N.Y. Social Services Law § 409-a: Preventive services; provision by social services officials

§ 409-a. Preventive services; provision by social services officials.

1. (a) A social services official shall provide preventive services to

a child and his or her family, in accordance with the family's service

plan as required by section four hundred nine-e of this chapter and the

social services district's child welfare services plan submitted and

approved pursuant to section four hundred nine-d of this chapter, upon a

finding by such official that (i) the child will be placed, returned to

or continued in foster care unless such services are provided and that

it is reasonable to believe that by providing such services the child

will be able to remain with or be returned to his or her family, and for

a former foster care youth under the age of twenty-one who was

previously placed in the care and custody or custody and guardianship of

the local commissioner of social services or other officer, board or

department authorized to receive children as public charges where it is

reasonable to believe that by providing such services the former foster

care youth will avoid a return to foster care or * (ii) the child is the

subject of a petition under article seven of the family court act or by

the probation service, to be at risk of being the subject of such a

petition, and the social services official determines that the child is

at risk of placement into foster care or

* NB Effective until June 30, 2027

* (ii) the child is the subject of a petition under article seven of the

family court act, or has been determined by the assessment service

established pursuant to section two hundred forty-three-a of the

executive law, or by the probation service where no such assessment

service has been designated, to be at risk of being the subject of such

a petition, and the social services official determines according to

standards promulgated pursuant to section three hundred ninety-eight-b

of this chapter that the child is at risk of placement into foster care.

Such finding shall be entered in the child's uniform case record

established and maintained pursuant to section four hundred nine-f of

this chapter. The commissioner shall promulgate regulations to assist

social services officials in making determinations of eligibility for

mandated preventive services pursuant to clause (ii) of this paragraph.

* NB Effective June 30, 2027

(iii) the child is under the age of twelve, the child does not fall

under the definition of a juvenile delinquent pursuant to subparagraph

(iii) of paragraph (a) of subdivision one of section 301.2 of the family

court act and but for their age, their behavior would bring them within

the jurisdiction of the family court pursuant to article three of the

family court act, and the social services official determines that the

child is at risk of placement into foster care. Such finding shall be

entered in the child's uniform case record established and maintained

pursuant to section four hundred nine-f of this article. The

commissioner shall promulgate regulations to assist social services

officials in making determinations of eligibility for mandated

preventive services pursuant to this subparagraph.

(b) When a child and his family have received preventive services for

a period of six months pursuant to this subdivision, the social services

official shall continue to provide such services only upon making a new

finding that the child will be placed or continued in foster care unless

such services are provided and that it is reasonable to believe that by

providing such services, the child will be able to remain with or be

returned to his family. Such new finding shall be entered in the child's

uniform case record established and maintained pursuant to section four

hundred nine-f of this chapter.

2. A social services official is authorized to provide preventive

services to a child and his family to accomplish the purposes set forth

in section four hundred nine of this chapter, when such services are not

required to be provided pursuant to subdivision one of this section.

3. * (a) A social services official is authorized to provide community

preventive services to communities likely to benefit from such services

to accomplish the purposes set forth in section four hundred nine of

this chapter. Social services officials may apply to the office of

children and family services for waiver of eligibility and

administrative requirements for preventive services to be provided

pursuant to this subdivision. Such application shall include a plan

setting forth the services to be provided, the persons or community that

will receive the services and the estimated cost of such services. Upon

approval of the application by the office of children and family

services, eligibility requirements established in statute or regulation

may be waived for those persons and communities identified in the plan

as recipients of the services set forth in the plan. Where services are

administered pursuant to a plan approved by the office of children and

family services, the office of children and family services may waive

the requirements of section four hundred nine-f or four hundred

forty-two of this article.

* NB Effective until June 30, 2027

* (a) A social services official is authorized to provide community

preventive services to communities likely to benefit from such services

to accomplish the purposes set forth in section four hundred nine of

this chapter. Social services officials may apply to the department for

waiver of eligibility and administrative requirements for preventive

services to be provided pursuant to this subdivision. Such application

shall include a plan setting forth the services to be provided, the

persons or community that will receive the services and the estimated

cost of such services. Upon approval of the application by the

department, eligibility requirements established in statute or

regulation may be waived for those persons and communities identified in

the plan as recipients of the services set forth in the plan. Where

services are administered pursuant to a plan approved by the department,

the department may waive the requirements of sections one hundred

fifty-three-d and three hundred ninety-eight-b of this chapter

pertaining to denial or reimbursement. Where such a waiver is approved,

the department approval must specify standards whereby services provided

will be subject to denial of reimbursement. Where services are

administered pursuant to a plan approved by the department, the

department may waive the requirements of section four hundred nine-f or

four hundred forty-two of this article.

* NB Effective June 30, 2027

(b) The department must inform social services districts of procedures

governing application for waivers of eligibility and administrative

requirements and approval of waivers of eligibility and administrative

requirements. Where such waivers are granted, the department shall have

the authority to establish alternative standards to be followed by

social services officials who are granted waivers by the department.

