Relates to expanding the persons responsible for reporting cases of suspected child abuse to include employees, volunteers, or agents of any corporate entity having an agreement with a municipality as a homeless shelter provider and the development of procedures related thereto.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4154
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
March 1, 2019
___________
Introduced by Sen. PARKER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Children and Families
AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to expanding the
persons responsible for reporting cases of suspected child abuse to
include employees, volunteers, or agents of any corporate entity
having an agreement with a municipality as a homeless shelter provider
and the development of procedures related thereto
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 1 of section 413 of the social
2 services law, as amended by section 7 of part C of chapter 57 of the
3 laws of 2018, is amended to read as follows:
4 (a) The following persons and officials are required to report or
5 cause a report to be made in accordance with this title when they have
6 reasonable cause to suspect that a child coming before them in their
7 professional or official capacity is an abused or maltreated child, or
8 when they have reasonable cause to suspect that a child is an abused or
9 maltreated child where the parent, guardian, custodian or other person
10 legally responsible for such child comes before them in their profes-
11 sional or official capacity and states from personal knowledge facts,
12 conditions or circumstances which, if correct, would render the child an
13 abused or maltreated child: any physician; registered physician assist-
14 ant; surgeon; medical examiner; coroner; dentist; dental hygienist;
15 osteopath; optometrist; chiropractor; podiatrist; resident; intern;
16 psychologist; registered nurse; social worker; emergency medical techni-
17 cian; licensed creative arts therapist; licensed marriage and family
18 therapist; licensed mental health counselor; licensed psychoanalyst;
19 licensed behavior analyst; certified behavior analyst assistant; hospi-
20 tal personnel engaged in the admission, examination, care or treatment
21 of persons; a Christian Science practitioner; school official, which
22 includes but is not limited to school teacher, school guidance counse-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05941-02-9
S. 4154 2
1 lor, school psychologist, school social worker, school nurse, school
2 administrator or other school personnel required to hold a teaching or
3 administrative license or certificate; full or part-time compensated
4 school employee required to hold a temporary coaching license or profes-
5 sional coaching certificate; social services worker; employee of a publ-
6 icly-funded emergency shelter for families with children; director of a
7 children's overnight camp, summer day camp or traveling summer day camp,
8 as such camps are defined in section thirteen hundred ninety-two of the
9 public health law; day care center worker; school-age child care worker;
10 provider of family or group family day care; employee or volunteer in a
11 residential care facility for children that is licensed, certified or
12 operated by the office of children and family services; or any other
13 child care or foster care worker; mental health professional; substance
14 abuse counselor; alcoholism counselor; all persons credentialed by the
15 office of alcoholism and substance abuse services; employees, who are
16 expected to have regular and substantial contact with children, of a
17 health home or health home care management agency contracting with a
18 health home as designated by the department of health and authorized
19 under section three hundred sixty-five-l of this chapter or such employ-
20 ees who provide home and community based services under a demonstration
21 program pursuant to section eleven hundred fifteen of the federal social
22 security act who are expected to have regular and substantial contact
23 with children; peace officer; police officer; district attorney or
24 assistant district attorney; investigator employed in the office of a
25 district attorney; or other law enforcement official; or employees,
26 volunteers, or agents of any corporate entity having an agreement with a
27 municipality as a homeless shelter provider.
28 § 2. Subdivision 5-a of section 488 of the social services law, as
29 amended by chapter 205 of the laws of 2014, is amended to read as
30 follows:
31 5-a. "Human services professional" shall mean any: physician; regis-
32 tered physician assistant; surgeon; medical examiner; coroner; dentist;
33 dental hygienist; osteopath; optometrist; chiropractor; podiatrist;
34 resident; intern; psychologist; registered nurse; licensed practical
35 nurse; nurse practitioner; social worker; emergency medical technician;
36 licensed creative arts therapist; licensed marriage and family thera-
37 pist; licensed mental health counselor; licensed psychoanalyst; licensed
38 behavior analyst; certified behavior analyst assistant; licensed
39 speech/language pathologist or audiologist; licensed physical therapist;
40 licensed occupational therapist; hospital personnel engaged in the
41 admission, examination, care or treatment of persons; Christian Science
42 practitioner; school official, which includes but is not limited to
43 school teacher, school guidance counselor, school psychologist, school
44 social worker, school nurse, school administrator or other school
45 personnel required to hold a teaching or administrative license or
46 certificate; full or part-time compensated school employee required to
47 hold a temporary coaching license or professional coaching certificate;
48 social services worker; any other child care or foster care worker;
49 mental health professional; person credentialed by the office of alco-
50 holism and substance abuse services; peace officer; police officer;
51 district attorney or assistant district attorney; investigator employed
52 in the office of a district attorney; or other law enforcement official;
53 employees, volunteers and agents of any corporate agent having an agree-
54 ment with a municipality as a homeless shelter provider.
55 § 3. Section 413 of the social services law is amended by adding a new
56 subdivision 5 to read as follows:
S. 4154 3
1 5. Any person, institution or corporate agent having an agreement with
2 a municipality as a homeless shelter provider which employs persons who
3 are mandated to report suspected incidents of child abuse or maltreat-
4 ment pursuant to subdivision one of this section shall develop, maintain
5 and disseminate written policies and procedures pursuant to this title
6 and applicable provisions of article ten of the family court act,
7 regarding the mandatory reporting of child abuse or neglect, reporting
8 procedures and obligations of persons required to report, provisions for
9 taking a child into protective custody, mandatory reporting of deaths,
10 immunity from liability, penalties for failure to report, and obli-
11 gations for the provision of services and procedures necessary to safe-
12 guard the life or health of the child; and establish, and implement on
13 an ongoing basis, a training program for all current and new employees
14 regarding the policies and procedures established pursuant to this
15 subdivision.
16 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.