Bill Text: NY S08179 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relates to care and protection of children; adds to the definition of children at risk infants who test positive for a controlled substance not prescribed by a physician, in their bloodstream or urine, are born dependent on such drugs or who demonstrate drug withdrawal symptoms, or who have been diagnosed with a condition attributable to in utero exposure to illegal drugs.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-11 - REFERRED TO DISABILITIES [S08179 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S08179-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          8179

                    IN SENATE

                                    January 11, 2024
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sen. ROLISON -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Disabilities

        AN ACT to amend the public health law, the social services law  and  the
          family court act, in relation to care and protection of children

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 2541 of the public health law,  as
     2  added by chapter 428 of the laws of 1992, is amended to read as follows:
     3    1.  "Children  at risk" means children who may experience a disability
     4  because of  medical,  biological  or  environmental  factors  which  may
     5  produce  developmental  delay,  or  infants  who  test  positive  for  a
     6  controlled substance not prescribed by a physician, in their bloodstream
     7  or urine, are born dependent on such drugs or who demonstrate drug with-
     8  drawal symptoms, or who have been diagnosed with a  condition  attribut-
     9  able to in utero exposure to illegal drugs, as determined by the commis-
    10  sioner through regulation.
    11    §  2.  Paragraphs  (b) and (c) of subdivision 1 of section 2542 of the
    12  public health law, as added by chapter 428 of  the  laws  of  1992,  are
    13  amended and a new paragraph (d) is added to read as follows:
    14    (b) be coordinated with efforts to identify, locate and track children
    15  conducted  by  other  agencies  responsible  for services to infants and
    16  toddlers and their families, including the efforts in (i) part B of  the
    17  federal  individuals  with  disabilities  education act, including early
    18  childhood direction centers, (ii) the maternal and child health  program
    19  under  title  V of the federal social security act, including the infant
    20  health assessment program, (iii) medicaid's  early  periodic  screening,
    21  diagnosis  and  treatment  program under title XIX of the federal social
    22  security act, and (iv) the federal supplemental security income program;
    23  the keeping children and families safe act of 2003; [and]
    24    (c) provide for the identification, tracking and screening of children
    25  at risk of developmental delay, using resources  available  through  the
    26  programs, identified in paragraph (b) of this subdivision and such other
    27  available resources as the commissioner shall commit to this purpose[.];
    28  and

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD01442-01-3
        S. 8179                             2

     1    (d)  create  services  and  a  monitoring program for mothers who give
     2  birth to children at risk, which shall include, but not  be  limited  to
     3  identifying  risks  for the child's wellbeing, suggesting rehabilitative
     4  steps for the mother to mitigate such risks and  working  in  accordance
     5  with  the  early  intervention program and notify the office of children
     6  and family services in the event that the mother is non-compliant in her
     7  monitoring program.
     8    § 3. Subdivision 3 of section  2542  of  the  public  health  law,  as
     9  amended  by  chapter  231  of  the  laws  of 1993, is amended to read as
    10  follows:
    11    3. The following persons and entities,  within  two  working  days  of
    12  identifying  an infant or toddler suspected of having a disability [or],
    13  at risk of having a disability, or who falls  under  the  definition  of
    14  children at risk, shall refer such infant or toddler to the early inter-
    15  vention  official or the health officer of the public health district in
    16  which the infant or toddler resides, as designated by the  municipality,
    17  but in no event over the objection of the parent made in accordance with
    18  procedures  established by the department for use by such primary refer-
    19  ral sources, unless the child has already  been  referred:    hospitals,
    20  child  health care providers, day care programs, local school districts,
    21  public health facilities, early childhood  direction  centers  and  such
    22  other  social  service  and  health  care  agencies and providers as the
    23  commissioner shall specify in regulation; provided,  however,  that  the
    24  department   shall   establish   procedures,  including  regulations  if
    25  required, to ensure that primary referral sources adequately inform  the
    26  parent  or  guardian  about  the  early  intervention program, including
    27  through brochures and written  materials  created  or  approved  by  the
    28  department.
    29    §  4.  Paragraph  (ii) of subdivision 4-a of section 371 of the social
    30  services law, as added by chapter 782 of the laws of  1971,  is  amended
    31  and a new paragraph (iii) is added to read as follows:
    32    (ii)  who  has  been  abandoned by his parents or other person legally
    33  responsible for his care[.]; or
    34    (iii) who is the child of a mother who is non-compliant with  a  moni-
    35  toring  program  required in paragraph (d) of subdivision one of section
    36  twenty-five hundred forty-two of the public health law.
    37    § 5. Paragraph (ii) of subdivision f of section  1012  of  the  family
    38  court act, as amended by chapter 666 of the laws of 1976, is amended and
    39  a new paragraph (iii) is added to read as follows:
    40    (ii)  who  has  been  abandoned, in accordance with the definition and
    41  other criteria set forth in subdivision five of  section  three  hundred
    42  eighty-four-b of the social services law, by his parents or other person
    43  legally responsible for his care[.]; or
    44    (iii)  who  is the child of a mother who is non-compliant with a moni-
    45  toring program required in paragraph (d) of subdivision one  of  section
    46  twenty-five hundred forty-two of the public health law.
    47    § 6. This act shall take effect immediately.