Upon approval of an application for such waivers, the department

approval must specify the requirements being waived and any alternative

standards established.

(c) Community preventive services may be provided pursuant to this

subdivision through demonstration projects to the extent the department

makes funds available for such projects.

(d) The department shall develop an evaluation plan no later than

April first, nineteen hundred eighty-eight, for community service

demonstration projects and, subject to the approval of the director of

the budget, may use up to five percent of the amount annually

appropriated for project grants to conduct such evaluation which shall

include but need not be limited to: an assessment of the effectiveness

of various service delivery models in creating or enhancing linkages

among school, housing, health, and income support services available in

the community; the effectiveness of various preventive services in

averting family disruption; the cost effectiveness of providing

community focused preventive services; the impact of this service

provision on requirements for more intensive mandated preventive

services; and, the feasibility of replicating successful service models

in other communities throughout the state.

4. Preventive services may be provided directly by the social services

official or through purchase of service, in accordance with regulations

of the department.

5. (a) Regulations of the department, promulgated pursuant to and not

inconsistent with this section, shall contain program standards

including, but not limited to: specification of services to be

classified as preventive services; appropriate circumstances and

conditions for the provision of particular services; appropriate

providers and recipients of such services; and time limits, as may be

appropriate, for the provision of particular services. The department

shall, subject to the approval of the director of the budget, establish

reimbursement or charge limitations for particular services or groups of

services to be provided. The department shall also promulgate

regulations to prevent social services districts from overutilizing

particular forms or types of preventive services and to encourage

districts to provide balanced preventive services programs based on the

identified needs of children and families residing in such districts.

(b) The program standards promulgated pursuant to this subdivision

shall be developed with the participation of the child welfare standards

advisory council established pursuant to section four hundred nine-h of

this chapter and in consultation with public and voluntary authorized

agencies, citizens' groups and concerned individuals and organizations,

including the state council on children and families.

(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, where a

social services official determines that a lack of adequate housing is

the primary factor preventing the discharge of a child or children from

foster care including, but not limited to, children with the goal of

discharge to independent living, preventive services shall include, in

addition to any other payments or benefits received by the family,

special cash grants in the form of rent subsidies, including rent

arrears, or any other assistance, sufficient to obtain adequate housing.

Such rent subsidies or assistance shall not exceed the sum of seven

hundred twenty-five dollars per month, shall not be provided for a

period of more than three years, and shall be considered a special

grant. Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to limit the ability

of those using such rent subsidy to live with roommates. The provisions

of this paragraph shall not be construed to limit such official's

authority to provide other preventive services.

(e) (i) A social services official is authorized to establish and

operate, or contract for the establishment and operation of, intensive,

homebased, family preservation programs.

(ii) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, reimbursement for

intensive, homebased family preservation services shall be limited to

those programs that reduce or avoid the need for foster care of children

who are in imminent danger of placement. Such programs shall employ

caseworkers trained in family preservation techniques and who provide at

least half of their direct services in the client's residence or

temporary home, work with no more than four families at any given time,

provide direct therapeutic services for up to thirty days which may be

extended up to an additional thirty days per family and are available

twenty-four hours a day. No program described herein shall receive

reimbursement unless such program agrees to collect and provide to the

department information necessary to evaluate and assess the degree to

which such program results in lower costs to the state and to social

services districts than those of foster care placement. Such information

shall be compiled in a manner that permits comparisons between families

served by such programs and those families who meet eligibility criteria

but who were not able to be served within available resources.

(f) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, where a social

services official authorizes the provision of respite care, such care

shall mean the temporary care and supervision of a child to relieve

parents or other persons legally responsible for the care of such child

where immediate relief is needed to maintain or restore family

functioning.

6. In accordance with regulations of the department, where the child's

family is able to pay all or part of the cost of such services, payments

of such fees as may be reasonable or other third party reimbursement as

may be available in the light of such ability shall be required.

Expenditures subject to reimbursement pursuant to section four hundred

nine-b of this title shall be reduced by the sum of all fees received or

to be received pursuant to this subdivision.

* 7. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, if a social

services official determines that a lack of adequate housing is a factor

that may cause the entry of a child or children into foster care and the

family has at least one service need other than lack of adequate

housing, preventive services may include, in addition to any other

payments or benefits received by the family, special cash grants in the

form of rent subsidies, including rent arrears, or any other assistance,

sufficient to obtain adequate housing. Such rent subsidies or assistance

shall not exceed the sum of seven hundred twenty-five dollars per month,

shall not be provided for a period of more than three years, and shall

be considered a special grant. Nothing in this subdivision shall be

construed to limit the ability of those using such rent subsidy to live

with roommates. The provisions of this paragraph shall not be construed

to limit such official's authority to provide other preventive services.

