STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 222--B 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN SENATE (Prefiled) January 9, 2019 ___________ Introduced by Sens. BENJAMIN, ADDABBO, BAILEY, BIAGGI, BRESLIN, BROOKS, CARLUCCI, COMRIE, GAUGHRAN, GIANARIS, GOUNARDES, HARCKHAM, HOYLMAN, JACKSON, KAMINSKY, KAPLAN, KAVANAGH, KENNEDY, KRUEGER, LIU, MAY, MAYER, METZGER, MONTGOMERY, MYRIE, PARKER, PERSAUD, RAMOS, RIVERA, SALAZAR, SANDERS, SAVINO, SEPULVEDA, SERRANO, SKOUFIS, STAVISKY, THOMAS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Children and Families -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to reporting of unaccompanied alien children by authorized agencies The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. This act shall be known as and may be cited as the "SCAR 2 Act" or the "Separation of Children Accountability Reporting Act". 3 § 2. The social services law is amended by adding a new section 372-a 4 to read as follows: 5 § 372-a. Reporting of unaccompanied alien children. 1. The department 6 shall collect, aggregate and report the number of unaccompanied alien 7 children that are placed by the federal office of refugee resettlement 8 in the care of an authorized agency, as defined in paragraphs (a) and 9 (b) of subdivision ten of section three hundred seventy-one of this 10 title, to the governor, the temporary president of the senate and the 11 speaker of the assembly. The report shall include the following infor- 12 mation: 13 a. the number of unaccompanied alien children newly accepted into the 14 authorized agency's care under a contract, grant, or other agreement 15 with the federal government at the time of the report; EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD01765-08-9S. 222--B 2 1 b. the number of unaccompanied alien children placed in the authorized 2 agency's care under a contract, grant, or other agreement between an 3 authorized agency and the federal government since the last report; 4 c. the number of unaccompanied alien children discharged from the 5 authorized agency's care that were placed under a contract, grant or 6 other agreement between an authorized agency and the federal government 7 at the time of the report; 8 d. the number of unaccompanied alien children discharged from the 9 authorized agency's care that were placed under a contract, grant, or 10 other agreement between an authorized agency and the federal government 11 since the last report; 12 e. the number of unaccompanied alien children in the authorized agen- 13 cy's care who were removed from the care or custody of their parents by 14 an official, agent or agency of the federal government while entering or 15 attempting to enter the United States or after having entered the United 16 States at the time of the report and since the last report; 17 f. the number of unaccompanied alien children previously removed from 18 the custody of their parents and placed in the authorized agency's care 19 that have been restored to the custody of their parents at the time of 20 the report and since the last report; 21 g. the number of unaccompanied alien children placed by the federal 22 government that were discharged to a sponsor in the state at the time of 23 the report and since the last report; 24 h. the countries of origin for the unaccompanied alien children placed 25 in the care of an authorized agency; and 26 i. the number of unaccompanied alien children placed into particular 27 types of care, including, but not limited to, family foster care homes 28 and congregate care residential programs. 29 2. The commissioner shall compile such information required by subdi- 30 vision one of this section utilizing the department's bureau of 31 research, evaluation and performance analytics. 32 3. Such information shall be reported semi-annually on a statewide 33 aggregated basis and shall be published on the department's website. 34 However, such information shall be provided no later than thirty days 35 upon request by the governor, temporary president and speaker of the 36 assembly, in the event of an emergency. 37 4. Reports to the governor and legislature shall not reveal identify- 38 ing information about specific children, cases, individuals, or author- 39 ized agencies. The commissioner shall ensure that all reporting and 40 data collection requirements comply with federal laws, regulations, and 41 policies. 42 5. For purposes of this section, the term "alien" is defined as any 43 person not a citizen or national of the United States, the term "child" 44 shall have the same meaning as defined in section three hundred seven- 45 ty-one of this title, and the term "unaccompanied" with regard to an 46 alien child is defined consistent with federal law and shall include 47 children who were accompanied when they crossed the border and children 48 who were not accompanied when they crossed the border but were rendered 49 unaccompanied by removal from the care or custody of their parent or 50 guardian. 51 § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after 52 it shall have become a law.