What's happening
This bill expands and clarifies the rules for sealing and expunging records in Family Court cases involving Persons In Need of Supervision, protecting such records from public inspection.
Why it matters
Expands privacy protections for youth. By requiring automatic sealing of records when cases are terminated in favor of the respondent, the bill significantly limits public and institutional access to sensitive information about minors, helping to prevent stigma or discrimination based on past Family Court involvement.
Clarifies and standardizes agency procedures. The bill lays out clear, uniform procedures for how and when records must be sealed or expunged, including detailed notification requirements for courts, probation departments, law enforcement, and social services, reducing confusion and inconsistent handling across agencies.
Creates opportunities for second chances. Even after an adjudication (formal finding of being a Person In Need of Supervision), individuals can later petition to have their records sealed, supporting rehabilitation and allowing youth to move forward in life without a permanent record of their Family Court involvement.
Limits future legal consequences. By removing language that previously allowed Family Court records to be considered in adult criminal sentencing, the bill reduces the likelihood that Family Court history could negatively affect someone’s future legal outcomes, reinforcing the principle that juvenile proceedings should not haunt individuals into adulthood.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Seal Family Court Records
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Committed to rules
- Advanced to third reading
- 2nd report cal.
- 1st report cal.344
- Referred to children and families
- Committed to rules
- Advanced to third reading
- 2nd report cal.
- 1st report cal.712
- 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.
Seal Family Court Records
In Senate Committee · Children And Families · Sponsor Ellen C. Jaffee
Full text
4 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
4766
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 27, 2017
Introduced by Sen. AVELLA -- (at request of the Office of Court Administration) -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Children and Families
AN ACT to amend the family court act, in relation to sealing and expungement of records in persons in need of supervision cases in the family court
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Section 783 of the family court act is amended to read as follows:
§ 783. Use of [record] records in other court; sealing and expungement of records. (a) Neither the fact that a person was before the family court under this article for a hearing nor any confession, admission or statement made by him or her to the court or to any officer thereof in any stage of the proceeding is admissible as evidence against him or her or his or her interests in any other court. [Another court, in imposing sentence upon an adult after conviction, may receive and consider the records and information on file with the family court concerning such person when he was a child.]
(b) For purposes of this section, "sealing" shall mean that all official records and papers, including judgments and orders of the court, but not including public court decisions or opinions or records and briefs on appeal, relating to the arrest, prosecution and court proceedings and records of the probation service and designated lead agency, including all duplicates or copies thereof, on file with the court, police department and law enforcement agency, probation service, designated lead agency and presentment agency, if any, shall be protected from public inspection and, except as provided in paragraphs (v) and (vi) of subdivision (c) of this section, shall not be made available to any person or public or private agency.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06882-02-7
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(c) Automatic sealing of a proceeding under this article that is terminated in favor of the respondent. (i) Upon termination of a proceeding under this article in favor of the respondent, the clerk of the court shall immediately notify and direct the directors of the appropriate probation department, designated lead agency pursuant to section seven hundred thirty-five of this article and, if a presentment agency represented the petitioner in the proceeding, such agency, that the proceeding has terminated in favor of the respondent and that the records, if any, of such action or proceeding on file with such offices shall be sealed. If the respondent had been the subject of a warrant or an arrest in connection with the proceeding, or law enforcement was the referring agency or petitioner pursuant to section seven hundred thirty-three of this article, the notice shall also be sent to the appropriate police department or law enforcement agency. Upon receipt of such notification, the records shall be sealed in accordance with subdivision (b) of this section. The attorney for the respondent shall be notified by the clerk of the court in writing of the date and agencies and departments to which such notifications were sent.
(ii) For the purposes of this section, a proceeding under this article shall be considered terminated in favor of a respondent where the proceeding has been:
(A) diverted prior to the filing of a petition pursuant to subdivision (g) of section seven hundred thirty-five of this article or subsequent to the filing of a petition pursuant to subdivision (b) of section seven hundred forty-two of this article; or
(B) withdrawn or dismissed for failure to prosecute, or for any other reason at any stage; or
(C) dismissed following an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal pursuant to subdivision (a) of section seven hundred forty-nine of this article.
