STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 1980--A 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 23, 2023 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. WALKER, COOK, SAYEGH, TAYLOR, SIMON, EPSTEIN, JACKSON, CRUZ, BURGOS, JEAN-PIERRE, DICKENS, L. ROSENTHAL, ANDERSON, GIBBS, MEEKS, DE LOS SANTOS, HEVESI, SEPTIMO, FORREST, GONZALEZ-ROJAS, ALVAREZ, SOLAGES, LUNSFORD, PRETLOW, LUCAS, REYES, DAVILA, STECK, CUNNINGHAM, MITAYNES, CHANDLER-WATERMAN, TAPIA -- read once and referred to the Committee on Children and Families -- reported and referred to the Committee on Codes -- recommitted to the Committee on Codes in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to requiring child protective services to disclose certain information to parents and caretakers who are the subject of a child protective services investi- gation The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The social services law is amended by adding a new section 2 424-c to read as follows: 3 § 424-c. Information regarding parent or caretaker's rights. A parent 4 or caretaker has the right to receive certain information regarding 5 their rights at the initial point of contact during a child protective 6 services investigation. 7 1. Upon receiving a report of alleged maltreatment or abuse of a child 8 pursuant to section four hundred fifteen of this title child protective 9 services shall, at the initial point of contact with a parent or care- 10 taker, orally and in writing disseminate, in plain language of the 11 parent or caretaker's preferred language, information regarding the 12 parent or caretaker's rights during such investigation and shall docu- 13 ment in the case record that such information has been provided to the 14 parent or caretaker. Such information shall include, but need not be 15 limited to, the following information: EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD03741-05-4A. 1980--A 2 1 (a) The parent or caretaker is not required to permit the child 2 protective services representative to enter the residence of the parent 3 or caretaker; 4 (b) The parent or caretaker who is the subject of the investigation is 5 entitled to be informed of the allegations being investigated; 6 (c) The parent or caretaker is not required to speak with the child 7 protective services representative, and any statement made by the 8 parent, caretaker or other family member may be used against the parent 9 or caretaker in an administrative or court proceeding; 10 (d) The parent or caretaker is entitled to seek the advice of an 11 attorney and to have an attorney present when the parent or caretaker is 12 questioned by a child protective services representative, including at 13 any meeting conducted with the parent or caretaker to determine whether 14 the parent or caretaker's child should be removed from the home; 15 (e) The child protective services representative is not an attorney 16 and cannot provide legal advice to the parent or caretaker; 17 (f) The parent or caretaker is not required to allow a child protec- 18 tive services representative to interview or examine a child; 19 (g) The parent or caretaker is not required to sign any document or 20 accept any services presented by a child protective services represen- 21 tative, and is entitled to have an attorney review any such document 22 before agreeing to sign it; 23 (h) Contact information for resources which may be available to 24 parents and caretakers during a child protective services investigation, 25 including legal services from a designated organization; and 26 (i) The parent or caretaker is entitled to exercise any and all 27 rights. Regardless of whether the parent or caretaker exercises their 28 rights, child protective services is required to determine how best to 29 assess the safety of the child or children. The parent or caretaker may 30 wish to speak with an attorney or advocate before they determine how to 31 proceed. 32 2. The child protective services representative shall make reasonable 33 efforts to ensure that the notice and all information required to be 34 provided to a parent or caretaker pursuant to subdivision one of this 35 section is written in a manner which will be understood by the parent or 36 guardian, including, but not limited to, ensuring that the notice and 37 information is written in the preferred language of the parent or care- 38 taker. In the event the preferred language of the parent or caretaker is 39 unknown prior to the initial contact, a child preventive services repre- 40 sentative may provide the information orally utilizing a translation 41 service. 42 3. The child protective services representative shall sign and date 43 the notice described in subdivision one of this section as evidence of 44 having provided the notice at the first point of contact. The child 45 protective services representative shall provide the parent or caretaker 46 with a copy of the signed notice at the time. 47 4. If at the initial point of contact with the parent or caretaker the 48 child protective services representative has reasonable cause to believe 49 that exigent circumstances exist that present an imminent danger to the 50 child's life or health and there is no time to seek a court order under 51 section one thousand twenty-four of the family court act, the child 52 protective services representative shall take all lawful measures neces- 53 sary to protect the child's life or health prior to disseminating infor- 54 mation regarding the parent or caretaker's rights during the investi- 55 gation pursuant to subdivision one of this section.A. 1980--A 3 1 § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall 2 have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or 3 repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of 4 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed 5 on or before such effective date.