N.Y. Executive Law § 501: General functions, powers and duties of division

§ 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.