§ 501. General functions, powers and duties of division. The division
for youth shall have the following functions, powers and duties: 1. To
develop policies and plans for improving the administration of division
facilities and the delivery of services therein.

2. To establish, operate and maintain treatment programs and other
services for youth placed with or committed to the division and programs
for the care of conditionally released children.

3. To establish, operate and maintain division facilities and to
contract with authorized agencies as defined in section three hundred
seventy-one of the social services law for the operation and maintenance
of non-secure facilities.

4. To establish, operate and maintain all division facilities and
programs and all necessary powers to see that the purposes of each
facility or program are carried into effect.

5. To promulgate rules and regulations for the establishment,
operation and maintenance of division facilities and programs.

6. To enter into contracts with any person, firm, corporation,
not-for-profit corporation, authorized agency as defined by section
three hundred seventy-one of the social services law, municipality or
governmental agency.

7. To establish, operate and maintain programs and services
alternative to division facilities for persons placed with the division
pursuant to section five hundred seven-a of this article. The division
may contract with political subdivisions of the state, agencies thereof
or supported thereby, not-for-profit associations, institutions or
agencies concerned with youth, for the operation and maintenance of such
programs and services.

8. (a) Subject to the amounts appropriated therefor, to establish,
operate and maintain or to contract for the operation and maintenance of
programs which may include, but not be limited to work training programs
and alternative to placement programs authorized by law, in order to
prevent and control juvenile delinquency, and to advance the moral,
physical, mental and social well-being of the youth of this state;

(b) To establish and operate or to participate with the federal
government in the establishment and operation of job corps camps
pursuant to the federal economic opportunity program and any federal
laws amendatory or supplemental thereto, and to accept and receive such
youths as may be referred by federal agencies pursuant to such law.

9. To cooperate with other departments, divisions and agencies of the
state, its political subdivisions and municipalities and cooperate with
public and private agencies and departments throughout the state in
order to assist in the rehabilitation and training of youth placed with
or committed to the division.

10. To encourage and foster an exchange of information and to
cooperate with social agencies, both public and private, which may be
administering to the needs or assisting any members of the families of
youth placed with or committed to the division.

11. To develop a comprehensive five year plan for the provision of
services for youths ordered by the court into the custody of the
division. Such plan shall include, but not be limited to:

(a) a projection of the numbers of youths to be placed into or
committed to the care of the division at secure, limited secure and
non-secure levels of care for the five years encompassed by the plan;

(b) an analysis of current and anticipated utilization of division
facilities;

(c) a plan for increasing or decreasing residential capacities at all
levels as indicated by paragraph (b) of this subdivision;

(d) a comprehensive description of the types of services and programs
to be provided to youths in the custody of the division; and

(e) a plan for containing costs at all levels of residential care.

12. To promulgate regulations concerning standards for the protection
of children in residential facilities and programs operated or certified
by the division, from abuse and maltreatment. Such standards shall
include the prevention and remediation of abuse and maltreatment of
children in such residential facilities or programs, including
procedures for:

(a) consistent with appropriate collective bargaining agreements and
applicable provisions of the civil service law, the review and
evaluation of the backgrounds of and the information supplied by any
person applying to be an employee, a volunteer or consultant which shall
include but not be limited to the following requirements: that the
applicant set forth his or her employment history, provide personal and
employment references and relevant experiential and educational
information and sign a sworn statement indicating whether the applicant,
to the best of his or her knowledge, has ever been convicted of a crime
in this state or any other jurisdiction;

(b) establishing for employees, relevant minimal experiential and
educational qualifications, consistent with appropriate collective
bargaining agreements and applicable provisions of the civil service
law;

(c) assuring adequate and appropriate supervision of employees,
volunteers and consultants;

(d) demonstrating by a residential facility or program that
appropriate action is taken to assure the safety of the child who is
reported to the state central register as well as other children in
care, immediately upon notification that a report of child abuse or
maltreatment has been made with respect to a child in a residential
facility or program;

(e) removing of a child, consistent as applicable with any court order
placing the child, when it is determined that there is risk to such
child if he or she continues to remain within a residential facility or
program; and

(f) appropriate preventive and remedial action to be taken, including
legal actions, consistent with appropriate collective bargaining
agreements and applicable provisions of the civil service law.

