where one [parent is] of the
14 child's parents are deceased and the other parent is not [a person]
15 entitled to consent or notice pursuant to sections one hundred eleven
16 and one hundred eleven-a of this chapter or section three hundred eight-
17 y-four-c of the social services law and no other guardian has been
18 appointed.
19 § 5. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
20 have become a law.