(iii) If, with respect to a respondent who had been the subject of a warrant or an arrest in connection with the proceeding, or law enforcement was the referring agency, the designated lead agency diverts a case either prior to or subsequent to the filing of a petition under this article, the designated lead agency shall notify the appropriate probation service and police department or law enforcement agency in writing of such diversion. Upon receipt of such notification, the probation service and police department or law enforcement agency shall seal any records in accordance with subdivision (b) of this section in the same manner as is required thereunder with respect to an order of a court.
(iv) If, following the referral of a proceeding under this article for the filing of a petition, the petitioner or, if represented by a presentment agency, such agency, elects not to file a petition under this article, the petitioner or, if applicable, the presentment agency, shall notify the appropriate probation service and designated lead agency of such determination. Such notification may be on a form prescribed by the chief administrator of the courts and may be transmitted by electronic means. If the respondent had been the subject of a warrant or an arrest in connection with the proceeding, or law enforcement was the referring agency, the notification shall also be sent to the appropriate police department or law enforcement agency. Upon receipt of such notification, the records shall be sealed in accordance with subdivision (b) of this section in the same manner as is required thereunder with respect to an order of a court, provided, however, that the designated
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lead agency may have access to its own records in accordance with paragraph (v) of this subdivision.
(v) Where a proceeding has been diverted pursuant to subparagraph (A) of paragraph (ii) of this subdivision or where a proceeding has been referred for the filing of a petition but the potential petitioner or, if represented by a presentment agency, such agency, elects not to file a petition in accordance with paragraph (iv) of this subdivision, the designated lead agency shall seal its records under this section, but shall have access to its own records:
(A) where there is continuing or subsequent contact with the child under this article; or
(B) in a proceeding in which the designated lead agency is the local department of social services, where the information in necessary for such department to determine what services had been arranged or provided to the family or where the commissioner determines that the information is necessary in order for the commissioner of such department to comply with section four hundred twenty-two-a of the social services law.
(vi) Records sealed under this section shall be made available to the juvenile or his or her agent and, where the petitioner or potential petitioner is a parent or other person legally responsible for the juvenile's care, such parent or other person. No statement made to a designated lead agency by the juvenile or his or her parent or other person legally responsible that is contained in a record sealed under this section shall be admissible in any court proceeding, except upon the consent or at the request, respectively, of the juvenile or his or her parent or other person legally responsible for the juvenile's care.
(vii) A respondent in whose favor a proceeding was terminated prior to the effective date of this paragraph may, upon motion, apply to the court, upon not less than twenty days notice to the petitioner or (where the petitioner is represented by a presentment agency) such agency, for an order granting the relief set forth in paragraph (i) of this subdivision. Where a proceeding under this article was terminated in favor of the respondent in accordance with paragraph (iii) or (iv) of this subdivision prior to the effective date of this paragraph, the respondent may apply to the designated lead agency, petitioner or presentment agency, as applicable, for a notification as described in such paragraphs granting the relief set forth therein and such notification shall be granted.
(d) Motion to seal after an adjudication and disposition. (i) If an action has resulted in an adjudication and disposition under this article, the court may, in the interest of justice and upon motion of the respondent, order the sealing of the records and proceedings.
(ii) Such motion must be in writing and may be filed at any time subsequent to the conclusion of the period of the disposition, including, but not limited to, the expiration of the period of placement, suspended judgment, order of protection or probation or any extension thereof. Notice of such motion shall be served not less than eight days prior to the return date of the motion upon the petitioner or, if the petitioner was represented by a presentment agency, such agency. Answering affidavits shall be served at least two days before the return date.
(iii) The court shall set forth in a written order its reasons for granting or denying the motion. If the court grants the motion, all court records, as well as all records in the possession of the designated lead agency, the probation service, the presentment agency, if any, and, if the respondent had been the subject of a warrant or an arrest in connection with the proceeding, or if the police or law enforcement agency was the referring agency or petitioner pursuant to
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section seven hundred thirty-three of this article, the appropriate police or law enforcement agency, shall be sealed in accordance with subdivision (b) of this section.
