Bill Text: NY A09702 | 2013-2014 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires written comments to be included in reports provided by local social services districts in reports on the death of certain children.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 13-3)
Status: (Passed) 2014-12-29 - approval memo.33 [A09702 Detail]
Download: New_York-2013-A09702-Introduced.html
S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K ________________________________________________________________________ 9702 I N A S S E M B L Y May 16, 2014 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. LUPARDO, HEVESI, PEOPLES-STOKES -- read once and referred to the Committee on Children and Families AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to requiring writ- ten comments to be included in reports by local social services districts on the death of certain children THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM- BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 5 of section 20 of the social services law, as 2 amended by chapter 12 of the laws of 1996, paragraph (a) as amended by 3 section 1 of part D of chapter 501 of the laws of 2012 and paragraph (d) 4 as amended by chapter 136 of the laws of 1999, is amended to read as 5 follows: 6 5. (a) In the case of the death of a child whose care and custody or 7 custody and guardianship has been transferred to an authorized agency, 8 other than a vulnerable person as defined in article eleven of this 9 chapter, or the death of a child for whom any local department of social 10 services has an open child protective services or preventive services 11 case, or in the case of a report made to the statewide central register 12 of child abuse and maltreatment involving the death of a child, the 13 office of children and family services shall (i) investigate or provide 14 for an investigation of the cause of and circumstances surrounding such 15 death, (ii) review such investigation, and (iii) prepare and issue a 16 report on such death, except where a report is issued by an approved 17 local or regional fatality review team in accordance with section four 18 hundred twenty-two-b of this chapter. 19 (b) Such report shall include (i) the cause of death, whether from 20 natural or other causes, (ii) identification of child protective or 21 other services provided or actions taken regarding such child and his or 22 her family, (iii) any extraordinary or pertinent information concerning 23 the circumstances of the child's death, (iv) whether the child or the 24 child's family had received assistance, care or services from the social 25 services district prior to such child's death, (v) any action or further 26 investigation undertaken by the department or by the local social 27 services district since the death of the child, [and] (vi) as appropri- EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD14989-01-4 A. 9702 2 1 ate, recommendations for local or state administrative or policy 2 changes, AND (VII) WRITTEN COMMENTS AS MAY BE PROVIDED BY ANY LOCAL 3 SOCIAL SERVICES DISTRICT REFERENCED IN SUCH REPORT. 4 Such report shall contain no information that would identify the name 5 of the deceased child, his or her siblings, the parent or other person 6 legally responsible for the child or any other members of the child's 7 household, but shall refer instead to the case, which may be denoted in 8 any fashion determined appropriate by the department or a local social 9 services district. In making a fatality report available to the public 10 pursuant to paragraph (c) of this subdivision, the department may 11 respond to a child specific request for such report if the commissioner 12 determines that such disclosure is not contrary to the best interests of 13 the deceased child's siblings or other children in the household, pursu- 14 ant to subdivision five of section four hundred twenty-two-a of this 15 chapter. Except as it may apply directly to the cause of the death of 16 the child, nothing herein shall be deemed to authorize the release or 17 disclosure to the public of the substance or content of any psycholog- 18 ical, psychiatric, therapeutic, clinical or medical reports, evaluations 19 or like materials or information pertaining to such child or the child's 20 family. 21 (c) THIRTY DAYS PRIOR TO THE RELEASE OF THE REPORT THE DEPARTMENT 22 SHALL FORWARD THE PROPOSED REPORT TO EACH LOCAL SOCIAL SERVICES DISTRICT 23 REFERENCED IN THE REPORT. WITHIN TWENTY DAYS THEREAFTER EACH LOCAL 24 SOCIAL SERVICES DISTRICT MAY PROVIDE WRITTEN COMMENTS WHICH THE DEPART- 25 MENT SHALL INCLUDE WITHIN THE REPORT. No later than six months from the 26 date of the death of such child, the department shall forward its report 27 to the social services district, chief county executive officer, chair- 28 person of the local legislative body of the county where the child's 29 death occurred and the social services district which had care and 30 custody or custody and guardianship of the child, if different. The 31 department shall notify the temporary president of the senate and the 32 speaker of the assembly as to the issuance of such reports and, in addi- 33 tion to the requirements of section seventeen of this chapter, shall 34 submit an annual cumulative report to the governor and the legislature 35 incorporating the data in the above reports and including appropriate 36 findings and recommendations. Such reports concerning the death of a 37 child and such cumulative reports shall immediately thereafter be made 38 available to the public after such forwarding or submittal. 39 (d) To enable the office of children and family services or a local or 40 regional fatality review team to prepare such report, the office of 41 children and family services or a local or regional fatality review team 42 may request and shall timely receive from departments, boards, bureaus 43 or other agencies of the state, or any of its political subdivisions, or 44 any duly authorized agency, or any other agency which provided assist- 45 ance, care or services to the deceased child such information as they 46 are authorized to provide. 47 S 2. This act shall take effect immediately.