Relates to trial discharges of youth in foster care and voluntary re-placements of older adolescents in foster care

Together, our Advisory Committee and the Permanent Judicial Commission on Justice for Children, chaired by former Chief Judge Judith Kaye, urge enactment of the instant legislation to provide necessary supports - a vital "safety net" - for foster care youth. This measure would amend the trial discharge provisions of Articles 10 and 10-A of the Family Court Act explicitly to permit Family Court to extend trial discharges at permanency hearings for successive periods of up to six months until youth reach the age of 21, and where the affected youth is over age 18 any such trial discharge would require the his or her consent. Additionally, the measure would add a new Article 10-B to the Family Court Act to permit youth between ages 18 and 21, who have been discharged from foster care within the past 24 months because of their failure to consent to continued care, to seek Family Court leave to return voluntarily to foster care. In such cases, Family Court must find that the youth has no reasonable alternative to foster care, that he or she consents to attend an appropriate educational or vocational program and that such return is in his or her best interests. The youth would continue to be represented by the attorney who had previously provided representation, unless a new attorney is appointed, and the social services district would be entitled to notice and the right to be heard. Upon granting such a motion, the Court must schedule a permanency hearing to commence no later than 30 days after the hearing at which the child was returned to foster care. Corresponding amendments would be made to Article 10-A of the Family Court Act and Social Services Law §§371 and 409-a.

This measure would not only provide adolescents with a means of obtaining assistance in making the often-difficult transition into adulthood, but would also provide an essential homelessness-prevention tool for communities and, importantly, for county and municipal social services districts. The Citizen's Committee for Children of New York has reported that, " c hildren with foster care histories are more likely to experience homelessness as young adults;" thirty percent of youth in their study reported a foster care history and 31% had "aged out of foster care at 18 years old with no permanent housing arrangements." This report notes the poor health, hunger and other problems that ensue, problems costly to the children themselves, as well as to the communities in which they reside. Madelyn Freundlich, in a report prepared in conjunction with Children's Rights, Inc., Legal Aid Society and Lawyers for Children, documented the serious health problems, poor educational and employment outcomes, significant levels of homelessness and increased likelihood of arrest and incarceration experienced by youth after discharge from foster care. Similar problems were prevalent in a recent study of former foster youth in Florida. Pat O'Brien, Executive Director of the agency, "You Gotta Believe," in a recent presentation, cited evidence that 60% of homeless adults in New York City shelters had a history of foster care, that 50% of youth coming to runaway and homeless youth shelters in the City had been in foster or congregate care, and that in a study of 168 youth at Covenant House in the City, 27% reported that they had been in foster care and 43% reported that they had been in a congregate care setting. Finally, the Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth, a comprehensive study of youth in Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin conducted by Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, provided national evidence of these problems. However, the study demonstrated strong evidence that delaying discharges of youth past the age of 18 results in higher incidence of youth pursuing higher education and significant evidence of increased earnings by youth and a greater tendency to delay pregnancies.

Significantly, the newly enacted federal Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 Public Law 110--351 provides resources for foster care for older youth. Although New York State had long covered the costs of foster care for youth between the ages of 18 and 21, the new law now gives states the option of collecting federal Title IV-E foster care funds for this purpose. This provides a much-needed means of defraying existing state and local expenditures for foster care for this age group, as well as a means of covering costs incurred as a result of the modest number of reentry motions anticipated. But even more significant, by providing a means of preventing homelessness and crime among these youth, the savings in the costs of homeless shelters, prisons, hospitals and public assistance for these youth, not to mention the costs of crime to society, will more than outweigh any state or local share of the costs of reentry of youth into foster care.

Clearly, greater assistance must be made available to youth facing the formidable challenges of finding housing and employment, accessing health-care, achieving successful educational outcomes and functioning successfully in society. Enactment of this measure would empower youth to access needed services, enhance the ability of counties to provide assistance to youth that will help prevent costly homelessness and incarceration and provide Family Court with a greater ability to provide effective oversight over the progress of youth in the transition out of foster care and into the community. Both elements - the ability to extend trial discharges and to reinstate youth into foster care are critically important to ensure that the achievement of permanency for youth is successful.

This measure would take effect 90 days after becoming a law.

2008 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

S.7342 (Rules)/A.10667 (passed Assembly).