(e) Expungement of court records. Nothing contained in this article shall preclude the court's use of its inherent power to order the expungement of court records.
§ 2. Section 784 of the family court act is amended to read as follows:
§ 784. Use of police records. All police records relating to the arrest and disposition of any person under this article shall be kept in files separate and apart from the arrests of adults and shall be withheld from public inspection, but such records shall be open to inspection upon good cause shown by the parent, guardian, next friend or attorney of that person upon the written order of a judge of the family court in the county in which the order was made [or, if the person is subsequently convicted of a crime, of a judge of the court in which he was convicted].
§ 3. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have become a law.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the family court act, in relation to sealing and expungement of records in persons in need of supervision cases in the family court
This is one in a series of measures being introduced at the request of the Chief Administrative Judge upon the recommendation of his Family Court Advisory and Rules Committee.
With increasing recognition of the harmful collateral consequences of criminal convictions, the need to curtail harmful collateral consequences of non-criminal adjudications of Persons in Need of Supervision (PINS) under Article 7 of the Family Court Act is perhaps even more urgent. When Article 3 of the Family Court Act, the juvenile delinquency (JD) procedure statute, was enacted over three decades ago (L. 1982, c. 920), it incorporated applicable provisions of the Criminal Procedure Law deemed essential for due process and fairness. However, a similar process was not undertaken in the remaining provisions of Article 7 of the Family Court Act, which from that point onward applied only to PINS. One of the most glaring omissions is the provision regarding confidentiality of records. Article 3, modeled after CPL 160.50, has afforded youth accused of juvenile delinquency, like adults accused of crimes, far more protections than those afforded youth who are the subjects of PINS proceedings.
Read the full memo (1,374 words)
Professor Merril Sobie has noted this disparity in his Practice Commentaries to Family Court Act § 751:
(Family Court Act) Article 7, unlike Article 3 (the juvenile delinquency statute), does not provide for the automatic sealing of records when a petition is dismissed or withdrawn (see Section 375.1). Hence, the records remain relatively open, subject only to the generalized, imprecise (Family Court Act) Section 166 stipulation that "(t)he records of any proceeding in the family court shall not be open to indiscriminate public inspection". Ironically, children who are falsely accused of non-criminal "status offense" conduct are afforded less protection than youths who are accused of engaging in criminal activities.
This measure would correct that disparity. First, closely tracking section 375.1 of the Family Court Act and CPL section 160.50, the measure would amend section 783 of the Family Court Act to provide that court records in actions terminated favorably to the accused - that is, cases that are diverted (resolved without the filing of a petition), withdrawn or dismissed would automatically be sealed. Notices would be required to be sent to probation departments, designated lead agencies for PINS diversion and, if either presentment or law enforcement agencies have been involved, to such agencies, directing them to seal their records as well. Youth whose cases are favorably terminated prior to the effective date of this measure could move for sealing upon twenty days' notice. The designated lead agency would have access to its own records, notwithstanding sealing, where the child returns as a result of a continuing or subsequent PINS contact. Additionally, where the designated lead agency is the local Department of Social Services, it would have access to its records where the information is needed to determine what services had been arranged or provided to the family or where the Department's Commissioner determines that the information is necessary in order to comply with section 422-a of the Social Services Law with regard to disclosure of fatality-related information. As in JD cases, sealed records would be accessible by the juvenile or his or her agent and, where the petitioner or potential petitioner is a parent or other person legally responsible for the juvenile's care, such parent or other person. Statements contained in a sealed record made by the juvenile or his or her parent or other person legally responsible would not be admissible in court proceedings except upon consent or request, respectively, of the juvenile, his or her parent or other person legally responsible.
