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.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1436--C
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 15, 2019
___________
Introduced by M. of A. EPSTEIN, L. ROSENTHAL, DE LA ROSA, SIMOTAS,
TAYLOR, GOTTFRIED, ENGLEBRIGHT, ARROYO, AUBRY, DICKENS, WEPRIN, CRUZ,
MOSLEY, CRESPO, D'URSO, ORTIZ, ABBATE, HYNDMAN, BLAKE, RIVERA, ROZIC,
STERN, COOK, KIM, CYMBROWITZ, D. ROSENTHAL, FALL, SEAWRIGHT, REYES,
RODRIGUEZ, GLICK, FRONTUS, QUART, JEAN-PIERRE, GRIFFIN, HUNTER,
FERNANDEZ, RAMOS, RICHARDSON, OTIS, LIFTON, DINOWITZ, CARROLL, ABINAN-
TI, BARRON, O'DONNELL, SIMON, FAHY, WRIGHT, STECK, VANEL, M. G. MILL-
ER, NIOU, SAYEGH, MAGNARELLI, PICHARDO, DARLING, WALKER, WILLIAMS,
PERRY, BUCHWALD, PAULIN -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. DenDEKKER,
LENTOL, NOLAN -- read once and referred to the Committee on Children
and Families -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted
as amended and recommitted to said committee -- again reported from
said committee with amendments, ordered reprinted as amended and
recommitted to said committee -- recommitted to the Committee on Chil-
dren and Families in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 --
committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and
recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to reporting of
youth placed in foster care settings and recruitment of foster parents
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 17 of the social services law is amended by adding
2 a new subdivision (l) to read as follows:
3 (l) submit a report to the governor, the speaker of the assembly and
4 the temporary president of the senate beginning December thirty-first,
5 two thousand twenty, and quarterly thereafter, regarding youth placed in
6 foster care settings and the recruitment of foster parents. Such report
7 shall be made publicly available online and shall provide information,
8 as required pursuant to this subdivision, aggregated by local social
9 services districts and foster care settings. For the purposes of this
10 subdivision, foster care settings shall include, but not be limited to,
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01765-12-0
A. 1436--C 2
1 foster boarding homes, approved relative homes, group homes, group resi-
2 dences, agency operated boarding homes, supervised independent living
3 arrangements, therapeutic foster care and child care institutions. The
4 report shall include, but not be limited to, the following information:
5 (i) the total number of youth placed in a foster care setting at the
6 time of the report, as well as a comparison to the total number of youth
7 in care since the previous report was submitted;
8 (ii) the reasons why such youth have been placed in a foster care
9 setting, with the total number of youth per category at the time of the
10 report. Such reasons shall include, but not be limited to, voluntary
11 placement pursuant to section three hundred fifty-eight-a of this chap-
12 ter, a termination of parental rights pursuant to section three hundred
13 eighty-four-b of this chapter, placements pursuant to articles ten and
14 ten-C of the family court act, or pursuant to a contract, grant or other
15 agreement with the federal government;
16 (iii) to the extent such information is available, the total number of
17 youth placed in a foster care setting at the time of the report that are
18 in need of or receiving specialized services, either due to a mental
19 health illness or another disorder that may require additional supports
20 and services, including specialized educational services;
21 (iv) to the extent such information is available, how many youth at
22 the time of the report have been previously placed in a foster care
23 setting in the state;
24 (v) the total number of foster families that are currently certified
25 in the state at the time of the report and whether that number has
26 increased or decreased since the previous report was submitted;
27 (vi) how many children and/or families have received preventive
28 services through a local social services district, and of those children
29 and/or families, how many youth were successfully kept out of foster
30 care due to such services within the last calendar year for the initial
31 report, and then since the previous report was submitted for all subse-
32 quent reports;
33 (vii) the total number of placement options that have been certified
34 as a qualified residential treatment program, as defined by 42 USCS §
35 672; and
36 (viii) the efforts the state has taken to recruit and retain foster
37 parents in the state.
38 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
