N.Y. Social Services Law § 407: Powers of department of social welfare

§ 407. Powers of department of social welfare. The department is

hereby authorized and required:

1. to prepare a plan or plans for such child welfare services and

upon their approval by such federal authority to execute the same. Such

plans shall make provision for coordination between the services

provided under such plans and the services provided as family assistance

under title ten of article five with the view of providing welfare and

related services which will best promote the welfare of children and

their families.

2. to allocate and disburse to districts, counties or other local

subdivisions of the state such amounts from moneys received by the state

under the provisions of this title as are available for payment of part

of the cost of district, county or other local child welfare services in

accordance with such approved plans. Such district, county and other

local subdivisions of the state are hereby authorized to receive and

expend such allotments but only for the purposes of such plans and

subject to the supervision and general direction of the department.

Such district, county and other local subdivisions shall, when required

by the department to comply with the provisions of such approved plan,

perform the functions required.

3. to develop within the department services for the encouragement

and assistance of adequate methods of community child welfare

organization in accordance with such approved plans.

4. to establish and to alter and amend such regulations as may be

necessary for the administration of such plans and the provisions of

this title.

5. to prepare for inclusion in the annual report required by

subdivision (d) of section seventeen of this chapter to be filed with

the governor and the legislature prior to the fifteenth day of December

of each year, a written evaluation report of the delivery of child

welfare services in the state. Such evaluation report shall include,

but need not be limited to, supervision of foster care and the agencies

providing such care, information on the types of problems creating the

need for foster care placements, preventive and protective services, the

transfer of children in care and the reasons therefor, identification of

target groups not receiving adequate services, and projected plans for

providing services to such groups. Such report shall include progress

made and problems encountered in the implementation of "the child

welfare reform act of 1979", and amendments thereto. Such report shall

also include aggregate expenditures; persons receiving services; cost

comparisons among social services districts, among types of services and

services programs, and among fiscal periods; unit costs; and

cost-effectiveness of the provision of preventive services pursuant to

title four of this chapter. In developing such evaluation, the

department shall consult and coordinate with the board of social

welfare, the division for youth, and the departments of mental hygiene,

health and education.