Second, in cases in which a juvenile has been adjudicated a PINS, the juvenile could move to seal the record in the interests of justice once the period of disposition, including inter alia, any period of placement or probation or extension thereof, is over. If the motion is granted, notices would likewise be sent to the agencies involved in the case to seal their records. As in JD cases pursuant to section 375.3 of the Family Court Act, Family Court would retain its inherent authority to expunge, rather than simply seal, its records. See Matter of Dorothy D. v. New York City Probation Department, 49 N.Y.2d 212 (1980) (juvenile delinquency); Matter of Richard S. v. City of New York, 32 N.Y . 2d 592 (1973) (PINS); Matter of Daniel PP., 224 A.D.2d 906 (3d Dept., 1996) (PINS). As the Court of Appeals held in Matter of Dorothy D., supra:
That the very existence of such records, despite provisions for confidentiality, may constitute a substantial impediment to entry into institutions of higher learning, government or private employment, the armed services, or the professions, cannot be seriously questioned. For this reason it would be antithetical to the purpose of the Family Court Act to maintain records which would not benefit society and would result in bringing unwarranted discrimination to a child's future. (Matter of Richard S. v. City of New York, 32 N.Y.2d 592, 595-596).
Many states, in fact, include expungement, not simply sealing, as their mechanism for ensuring the confidentiality of juvenile records. See, e.g., West's Colorado Revised Statutes § 19-1-306; Illinois Compiled Statutes § 405/5-915 (juvenile delinquency) and § 405/1-9 (juvenile court records other than juvenile delinquency); Ohio Revised Code §§ 2151.355, 2151.356, 2151.358 (juvenile delinquency and "unruly children" records); Revised Code of Washington § 13.50.050; Delaware Code §§ 1014-1018; North Carolina General Statutes §§ 7B-3200, 3201 (juvenile delinquency and "undisciplined" children); Arizona Revised Statutes § 13-921; Arkansas Code §§ 9-27-309(b)(1)(A), (b)(2); West's California Code, Div. 2, C. 2, Art. 22, § 826(a); Connecticut General Statutes §§ 46b-133a,46b-146; West's Florida Statutes § 943.0582; Minnesota Statutes § 260B.235(9); Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes § 9123; West's Code of Virginia § 16-1-306.
Finally, recognizing that PINS behavior would not be criminal if committed by adults, sections 783 and 784 of the Family Court Act would be amended to preclude use of PINS records in other courts. The language in section 783, permitting such records to be utilized in criminal sentencing proceedings, and the reference in section 784 to criminal courts taking action regarding police records, are vestiges of days when JD and PINS proceedings were both covered by Article 7 of the Family Court Act and are more appropriately applied solely to JD records. Indeed, these provisions have been incorporated into Article 3. See Family Court Act §§ 381.2, 381.3(2). This measure appropriately deletes these provisions from Family Court Act Article 7.
The need to keep records of juvenile misbehavior, both criminal and noncriminal in nature, confidential has long been a central feature of the juvenile justice system. As former Chief Justice Rehnquist noted, in his concurring opinion in Smith v. Daily Mail, 443 U.S. 97, 107 (1979):
It is a hallmark of our juvenile justice system in the United States that, virtually from its inception at the end of the last century, its proceedings have been conducted outside of the public's full gaze and the youths brought before our juvenile courts have been shielded from publicity. See H. Lou, Juvenile Courts in the United States 131-133 (1927); Geis, Publicity and Juvenile Court Proceedings, 30 Rocky Mt.L.Rev. 101, 102, 116 (1958). This insistence on confidentiality is born of a tender concern for the welfare of the child, to hide his youthful errors and "bury them in the graveyard of the forgotten past." In re Gault, 387 U. S. 1, 387 U. S. 24-25 (1967).
This measure recognizes that non-criminal conduct, the gravamen of PINS cases, no less than the criminal conduct that forms the basis of JD proceedings, compels the protections that have long been deemed essential to fulfilling the goals of the juvenile justice system. This measure, which would have no fiscal impact, would take effect 90 days after it shall have become a law.
2015-16 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :
Senate 5020 (Sen. Felder) (referred to Children and Families) Assembly 7049 (M. of A. Lupardo) (referred to Children and Families)
2014 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :
Senate 6814-A (Sen. Felder) (committed to Rules)
Assembly 9916-A (M. of A. Lupardo) (Passed)
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.