Provides for criminal history review of informal child care providers who provide care either in or outside of the child's home, where such services are subsidized under the child care block grant program.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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5167
2009-2010 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 10, 2009
___________
Introduced by M. of A. LAVINE -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Children and Families
AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to criminal history
review of informal child care providers
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 390 of the social services law is
2 amended by adding a new paragraph (g) to read as follows:
3 (g) "Informal child care provider" shall mean any person providing
4 caretaking services for a child either in or away from the child's home,
5 where such services are subsidized under the New York state child care
6 block grant program, but shall not include a child day care provider who
7 is subject to licensure or registration pursuant to the provisions of
8 this section.
9 § 2. Subdivision 2 of section 390 of the social services law is
10 amended by adding a new paragraph (f) to read as follows:
11 (f) Informal child care providers shall be required to enroll with the
12 department and to meet safety and other standards established pursuant
13 to regulations promulgated by the office of children and family
14 services.
15 § 3. Subdivision 1 of section 390-b of the social services law is
16 amended by adding a new paragraph (c) to read as follows:
17 (c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, and
18 subject to rules and regulations of the division of criminal justice
19 services, the office of children and family services shall perform a
20 criminal history record check with the division of criminal justice
21 services regarding any informal child care services provider and any
22 assistants, employees, volunteers who have regular and substantial
23 contact with children, and any person age eighteen or over residing on
24 the premises where such criminal history record check is provided for in
25 a social services district's consolidated services plan. Such informal
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02923-01-9
A. 5167 2
1 child care providers, assistants, employees, volunteers who will have
2 regular and substantial contact with children, and, where care is
3 outside the child's home, any person over the age of eighteen living in
4 such home of such informal child care provider, who previously did not
5 have a criminal history record check performed in accordance with this
6 subdivision shall have such a criminal history record check performed
7 when such informal provider applies for enrollment or enrollment
8 renewal. A criminal history record check shall not be required of any
9 person age eighteen or over residing on the premises where such informal
10 child care is provided in the child's own residence.
11 § 4. Paragraphs (c), (d) and (f) of subdivision 2 of section 390-b of
12 the social services law, as added by chapter 416 of the laws of 2000,
13 are amended to read as follows:
14 (c) As part of the provider's application for, or renewal of, a group
15 family day care home license or family day care home registration, the
16 provider shall furnish the office of children and family services with
17 fingerprint cards of any operator of a group family day care home or
18 family day care home, and any assistant, employee or volunteer, and any
19 person age eighteen or over residing on the premises of the group family
20 day care home or family day care home, who previously did not have a
21 criminal history record check performed in accordance with this section,
22 together with such other information as is required by the office of
23 children and family services and the division of criminal justice
24 services. As part of an informal child care provider's application for,
25 or renewal of, enrollment, a social services district may require the
26 provider to furnish the office of children and family services with
27 fingerprint cards of any caregiver, assistant, employee or volunteer,
28 and any person age eighteen or over residing on the premises of the
29 home, who previously did not have a criminal history record check
30 performed in accordance with this section, together with such other
31 information as is required by the office of children and family services
32 and the division of criminal justice services; provided however that a
33 person age eighteen or over residing on the premises of the home shall
34 not be required to furnish fingerprint cards where the care is being
35 provided in the child's own residence. Any such requirements must be set
36 forth in the social services district's consolidated services plan.
37 (d) Every group family day care home or family day care home provider
38 shall obtain a set of fingerprints for each prospective assistant,
39 employee, volunteer and any person age eighteen or over who will be
40 residing on the premises of the group family day care home or family day
41 care home, and such other information as is required by the office of
42 children and family services and the division of criminal justice
43 services. The group family day care home or family day care home provid-
44 er shall furnish to the applicant blank fingerprint cards and a
45 description of how the completed fingerprint cards will be used. The
46 group family day care home or family day care home provider shall
47 promptly transmit such fingerprint cards to the office of children and
48 family services. A social services district may also require from
49 informal child care providers, and any prospective assistant, employee,
50 volunteer, and any person age eighteen or over who will be residing on
51 the premises where care is provided away from such child's residence,
52 such fingerprints and other information as is required by the office of
53 children and family services and the division of criminal justice
54 services for conducting a criminal history records check; provided,
55 however, that a social services district may not require the finger-
56 printing of any person age eighteen or over who will be residing on the
A. 5167 3
1 premises where care is provided in the child's own residence. All such
2 requirements for fingerprints and other information must be set forth in
3 the social services district's consolidated services plan. In such case,
4 the provisions of subdivisions three, four and five of this section
5 applicable to child day care providers generally or to family day care
6 providers specifically shall be applicable to such informal child care
7 providers.
8 (f) A licensed or registered child day care center, school-age child
9 care program, group family day care home or family day care home or
10 informal child care provider may temporarily approve an applicant to be
11 an employee, assistant or volunteer for such provider while the results
12 of the criminal history record check are pending, but shall not allow
13 such person to have unsupervised contact with children during such time.
14 § 5. Subdivision 4 of section 424-a of the social services law, as
15 amended by chapter 465 of the laws of 1992, is amended to read as
16 follows:
17 4. For purposes of this chapter, the term "licensing agency" shall
18 mean an authorized agency which has received an application to become an
19 adoptive parent or an authorized agency which has received an applica-
20 tion for a certificate or license to receive, board or keep any child
21 pursuant to the provisions of section three hundred seventy-six or three
22 hundred seventy-seven of this article or an authorized agency which has
23 received an application from a relative within the second degree or
24 third degree of the parent of a child or a relative within the second
25 degree or third degree of the step-parent of a child or children, or the
26 child's legal guardian for approval to receive, board or keep such child
27 or a state or local governmental agency which receives an application to
28 provide child day care services in a child day care center, school-age
29 child care program, family day care home or group family day care home
30 or to provide informal child care pursuant to the provisions of section
31 three hundred ninety of this article, or the department of health of the
32 city of New York, when such department receives an application for a
33 certificate of approval to provide family day care pursuant to the
34 provisions of the health code of the city of New York, or the office of
35 mental health or the office of mental retardation and developmental
36 disabilities when such office receives an application for an operating
37 certificate pursuant to the provisions of the mental hygiene law to
38 operate a family care home which will serve children, or a state or
39 local governmental official who receives an application for a permit to
40 operate a camp which is subject to the provisions of article thir-
41 teen-A[,] or thirteen-B [or thirteen-C] of the public health law or the
42 [division for youth] office of children and family services which has
43 received an application for a certificate to receive, board or keep any
44 child at a foster family home pursuant to articles nineteen-G and nine-
45 teen-H of the executive law.
46 § 6. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
47 have become a law.
