Nuevas reformas favorecen el bienestar de los niños y de las familias de bajos ingresos

NEW REFORMS FAVORS THE WELFARE OF LOW INCOME CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

The new law provides more justice and equality to the system of children’s welfare while keeping children safe. Published April 06, 2020

NEW YORK – New reforms in New York will favor the welfare and protection of the children in the state while also minimizing the difficulties that low income families face. This was announced with gratitude by David A. Hansell, the commissioner of the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS).

The changes were promoted by Senator Velmanette Montgomery and Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee, and will come into effect in January 2022.

In general, the reforms will bring more justice and equality in the system of children’s welfare by reforming the standards and procedures used when reporting possible cases of child abuse or negligence to the Statewide Central Register (SCR).

The legislation will prevent parents from ending up on a database for years to come after undergoing a child abuse and neglect investigation yielding no evidence of abuse and neglect to support the initial accusations made against them. Thus, starting in 2022 the standards of proof that is needed to make a child abuse and neglect report will change from “some credible evidence” to  “fair prevalent evidence”, meaning more evidence of what happened, which is more consistent with the jurisdictions of other countries.

Also, the law will seal the records “indicating” negligence, not abuse, after 8 years. This way employers that complete background checks will not have access to history of child neglect. Prior to these new reforms, this information will remain on a person’s background for up to 28 years and affected families when it was time to seek employment.

The law will not change the current standards as far as indications of child abuse in background checks nor does the law affect ACS’s access to child abuse history when investigating new information of possible child abuse or neglect.

The new standards balance out childhood safety while simultaneously providing more justice and equality to the children’s welfare system and addresses the collateral consequences that arrive from having a possible case of child neglect indicated in one’s records.

“At the ACS, our main priority is the safety and welfare of the children in the city of New York and this is why I am grateful for this reform. This progressive reform makes possible the right balance between protecting the children and helping to expand the economic opportunities for low income families” said the commissioner of ACS, David A. Hansell. “I applaud the Governor and the Legislature of the state of New York for bringing more justice and equality to the children’s welfare system by promoting both the safety of our children as well as the economic wellbeing of their families”.

The new reform brings two key changes to the SCR:

• Under the law, which will apply to investigations starting in January 2022, the state of New York will raise the standard of proof from some credible evidence to fair prevalent evidence. This higher standard is more just and will help dismiss implicit biases that have been observed in the children’s welfare system.
• The new law lowers the amount of time that a case indicating maltreatment could be accessible by possible employers. Based on previous law, an indication of a child abuse or neglect case would remain on the person’s record for another 10 years after the minor turned 18, regardless of the severity of the incident. The new law allows for indications of child neglect, not child abuse, to be sealed to employers if the incident took place 8 or more years ago.

What does the process of reporting looks like under the new law?

New York law requires ACS to investigate all possible child abuse and neglect reports made to the SCR, the child abuse and neglect hotline that is directed by the New York State Office of Children and Family Services.

Once the SCR assigns ACS to investigate a possible case, a Child protective Services (CPS) agent gets in communication with the reported family, reviews the family’s history with ACS, interviews the presumed victim (child), parents/guardians of the victim and other members in the household. They also get in communication with other people that may be related to the victim (school personnel, healthcare providers and neighbors). CPS also contacts the person that reported the possible abuse or neglect to obtain additional information.

After the investigation, the law requires ACS to make a determination between "not solving" a case or "indicating" the case, which would result in the information remaining in a person's record for ten years after the younger child in report turns 18, regardless of the severity of incident. This can result in a parent or guardian being denied entry level employment in jobs such as home health aide or child care for up to 28 years. This also destabilize families even after any child safety risk has been addressed.

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