Such standards shall also establish as a priority that:

(i) subject to the amounts appropriated therefor, administrators,
employees, volunteers and consultants receive training in at least the
following: child abuse prevention and identification, safety and
security procedures, the principles of child development, the
characteristics of children in care and techniques of group and child
management including crisis intervention, the laws, regulations and
procedures governing the protection of children from abuse and
maltreatment, and other appropriate topics; provided however, that the
division may exempt administrators and consultants from such
requirements upon demonstration of substantially equivalent knowledge or
experience;

(ii) subject to the amounts appropriated therefor, children receive
instruction, consistent with their age, needs and circumstances as well
as the needs and circumstances within the residential facility or
program, in techniques and procedures which will enable such children to
protect themselves from abuse and maltreatment.

The division shall take all reasonable and necessary actions to assure
that employees, volunteers and consultants in residential facilities and
programs are kept apprised on a current basis of all division policies
and procedures relating to the protection of children from abuse and
maltreatment, and shall monitor and supervise the provision of training
to such administrators, employees, volunteers, children and consultants.
Such standards shall, to the extent possible, be consistent with those
promulgated by other state agencies for such purposes.

13. To cooperate with the state department of social services and
other departments, divisions and agencies of the state when a report is
received pursuant to title six of article six of the social services law
to protect the health and safety of children in residential facilities
or programs. Such cooperation shall include: the making of reports of
alleged child abuse and maltreatment, providing necessary assistance to
the state department of social services in the department's
investigation thereof and considering the recommendations of the state
department of social services for appropriate preventive and remedial
action, including legal actions, and provide or direct the residential
facility to provide such written reports thereon to the department of
social services as to the implementation of plans of prevention and
remediation approved by the division pursuant to title six of article
six of the social services law.

14. To provide for the development and implementation of a plan of
prevention and remediation with respect to an indicated report of child
abuse or maltreatment. Such action shall include: (a) within ten days of
receipt of an indicated report of child abuse or maltreatment,
development and implementation of a plan of prevention and remediation
to be taken with respect to a custodian or the residential facility in
order to assure the continued health and safety of children and to
provide for the prevention of future acts of abuse or maltreatment; and
(b) development and implementation of a plan of prevention and
remediation, in the event an investigation of a report of alleged child
abuse or maltreatment determines that some credible evidence of abuse or
maltreatment exists and such abuse or maltreatment may be attributed in
whole or in part to noncompliance by the residential facility or program
with provisions of this chapter or regulations of the division
applicable to the operation of such residential facility or program. Any
plan of prevention and remediation required to be developed pursuant to
paragraph (b) of this subdivision by a facility supervised by the
division shall be submitted to and approved by the division in
accordance with time limits established by regulations of the division.
Implementation of the plan shall be monitored by the division. In
reviewing the continued qualifications of a residential facility or
program for an operating certificate, the division shall evaluate such
facility's compliance with plans of prevention and remediation developed
and implemented pursuant to this subdivision.

15. In the event that the office of children and family services
determines that significant service reductions, public employee staffing
reductions and/or the transfer of operations to a private or
not-for-profit entity are anticipated in the office of children and
family services long term planning process or for a particular facility
in a future year, to take the following actions:

(a) confer with the department of civil service, the governor's office
of employee relations and any other state agency to develop strategies
which attempt to minimize the impact on the state workforce by providing
assistance in obtaining state employment in state-operated
community-based services or other employment opportunities, and to
develop strategies for the development of necessary retraining and
redeployment programs. In planning such strategies, the commissioner of
the office of children and family services shall provide for the
participation of the representatives of the employee labor organizations
and for the participation of managerial and confidential employees to
ensure continuity of employment;

(b) consult with the department of economic development and any other
appropriate state agencies to develop strategies which attempt to
minimize the impact of such significant service reductions, public
employee staffing reductions and/or the transfer of operations to a
private or not-for-profit entity on the local and regional economies;

(c) provide for a mechanism which may reasonably be expected to
provide notice to local governments, community organizations, employee
labor organizations, managerial and confidential employees, consumer and
advocacy groups of the potential for significant service reductions,
public employee staffing reductions and/or the transfer of operations to
a private or not-for-profit entity at such state-operated facilities, at
least twelve months prior to commencing such service reduction; and

(d) consult with the office of general services and any other
appropriate state agency in developing a mechanism for determining
alternative uses for land and buildings to be vacated by the office of
children and family services. Such a mechanism should include a review
of other programs or state agencies that could feasibly expand their
operations onto a state-operated campus and are compatible with health,
safety and programmatic needs of persons served in such facilities.

16. To perform such acts as are necessary or convenient to carry out
the division's functions, powers and duties in furtherance of the best
interests of youth, consistent with the provisions of this article.