Directs the office of children and family services and the NY city administration for children's services to submit annual reports concerning information related to children served by their respective prog

Summary of provisions

Section 1 of this bill amends Section 501 of the Executive Law by adding a new subdivision 17, which requires submission of an annual report to the Governor, the Chair of the Senate Committee on Children and Families and the Chair of the Assembly Committee on Children and Families concerning information related to children served by the Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS). Such report shall be submitted by January 31 of each year and it shall be available on OCFS' website by March 31 of each year.

Section 2 of this bill amends subdivision f of section 618 of the New York City charter and adds a new subdivision g, which requires submission of an annual report the Governor, the Chair of the Senate Committee on Children and Families and the Chair of the Assembly Committee on Children and Families concerning information related to children served by the New York City Administration for Children's Services. Such report shall be submitted by January 31 of each year and it shall be available on their website by March 31 of each year.

Section 3 of this bill provides that this act shall take effect immediately.

Justification

Currently, New York State's Permanency legislation, Chapter 3 of the Laws of 2005, requires providing life skills services to foster care youth beginning at age 14, regardless of permanency goal. While this type of independent living skill is helpful for children in foster care, only a small number of youth go to college or start career planning and have the opportunity to use their independent living skills. According to an April 2013 report by Community Service Society and Children's Aid, 31 percent of the youth that age out of foster care without a permanent family struggled with homelessness at least one time before age 26, 19 percent do not have a high school degree or GED, 52% were unemployed, 45 percent experienced extreme financial hardship before age 26, 57 percent had been incarcerated before age 26, and over 60 percent were exposed to at least one traumatic event Therefore, it is essential for the state agencies to keep track of children who are discharged from state care.

A great amount of state resources are dedicated to the State's care of our children and youth. However, there is a lack of accountability and transparency with regard to how those resources are applied to benefit those populations. This legislation will require the state agencies to directly report to the Governor and the Legislature every year in order to improve the quality of children's well-being in state care as well as those who are recently discharged from state care. It also attempts to monitor and assess those children and youth's abilities to apply their life skills learned while in state care. This will enable the state agencies to evaluate the needs of children and youth in state care. Additionally, the state agencies will have a chance to recommend any systemic change for the welfare of children going forward, if necessary.

This legislation requires the Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) and the New York City Administration for Children's Services (ACS) to track all children and youth in state care as well as those who are discharged from state care. The information the OCFS and ACS have to collect includes, but is not limited to: number of individuals entering assistance, number of individuals exiting assistance, number of transfers between facilities, number of participant runaways, adoption rate, location and living arrangements of participants who are aging out of assistance, number and location of participants discharged due to sentence in jail or prison, number of participants enrolled in an educational program, number and location of participants diagnosed with mental health issues and/or placed in facilities for mental health, etc.

Legislative history

New bill

Fiscal implications

To be determined.

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately.