What's happening
This bill raises education and experience requirements for child protective services workers and supervisors in New York State.
Why it matters
Raises professional standards for child protective services (CPS) workers and supervisors, potentially improving the quality of investigations and support for vulnerable children and families. Higher education and experience requirements could lead to more skilled and knowledgeable staff handling complex cases.
Emphasizes specialized training in fields like social work, psychology, and counseling, or relevant experience in law enforcement or mental health, rather than general human services. This shift suggests a priority on expertise directly related to the needs of children experiencing abuse or neglect.
Grandfathers in current employees and supervisors, meaning existing staff are not required to meet the new standards. This avoids immediate staffing disruptions but creates a gradual change in workforce qualifications over time.
Could affect recruitment and retention by narrowing the pool of eligible candidates for these positions, possibly leading to workforce shortages or increased competition for qualified professionals. This may prompt counties and agencies to invest more in recruiting and training to meet the new requirements.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Raise CPS Worker Standards
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
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
652
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE (Prefiled)
January 9, 2019
Introduced by Sen. KENNEDY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Children and Families
AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to staff qualifications for non-supervisory and supervisory child protective services workers
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Paragraphs (a) and (b) of subdivision 4 of section 421 of the social services law, paragraph (a) as amended and paragraph (b) as added by chapter 525 of the laws of 2006, are amended to read as follows:
(a) after consultation with the local child protective services, promulgate regulations relating to staff qualifications for non-supervisory child protective services workers, prescribing [any] at least a baccalaureate or equivalent college degree in social work, psychology, counseling and/or relevant [human service] experience in law enforcement, counseling or work with mental health or cognitively impaired persons and children as requirements. Such requirements shall not apply to persons currently employed by such child protective services who were hired before [January first, nineteen hundred eighty-six] the effective date of the chapter of the laws of two thousand nineteen that amended this paragraph.
(b) after consultation with the local child protective services, promulgate regulations relating to staff qualifications for those assigned to be supervisors of child protective services[, prescribing any baccalaureate or equivalent college degree and/or relevant human services experience as requirements]. Provided, however, that such regulations shall at a minimum provide that those assigned to be supervisors of child protective services have [either a baccalaureate] at least a master's degree [or three] in social work, psychology, counseling and/or
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02773-01-9
S. 652 2
ten years of relevant work experience in [a human services field] law enforcement, counseling or work with mental health or cognitively impaired persons and children. Such requirements shall not apply to persons currently assigned to be a child protective services supervisor who were hired before [December first, two thousand six] the effective date of the chapter of the laws of two thousand nineteen that amended this paragraph.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the social services law, in relation to staff qualifica- tions 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 casework- ers 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 super- visors 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 espe- cially the case when that individual is not formally trained in the fields of social work, psychology or counseling, which provide substan- tial training to deal with mental health, substance abuse, and criminal issues that often arise in Child Protective Service cases.
Many experts in the field agree that generalized training regarding investigations and form work is inadequate preparation to deal with the issues that arise in a child protection case. Initial and ongoing train- ing on trauma and the sociological and psychological effects of persist- ent 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 impor- tant step towards improving our child protection system throughout New York State.
Legislative history
2013-2014: S.6343/A.8429 referred to Children and Families 2015-2016: S.2120A/A.3027A referred to Children and Families 2017-2018: S.2986/A.2356 died in committee
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.