What's happening
This bill expands local social services districts' access to court and criminal records for investigating adults living with or proposed to live with children involved in certain court proceedings.
Why it matters
Broader investigative authority for social services. The bill allows local social services districts to review the criminal backgrounds of any adult (18 or older) currently living with, or proposed to live with, children involved in key family court proceedings—not just those being investigated for child abuse or neglect. This could increase scrutiny of household members during custody, guardianship, or foster care cases.
Potential impact on family court outcomes. By expanding access to criminal records for adults in a child’s household, decisions about child placement or custody may be influenced by the backgrounds of all adults in the home, not just parents or legal guardians. This could raise new barriers or protections in family court decisions.
Enhanced interagency data sharing. The legislation clarifies and streamlines how social services can access and use state criminal justice records, potentially enabling faster and more comprehensive investigations when children’s safety or welfare is at stake.
Confidentiality protections preserved. While expanding access to sensitive information, the bill maintains strict confidentiality rules, ensuring that criminal history records obtained through these investigations are not made public or used as the sole basis for adverse actions against individuals.
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Who cares
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Let Social Services See Criminal Records
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History
- Referred to children and families
- Referred to children and families
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
7375
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
April 29, 2019
Introduced by M. of A. HEVESI -- read once and referred to the Committee on Children and Families
AN ACT to amend the executive law and the social services law, in relation to access to court databases for local social services districts
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Subdivision 9 of section 835 of the executive law, as separately amended by chapters 14 and 155 of the laws of 2012, is amended to read as follows:
9. "Qualified agencies" means courts in the unified court system, the administrative board of the judicial conference, probation departments, sheriffs' offices, district attorneys' offices, the state department of corrections and community supervision, the department of correction of any municipality, the financial frauds and consumer protection unit of the state department of financial services, the office of professional medical conduct of the state department of health for the purposes of section two hundred thirty of the public health law, the [child protective services unit of a] local social services district when [conducting an investigation pursuant to subdivision six of section four hundred twenty-four of the social services law] acting within the scope of its duties pursuant to the social services law or the family court act, the office of Medicaid inspector general, the temporary state commission of investigation, police forces and departments having responsibility for enforcement of the general criminal laws of the state, the Onondaga County Center for Forensic Sciences Laboratory when acting within the scope of its law enforcement duties and the division of forensic services of the Nassau county medical examiner's office when acting within the scope of its law enforcement duties.
§ 2. Subdivision 6 of section 398 of the social services law is amended by adding a new paragraph (q) to read as follows:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01035-01-9
A. 7375 2
(q) Investigate the criminal background of any person of or over the age of eighteen who resides or is proposed to reside with or in the same home as a child who is the subject of a court proceeding pursuant to article three, six, seven, ten, ten-A or ten-C of the family court act. For the purpose of these investigations, and subject to the rules and regulations of the division of criminal justice services, local social services districts may, acting through persons specifically designated by the commissioner of the local social services district, access and receive records maintained by the division of criminal justice services pursuant to subdivision six of section eight hundred thirty-seven of the executive law.
§ 3. Paragraph (c) of subdivision 6 of section 424 of the social services law, as amended by chapter 281 of the laws of 2017, is amended to read as follows:
(c) subject to rules and regulations of the division of criminal justice services, a manager of the child protective services unit, or a person with law enforcement background who is specifically designated by the commissioner of the local social services district for this purpose, shall have access to conviction records maintained by state law enforcement agencies pertaining to persons of or over the age of eighteen years who (1) are currently residing in the residence of any child who is alleged to be or suspected of being abused, maltreated, or neglected or who is proposed to live with such child, or (2) are named in any report of suspected or alleged child abuse, maltreatment, or neglect; provided that nothing in this subdivision shall be construed to contradict or modify section one thousand forty-six of the family court act. Any criminal history record provided by the division of criminal justice services, and any summary of the criminal history record provided by the office of children and family services to the child protective services unit of a local social services district pursuant to this subdivision, shall be kept confidential and shall not be made available for public inspection. Child protective services units shall not indicate a report solely based upon the existence of a conviction record;
§ 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
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