* NB There are two sub 7's

* 7. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, preventive services

information governed by this section may be released by the department,

social services district or other provider of preventive services to a

person, agency or organization for purposes of a bona fide research

project. Identifying information shall not be made available, however,

unless it is absolutely essential to the research purpose and the

department gives prior approval. Information released pursuant to this

subdivision shall not be re-disclosed except as otherwise permitted by

law and upon the approval of the department.

* NB There are 2 sub 7's

8. In contracting for the provision of preventive services, social

services districts shall, to the extent feasible, place such services in

areas with a high rate of child abuse and neglect and foster care

placements. Social services districts shall, to the extent feasible,

consider as a priority community-based organizations with a record of

providing quality services to children and families in such communities.

9. (a) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, records

relating to children pursuant to this section shall be made available to

officers and employees of the state comptroller, or of the city

comptroller of the city of New York, or of the county officer designated

by law or charter to perform the auditing function in any county not

wholly contained within a city, for purposes of a duly authorized

performance audit, provided, however that such comptroller or officer

shall have certified to the keeper of such records that he or she has

instituted procedures developed in consultation with the department to

limit access to client-identifiable information to persons requiring

such information for purposes of the audit, that such persons shall not

use such information in any way except for purposes of the audit and

that appropriate controls and prohibitions are imposed on the

dissemination of client-identifiable information obtained in the conduct

of the audit. Information pertaining to the substance or content of any

psychological, psychiatric, therapeutic, clinical or medical reports,

evaluations or like materials or information pertaining to such child or

the child's family shall not be made available to such officers and

employees unless disclosure of such information is absolutely essential

to the specific audit activity and the department gives prior written

approval.

(b) Any failure to maintain the confidentiality of client-identifiable

information shall subject such comptroller or officer to denial of any

further access to records until such time as the audit agency has

reviewed its procedures concerning controls and prohibitions imposed on

the dissemination of such information and has taken all reasonable and

appropriate steps to eliminate such lapses in maintaining

confidentiality to the satisfaction of the department. The department

shall establish the grounds for denial of access to records contained

under this section and shall recommend as necessary a plan of

remediation to the audit agency, except as provided in this section,

nothing in this subdivision shall be construed as limiting the powers of

such comptroller or officer to records which he is otherwise authorized

to audit or obtain under any other applicable provision of law, any

person given access to information pursuant to this subdivision who

released data or information to persons or agencies not authorized to

receive such information shall be guilty of a class A misdemeanor.

10. All sums received by the state under section 201 of Federal Public

Law 105-89 shall be paid to the districts in proportion to the amount

earned by the district for federal adoption incentives and shall only be

used to provide preventive services to a child and his or her family as

defined in paragraph (a) of subdivision five of this section, in

addition to those required by the maintenance of effort requirement

contained in subdivision six of section one hundred fifty-three-i of

this chapter, except that up to thirty percent of such sums may be used

to provide post-adoption services to children or families. Preventive

services shall include substance abuse treatment services provided to

pregnant women or a caretaker person in an outpatient, residential or

in-patient setting. Amounts expended by the state in accordance with

this section shall be disregarded in determining the state's

expenditures for purposes of federal matching payments under sections

four hundred twenty-three, four hundred thirty-four and four hundred

seventy-four of this chapter.

* 11. (a) The office of children and family services shall collect the

following data regarding preventive services, as defined in section four

hundred nine of this title, and compile an annual report on such data by

local social services district:

(i) the total number of children and families admitted to or receiving

a new service authorization for preventive services during the preceding

calendar year;

(ii) the total annual number of unduplicated children and families

receiving one or more days of preventive services including how many new

preventive cases were opened during the preceding calendar year and to

the extent such information is known and available after making all

diligent efforts, the referral source for each new case;

(iii) the total number of children and families whose preventive

services authorization was closed during the preceding calendar year;

(iv) a descriptive list of the services and their utilization rate, if

practicable, in each local social services district which utilize

preventive service funding as allowable under section one hundred

fifty-three-k of this chapter;

(v) a descriptive list and their utilization rate, if practicable, of

other preventive services provided by a local social services district

that does not utilize preventive service funding pursuant to section one

hundred fifty-three-k of this chapter. For purposes of this paragraph,

other preventive services shall include but not be limited to primary

preventive services which may be funded through community optional

preventive services funding or home visiting funds;

(vi) the total number of children who entered foster care during the

preceding calendar year who had received preventive services at any

point during the twelve-months prior to their entry into foster care;

and

(vii) any other information the commissioner may deem necessary to

include in said report.

(b) The office of children and family services shall submit such

report to the governor, the speaker of the assembly, the temporary

president of the senate, the chairpersons of the assembly and senate

children and families committees, the chairperson of the assembly ways

and means committee and the chairperson of the senate finance committee

starting no later than September first, two thousand twenty-one. Such

report shall include data and information required by paragraph (a) of

this subdivision for the preceding calendar year, to the extent such

information is available. When practicable, such information shall be

disaggregated by age, sex, race and ethnicity.

(c) The initial report shall include the aforementioned data from the

preceding two calendar years.

* NB Repealed September 1, 2027