§ 421. Responsibility of the office. The office shall: 1. in
conjunction with local departments, both jointly and individually,
within the appropriation available, conduct a continuing publicity and
education program for local department staff, persons and officials
required to report including district attorneys, assistant district
attorneys, police officers, peace officers, investigators employed in
the office of a district attorney, and any other appropriate persons to
encourage the fullest degree of reporting of suspected child abuse or
maltreatment. Such program shall be developed and implemented in
coordination with those established pursuant to section 31.06 of the
mental hygiene law, section twenty-eight hundred five-n of the public
health law, section thirty-two hundred nine-a of the education law,
sections two hundred fourteen-a and eight hundred forty of the executive
law and article eleven of this chapter. The program shall include but
not be limited to responsibilities, obligations and powers under this
title and chapter as well as the diagnosis of child abuse and
maltreatment, the procedures of the child protective service, the family
court and other duly authorized agencies and the prevention, treatment
and remediation of abuse and maltreatment of children in residential
care.

2. (a) provide technical assistance to local social services
departments regarding case planning and provision of services and
performance of other responsibilities pursuant to this title. Such
assistance shall be provided on a regular, ongoing basis and shall also
be made available as needed, upon request of any such local department.

(b) issue guidelines to assist local social services departments in
evaluating and establishing investigative priorities for reports
describing situations or events which may pose a clear and present
danger to the life, health or safety of a child and which require
immediate, personal contact between the local child protective service
and the subject of the report, the subject's family, or any other
persons named in the report.

* (c) issue guidelines to assist local child protective services in
the interpretation and assessment of reports of abuse and maltreatment
made to the statewide central register described in section four hundred
twenty-two of this article. Such guidelines shall include information,
standards and criteria for the identification of evidence of alleged
abuse and maltreatment as required to determine whether a report may be
indicated pursuant to this article. Provided further, the office of
children and family services shall update such guidelines, standards and
criteria issued to the local child protective services to include
protocols to reduce implicit bias in the decision-making processes,
strategies for identifying adverse childhood experiences as defined in
paragraph (c) of subdivision one of section twenty-d of this chapter,
and guidelines to assist in recognizing signs of abuse or maltreatment
while interacting virtually. The office may utilize existing programs or
materials established pursuant to section twenty-d of this chapter.

* NB Effective until November 17, 2024

* (c) issue guidelines to assist local child protective services in
the interpretation and assessment of reports of abuse and maltreatment
made to the statewide central register described in section four hundred
twenty-two of this article. Such guidelines shall include information,
standards and criteria for the identification of evidence of alleged
abuse and maltreatment as required to determine whether a report may be
indicated pursuant to this article. Provided further, the office of
children and family services shall update such guidelines, standards and
criteria issued to the local child protective services to include
protocols to reduce implicit bias in the decision-making processes,
strategies for identifying adverse childhood experiences as defined in
paragraph (c) of subdivision one of section twenty-d of this chapter,
guidelines to assist in recognizing signs of abuse or maltreatment while
interacting virtually, and guidance on identifying an abused or
maltreated child when such child is an individual with an intellectual
or developmental disability as defined in section 1.03 of the mental
hygiene law. The office may utilize existing programs or materials
established pursuant to section twenty-d of this chapter.

* NB Effective November 17, 2024

3. promulgate regulations setting forth requirements for the
performance 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
guidelines 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
possible 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
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
classified as child protective services, which shall also apply to any
society 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. Such regulations 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.

4. (a) after consultation with the local child protective services,
promulgate regulations relating to staff qualifications for
non-supervisory child protective services workers, prescribing any
baccalaureate or equivalent college degree and/or relevant human service
experience as requirements. Such requirements shall not apply to persons
currently employed by such child protective services who were hired
before January first, nineteen hundred eighty-six.

(b) after consultation with the local child protective services,
promulgate regulations relating to staff qualifications for those
assigned to be supervisors of child protective services, prescribing any
baccalaureate or equivalent college degree and/or relevant human
services experience as requirements. Provided, however, that such
regulations shall at a minimum provide that those assigned to be
supervisors of child protective services have either a baccalaureate
degree or three years of relevant work experience in a human services
field. Such requirements shall not apply to persons currently assigned
to be a child protective services supervisor who were hired before
December first, two thousand six.

5. (a) directly or through the purchase of services, implement,
subject to the amounts appropriated therefor, an ongoing, statewide
training program for employees of the department and of each local
department of social services employed in the provision and supervision
of child protective services or in other activities required in
accordance with the provisions of this title.

(b) promulgate regulations setting forth training requirements which
shall specify, among other things, that all persons hired by a child
protective service on or after April first, nineteen hundred eighty-six
shall have satisfactorily completed a course approved by the department
within the first three months of employment, in the fundamentals of
child protection. Such course shall include at least basic training in
the principles and techniques of investigations, including relationships
with other investigative bodies, legal issues in child protection, and
methods of remediation, diagnosis, treatment and prevention. Such
regulations shall also specify that all persons employed by a child
protective service on or after December first, two thousand six shall
satisfactorily complete six hours of annual in service training,
beginning in their second year of employment. Such annual in service
training shall include, but is not limited to, review of the protocols
for identification and investigation of child abuse and maltreatment,
any developments in legal, treatment and prevention issues in child
protection, and review and analysis of field experiences of child
protective services workers.

(c) require all persons assigned to be a supervisor by a child
protective service on or after April first, nineteen hundred eighty-six,
shall have satisfactorily completed, within the first three months of
employment as a supervisor or within three months of the effective date
of this paragraph, whichever shall occur first, a course in the
fundamentals of child protection developed by the office of children and
family services. Such training course shall, among other things,
strengthen and expand current training procedures for child protective
service supervisors; provide the skills, knowledge and standards to
practice effective case planning and case management; provide
comprehensive assessment tools needed in critical decision making;
require participation in the existing next generation training required
by child protective service caseworkers; strengthen recognition and
response to safety and risk indicators; improve skills to promote
consistent implementation of training and practice; provide the
necessary tools and assistance to build the ability to coach and monitor
child protective service caseworkers and model effective investigation
practice; increase cultural competency and sensitivity; and establish an
annual in service training program specifically focused on child
protective service supervisors.

(d) withhold reimbursement, otherwise payable to social services
districts, for the salaries of employees of child protective services
who do not comply with the background review, educational, experience or
training requirements of this title.

6. promulgate regulations which require social services districts to
make local procedural manuals and service directories available to
employees of a child protective service, service providers and other
professionals involved in the prevention of child abuse and
maltreatment.

7. take all reasonable and necessary actions to assure that the local
departments of social services are kept apprised on a current basis of
the laws, regulations and policies of the department concerning child
abuse and maltreatment.

8. monitor and supervise the performance of the local departments of
social services.