NY State Senate Bill 2017-S3656

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Children And Families Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 03, 2018	referred to children and families returned to senate died in assembly
Jun 15, 2017	referred to children and families delivered to assembly passed senate
May 01, 2017	advanced to third reading
Apr 26, 2017	2nd report cal.
Apr 25, 2017	1st report cal.621
Feb 07, 2017	reported and committed to finance
Jan 25, 2017	referred to children and families

Votes

- Jun 15, 2017 - Floor Vote
  S3656
  
  53
  
  Aye
  
  7
  
  Nay
  
  0
  
  Absent
  
  3
  
  Excused
  
  0
  
  Abstained
  - - Floor Vote: Jun 15, 2017
      
      aye (53)
      
      Addabbo Jr.
      
      Akshar
      
      Amedore
      
      Avella
      
      Benjamin
      
      Bonacic
      
      Boyle
      
      Breslin
      
      Brooks
      
      Carlucci
      
      Comrie
      
      Croci
      
      Dilan
      
      Felder
      
      Flanagan
      
      Funke
      
      Gallivan
      
      Golden
      
      Griffo
      
      Hamilton
      
      Hannon
      
      Helming
      
      Jacobs
      
      Kaminsky
      
      Kennedy
      
      Klein
      
      Krueger
      
      LaValle
      
      Lanza
      
      Larkin
      
      Latimer
      
      Little
      
      Marchione
      
      Murphy
      
      O'Mara
      
      Ortt
      
      Parker
      
      Peralta
      
      Persaud
      
      Phillips
      
      Ranzenhofer
      
      Ritchie
      
      Rivera
      
      Robach
      
      Sanders Jr.
      
      Serino
      
      Serrano
      
      Seward
      
      Stavisky
      
      Stewart-Cousins
      
      Tedisco
      
      Valesky
      
      Young
      
      nay (7)
      
      Alcantara
      
      DeFrancisco
      
      Gianaris
      
      Hoylman-Sigal
      
      Montgomery
      
      Savino
      
      Squadron
      
      excused (3)
      
      Bailey
      
      Diaz
      
      Marcellino
  Apr 25, 2017 - Finance Committee Vote
  S3656
  
  26
  
  Aye
  
  1
  
  Nay
  
  7
  
  Aye with Reservations
  
  0
  
  Absent
  
  3
  
  Excused
  
  0
  
  Abstained
  - - Finance Committee Vote: Apr 25, 2017
      
      aye (26)
      
      Avella
      
      Bonacic
      
      Breslin
      
      Comrie
      
      Felder
      
      Gallivan
      
      Golden
      
      Griffo
      
      Hannon
      
      Kaminsky
      
      Kennedy
      
      LaValle
      
      Lanza
      
      Larkin
      
      Little
      
      Marcellino
      
      Marchione
      
      O'Mara
      
      Parker
      
      Ranzenhofer
      
      Ritchie
      
      Robach
      
      Seward
      
      Stavisky
      
      Valesky
      
      Young
      
      nay (1)
      
      Savino
      
      aye wr (7)
      
      Carlucci
      
      Diaz
      
      Dilan
      
      Montgomery
      
      Peralta
      
      Rivera
      
      Squadron
      
      excused (3)
      
      Bailey
      
      Boyle
      
      Krueger
  Feb 7, 2017 - Children And Families Committee Vote
  S3656
  
  6
  
  Aye
  
  1
  
  Nay
  
  0
  
  Aye with Reservations
  
  0
  
  Absent
  
  0
  
  Excused
  
  0
  
  Abstained
  - - Children And Families Committee Vote: Feb 7, 2017
      
      aye (6)
      
      Avella
      
      Bonacic
      
      Helming
      
      Montgomery
      
      Persaud
      
      Serino
      
      nay (1)
      
      Savino

2017-S3656 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Children And Families
Law Section:: Social Services Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §§421 & 372, Soc Serv L
Versions Introduced in 2015-2016 Legislative Session:: S3459

2017-S3656 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Requires child protective services to document home visits as part of a treatment plan, supervision and monitoring, pursuant to a court order, or on an emergency basis with photographs.

