BILL NUMBER: S9745

SPONSOR: BRISPORT
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the family court act, in relation to notices given to
respondents in child abuse and neglect proceedings in family court

This is one in a series of measures being introduced at the request of
the Acting Chief Administrative Judge upon the recommendation of her
Family Court Advisory and Rules Committee.

This measure would amend section 105 l(f)(iii) of the Family Court Act
to conform its provisions regarding required notifications to respondent
parents to the recently enacted changes in the consequences attendant
upon reports of child maltreatment.

As part of the State budget for Fiscal Year 2020, the Legislature
enacted a comprehensive reform of the State Central Registry of Child
Abuse and Maltreatment ("SCR"), to take effect on January 1, 2022.  (L.
2020. c. 56. Part R). Among its most significant changes is an amendment
to Social Services Law § 424-a(1)(e)(iv) adding a subparagraph (b)
providing that a report of child neglect deemed to be "indicated"
(supported by a preponderance of evidence) is automatically sealed from
              

disclosure to potential employers and other licensing and provider agen-
cies performing registry checks if the report is more than eight years
old. Such a report is shielded from disclosure because it is deemed to
be neither "relevant" nor "reasonably related" to an inquiry regarding
whether the subject of the report should be permitted to have contact
with children:

(B) Where the subject of the report is not the subject of any indicated
report of child abuse and is the subject of a report of child maltreat-
ment where the indication for child maltreatment occurred more than
eight years prior to the date of the inquiry, any such indication of
child maltreatment shall be deemed to be not relevant and reasonably
related to employment.

Although indicated SCR reports in both child abuse and neglect cases
remain on the registry until the youngest child reaches the age of 18,
the protection against use of child neglect reports in excess of eight
years old protects subjects of such reports from serious collateral
consequences in terms of eligibility for day care and other types of
employment involving contact with children. See C. Gottlieb. "Major
Reform of New York's Child Abuse and Maltreatment Register," N EL..",
May 26, 2020.

Left untouched by the new statute. however, is a provision of the Family
Court Act requiring that, when a finding of child abuse or neglect is
made, whether by verdict after a fact-finding hearing or by admission,
the respondent parent must be given notice of the consequences of the
finding and, specifically, the consequences of retention of the report
on the SCR that gave rise to the finding.  Social Services Law §
422(8)(b)(ii)(A) provides that where a finding of child abuse or neglect
is made, there is an "irrebuttable presumption" that the SCR report is
indicated, thus underscoring the importance of providing parents with
accurate information as to the implications of all such findings. We,
therefore, propose this measure to correct the wording of Family Court
Act § 1051(f)(0 to conform to the new statute.
When making child protective findings, especially when determining
whether to accept admissions made by respondent parents, Family Court
judges must ensure that the parents fully understand the consequences
and that any admission is made knowingly, intelligently, and voluntar-
ily, in light of the constitutional dimension of the interests involved.
The provisions of Family Court Act § 1051(f) form the core of the infor-
mation that the judges provide to parents in such cases. It is vitally
important that such information be accurate and reflect the changes made
to the SCR statute.

This measure would take effect on the sixtieth day after is shall have
become a law.   
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY 2021-22:

OCA-71(R1)