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Sponsors
3 Co-sponsors
History
- Print number 2120a
- Amend and recommit to children and families
- Referred to children and families
- Referred to children and families
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Relates to staff qualifications for supervisory and non-supervisory child protective services workers
In Assembly Committee · Children And Families · Sponsor Crystal Peoples-Stokes
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the social services law, in relation to staff qualifications for non-supervisory and supervisory child protective services workers
Purpose
To require that child protective services workers and their supervisors are formally trained in the fields of social work, psychology and/or counseling in order to better prepare them to handle cases involving significant and severe mental health, substance abuse and criminal issues.
Summary of provisions
Section 1: amends paragraphs (a) of subdivision 4 of section 421 of the social services law to require that child protective services caseworkers have at least a baccalaureate degree in social work, psychology, counseling and/or experience in law enforcement, counseling or work with mental health or cognitively impaired persons and children. Requirements would not apply to individuals hired before the enactment of this act.
Section 1: also amends paragraph (b) of subdivision 4 of section 421 of the social services law to require that child protective services supervisors have at least a baccalaureate degree in social work, psychology, counseling and/or experience in law enforcement, counseling or work with mental health or cognitively impaired persons and children. Requirements would not apply to individuals hired before the enactment of this act.
Section 2: sets the effective date for this act.
Justification
Determining whether a child has been abused or neglected, and developing a plan to protect that child who may be in imminent risk or harm, is an exceptionally difficult task to assign to any one person. This is especially the case when that individual is not formally trained in the fields of social work, psychology or counseling, which provide substantial training to deal with mental health, substance abuse, and criminal issues that often arise in CPS cases.
Many experts in the field agree that the generalized training regarding investigations and form work is inadequate preparation to deal with the real-world, severe issues that arise in a child protection case. Initial and ongoing training on trauma and the sociological and psychological effects of persistent and generational poverty, working with the mentally or cognitively impaired, experience working with addiction and chemical dependency issues, and domestic violence is necessary to go into this challenging line of work.
Requiring our county caseworkers and their supervisors to have academic backgrounds in these fields will allow for more thorough and meaningful investigations and ensure the people doing this job are the kind of people who want to build a career around social work. We entrust these individuals to make some of the most complicated and often irrevocable decisions regarding the safety of New York State's children. Ensuring they have the expertise and relevant background experience to consider all facets of their investigation before making a decision is an important step towards improving our child protection system throughout New York State.
Legislative history
A. 8429 of 2014
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.