2017-S3656 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S3656

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act to amend the social services law, in relation
to requiring child protective services to document home visits with
photographs

 PURPOSE :

To provide greater accountability and safety regarding caseworker
visits to children in the child protective services and foster care
system.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1 of the bill provides that this bill shall be known and cited
as "Marchella Pierce's Law."

Section 2 of the bill amends section 421(3) of the Social Services
Law, which relates to the regulations that the Department of Social
Services is required to promulgate concerning the investigation of
child abuse or maltreatment. This section of the bill requires the
Department of Social Services to promulgate additional regulations to
require caseworkers to perform certain tasks in connection with their
visitation of children under a plan of treatment or supervision and
monitoring. Specifically, the regulations must require that each
caseworker to document each such with a photograph of the front door

of the residence where the child is domiciled at the time of the
visit. Additionally, the regulations must require that each caseworker
document visits using technology that provides geographic
documentation of the visit. Section 2 of the bill further provides
that if the child's parent or guardian objects to either the pictorial
or geographic documentation, the parent or guardian must sign a form
stating the objection, that the visit was conducted and that the
child's well-being was verified.

Section 3 of the bill adds a new subdivision 4-c to section 372 of the
Social Services Law to provide that the documentation described in
section 2 of this bill shall also be kept and filed by caseworkers
involved in the treatment plan or supervision and monitoring of foster
children.

Section 4 of the bill provides that this bill shall take effect
immediately.

 EXISTING LAW :

Current law requires the Commissioner to issue regulations concerning
the supervision and monitoring of abused children. Additionally, the
Office of Children and Family Services is required to issue guidelines
to address situations when children must undergo medical examination
and when visibly injured children must be photographed. Current law,
however, does not require that caseworkers document every contact they
have with a child. Nor does it require that the regulations contain
safeguards to ensure that the documentation contained in case records
is safe from manipulation.

 JUSTIFICATION :

Our child protective services system was designed to afford protection
through monitoring of abused or neglected children or children at risk
from abuse and neglect. Trained caseworkers are required to make
routine visits to such children in their homes or in the foster care
system to ensure their protection. Sadly, even under the watch of
Child Protective Services, children "fall through the cracks,"
resulting in substantial harm and sometimes death.

In 2012, a case involving the death of Marchella Pierce, a medically
fragile child in Brooklyn, highlighted the lack of adequate safeguards
in the supervision of at risk children. Prosecutors charged the
Administration of Children's Services ("ACS") caseworker in
Marchella's death, alleging that he should have noticed the child's
injuries and malnourishment and that he changed records after her
death to make it seem like he visited her family when he did not make
the visits for months leading up to her death - months in which she
was starved and abused by her mother. In many ways, Marchella's case
resembles the tragedy of Nixmary Brown, a seven year-old Brooklyn girl
who was killed by her mother and stepfather in 2006 while she was
being monitored by ACS.

In January 2014, 4-year old Myls Dobson was tortured for three weeks
prior to his death at the hands of the caregiver who had custody of
Myls while his father was in jail. Until August 2013, Myls was
monitored by ACS pursuant to a Court order granting his father custody
in the wake of abuse charges leveled against his then-custodian
mother. An investigation into Myls' death found that ACS did not know
that Myls' father was in jail while under ACS supervision. This
failure to recognize that Myls was at risk allowed Myls to be cared
for by the woman who tortured and ultimately killed him.

In February 2014, Kevasia Edwards was found unresponsive and
unconscious at her home in Far Rockaway. The two-year old, along with
her four siblings, had previously been removed from her mother's care.
On January 23, 2014, the Queens Family Court allowed Kevasia and her
siblings to remain in their mother's care because she had shown
improvement during the court-ordered therapy and parenting classes
that were required due to abuse and neglect charges. Eleven days and
one ACS visit after the Court ruling, Kevasia was dead.  Kevasia
suffered, among other things, burns and broken ribs, which led to her
death.

