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
________________________________________________________________________
222--C
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE(Prefiled)
January 9, 2019
___________
Introduced by Sens. BENJAMIN, ADDABBO, BAILEY, BIAGGI, BRESLIN, BROOKS,
CARLUCCI, COMRIE, GAUGHRAN, GIANARIS, GOUNARDES, HARCKHAM, HOYLMAN,
JACKSON, KAMINSKY, KAPLAN, KAVANAGH, KENNEDY, KRUEGER, LIU, MAY,
MAYER, METZGER, MONTGOMERY, MYRIE, PARKER, PERSAUD, RAMOS, RIVERA,
SALAZAR, SANDERS, SAVINO, SEPULVEDA, SERRANO, SKOUFIS, STAVISKY,
THOMAS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be
committed to the Committee on Children and Families -- committee
discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
to said committee -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee -- recommitted
to the Committee on Children and Families in accordance with Senate
Rule 6, sec. 8 -- reported favorably from said committee and committed
to the Committee on Finance -- 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,
11 foster boarding homes, approved relative homes, group homes, group resi-
12 dences, agency operated boarding homes, supervised independent living
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01765-13-0
S. 222--C 2
1 arrangements, therapeutic foster care and child care institutions. The
2 report shall include, but not be limited to, the following information:
3 (i) the total number of youth placed in a foster care setting at the
4 time of the report, as well as a comparison to the total number of youth
5 in care since the previous report was submitted;
6 (ii) the reasons why such youth have been placed in a foster care
7 setting, with the total number of youth per category at the time of the
8 report. Such reasons shall include, but not be limited to, voluntary
9 placement pursuant to section three hundred fifty-eight-a of this chap-
10 ter, a termination of parental rights pursuant to section three hundred
11 eighty-four-b of this chapter, placements pursuant to articles ten and
12 ten-C of the family court act, or pursuant to a contract, grant or other
13 agreement with the federal government;
14 (iii) to the extent such information is available, the total number of
15 youth placed in a foster care setting at the time of the report that are
16 in need of or receiving specialized services, either due to a mental
17 health illness or another disorder that may require additional supports
18 and services, including specialized educational services;
19 (iv) to the extent such information is available, how many youth at
20 the time of the report have been previously placed in a foster care
21 setting in the state;
22 (v) the total number of foster families that are currently certified
23 in the state at the time of the report and whether that number has
24 increased or decreased since the previous report was submitted;
25 (vi) how many children and/or families have received preventive
26 services through a local social services district, and of those children
27 and/or families, how many youth were successfully kept out of foster
28 care due to such services within the last calendar year for the initial
29 report, and then since the previous report was submitted for all subse-
30 quent reports;
31 (vii) the total number of placement options that have been certified
32 as a qualified residential treatment program, as defined by 42 USCS §
33 672; and
34 (viii) the efforts the state has taken to recruit and retain foster
35 parents in the state.
36 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