These cases highlight the need for legislation to provide closer
oversight of child protective caseworkers. Specifically, legislation
is needed to ensure that the very small minority of caseworkers who
fail to live up to the high professional standards of child protective
agencies do not allow neglected and abused children to suffer. This
bill achieves that goal by requiring the Department of Social Services
to issue additional regulations requiring caseworkers to document
every contact they have with a child under agency supervision.  Such
documentation shall consist of a description of the child's apparent
physical and emotional condition. This bill also requires regulations
to be promulgated requiring the timely and accurate filing of such
documentation in case files, as well as safeguards to prevent the
manipulation of case files, such as was alleged to have occurred in
Marchella Pierce's case.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

2016: S.3459 - Passed Senate
2015: S.3459 - Passed Senate
2014: S.4441-B - Referred to Children and Families
2013: S.4441-A - Referred to Children and Families

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

None to the State

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This bill shall take effect immediately.

2017-S3656 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   3656
 
                        2017-2018 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 25, 2017
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  GOLDEN -- 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 requiring  child
   protective services to document home visits with photographs
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1.  This act shall be known and may  be  cited  as  "Marchella
 Pierce's Law".
   §  2.    Subdivision  3  of section 421 of the social services law, as
 amended by chapter 718 of the laws of 1986, paragraph (a) as amended  by
 chapter  110 of the laws of 1989 and the closing paragraph as amended by
 chapter 320 of the laws of 1990, is amended to read as follows:
   3. promulgate regulations setting forth requirements for the  perform-
 ance  by  local  social  services  departments  of the duties and powers
 imposed and conferred upon them by the provisions of this title  and  of
 article  ten  of  the family court act. Such regulations shall establish
 uniform requirements for the investigation of reports of child abuse  or
 maltreatment  under  this  title. The department shall also issue guide-
 lines which shall set forth the circumstances or conditions under which:
   (a) personal contact shall be made with the child named in the  report
 and  any  other  children  in the same household, including interviewing
 such child or children absent the subject of the report whenever  possi-
 ble and appropriate;
   (b) photographs of visible physical injuries or trauma of children who
 may  be  the victims of abuse or maltreatment shall be taken or arranged
 for;
   (c) medical examination of a child who may be a  victim  of  abuse  or
 maltreatment and documentation of findings of such examination, shall be
 required.
   The department shall promulgate regulations to establish standards for
 intervention,  criteria  for  case  closings,  criteria  for determining
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD04240-01-7

 S. 3656                             2
 
 whether or not to initiate a child protective proceeding,  and  criteria
 for  the  formulation  of  treatment plans and for the delivery of child
 protective services including specification of the services to be  clas-
 sified as child protective services, which shall also apply to any soci-
 ety  for  the prevention of cruelty to children which has entered into a
 currently valid contract with a local department of social  services  to
 investigate  child  abuse  or maltreatment reports. The department shall
 promulgate regulations establishing minimum standards and practices  for
 the  delivery of child protective services in connection with monitoring
 and supervising respondents and their families as ordered  by  a  family
 court  pursuant  to  section ten hundred thirty-nine and paragraphs (i),
 (iii), (iv) and (v) of subdivision (a) of section ten hundred  fifty-two
 of  the  family court act. THE DEPARTMENT SHALL REQUIRE THAT EVERY CASE-
 WORKER, CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES EMPLOYEE OR ANY PERSON ACTING PURSUANT
 TO A CONTRACT FOR SERVICES WITH A LOCAL SOCIAL SERVICES  DEPARTMENT  WHO
 HAS  CONTACT WITH A CHILD AS PART OF A TREATMENT PLAN OR SUPERVISION AND
 MONITORING, TO DOCUMENT EACH SUCH CONTACT WITH A DATE AND  TIME  STAMPED
 PHOTOGRAPH  OF THE FRONT DOOR OF THE RESIDENCE WHERE SUCH CHILD IS DOMI-
 CILED DURING SUCH VISIT OR CONTACT USING A GLOBAL POSITIONING  SATELLITE
 CAPABLE  TABLET,  CELLULAR  PHONE  OR COMPARABLE DEVICE. SUCH PHOTOGRAPH
 SHALL BE PART OF THE CONFIDENTIAL CASE RECORD FOR SUCH CHILD  AND  SHALL
 BE SUBJECT TO PERIODIC REVIEW BY THE SUPERVISOR OF THE CASE. SUCH PHOTO-
 GRAPH  MUST  BE OF SUFFICIENT QUALITY TO CLEARLY IDENTIFY THE FRONT DOOR
 OF THE RESIDENCE WHERE THE CHILD IS DOMICILED, AND CONTAIN ACCURATE DATA
 WITH REGARD TO THE TIME, DATE AND LOCATION OF THE PHOTOGRAPH. THE SUPER-
 VISING AUTHORITY SHALL ALSO REQUIRE THAT THE  CASEWORKER  GEOGRAPHICALLY
 DOCUMENT  SUCH  VISIT  UTILIZING TECHNOLOGY ALLOWING FOR SUCH GEOGRAPHIC
 DOCUMENTATION. IF THE PARENT OR LEGAL GUARDIAN OBJECTS TO THE PHOTOGRAPH
 OF THE ENTRANCE TO THE RESIDENCE WHERE THE CHILD IS DOMICILED OR FOR THE
 GEOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTATION OF THE VISIT, THE CASEWORKER  SHALL  PROVIDE  A
 FORM,  SUPPLIED  BY  THE CASEWORKER'S AGENCY OF EMPLOYMENT, STATING THAT
 THE CASEWORKER CONDUCTED THE VISIT WITH THE CHILD AND VERIFIED THE  WELL
 BEING  OF  THE CHILD. SUCH FORM SHALL INDICATE WHICH PROCEDURE OR PROCE-
 DURES PRESCRIBED IN THIS SECTION WERE OBJECTED TO AND  SHALL  BE  SIGNED
 AND DATED BY BOTH THE CHILD'S PARENT OR LEGAL GUARDIAN AND THE CASEWORK-
 ER.  SUCH FORM SHALL BE UTILIZED AT EACH VISIT WHERE EITHER A PHOTOGRAPH
 IS NOT TAKEN OR THE VISIT IS NOT GEOGRAPHICALLY DOCUMENTED.  Such  regu-
 lations  REQUIRED  UNDER THIS SUBDIVISION shall also require local child
 protective services to comply  with  notification  requirements  of  the
 family  court  act  in  connection  with such monitoring and supervisory
 responsibilities.
   § 3. Section 372 of the social services law is amended by adding a new
 subdivision 4-c to read as follows:
   4-C. THE RECORDS MAINTAINED PURSUANT TO THIS SECTION BY ANY  CASEWORK-
 ER,  CHILD  PROTECTIVE SERVICES EMPLOYEE OR AUTHORIZED AGENCY AS DEFINED
 IN SECTION THREE HUNDRED SEVENTY-ONE OF THIS TITLE WHO HAS CONTACT  WITH
 A  FOSTER  CHILD AS PART OF A TREATMENT PLAN OR SUPERVISION AND MONITOR-
 ING, SHALL INCLUDE DOCUMENTATION OF EACH SUCH CONTACT IN ACCORDANCE WITH
 THE REQUIREMENTS SET FORTH IN SUBDIVISION THREE OF SECTION FOUR  HUNDRED
 TWENTY-ONE OF THIS ARTICLE.
   § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Senate Bill S3656

Sponsored By

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Children And Families Committee

Jun 15, 2017 - Floor Vote

Floor Vote: Jun 15, 2017

Apr 25, 2017 - Finance Committee Vote

Finance Committee Vote: Apr 25, 2017

Feb 7, 2017 - Children And Families Committee Vote

Children And Families Committee Vote: Feb 7, 2017

2017-S3656 (ACTIVE) - Details

2017-S3656 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2017-S3656 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2017-S3656 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments

Senate Bill S3656

Share this bill

Sponsored By

Martin J. Golden

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Children And Families Committee

2017-S3656 (ACTIVE) - Details

2017-S3656 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2017-S3656 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2017-S3656 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments