Int. No. 139
By Council Members Abreu, Ayala, Cabán, Stevens, Won, Williams, Sanchez, Velázquez, Riley, Schulman, Menin, Gennaro, Restler, Dinowitz, Narcisse, Krishnan, Gutiérrez, Marte, Ung, Ossé, Rivera, Hudson, Brooks-Powers, Hanif, Salamanca, Joseph, Nurse, Farías, De La Rosa, Avilés, Brannan, Holden, Powers, Hanks, Moya, Lee, Feliz, Kagan, Bottcher, Louis, Borelli, Carr, Ariola, Vernikov and Paladino
A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to requiring the administration for children’s services to report on the impact of the deaths of parents and guardians from COVID-19 on children and the repeal of such requirement upon the expiration thereof
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Chapter 9 of title 21 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 21-922 to read as follows:
§ 21-922 COVID-19 deaths of parents, guardians; impact on children; report. a. Definitions. For the purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
COVID-19. The term “COVID-19” means the disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
Death from COVID-19. The term “death from COVID-19” means a death of a parent or guardian who had contracted or likely contracted COVID-19.
Young adult. The term “young adult” means a person who is 18 to 26 years of age.
b. Reporting required. Within 60 days of the effective date of the local law that added this section, and quarterly thereafter, ACS shall submit to the mayor and speaker of the council and post on its website a report regarding the impact of the deaths of parents and guardians from COVID-19 on children in New York City. The first such report shall provide quarterly data for the period of January 1, 2020 to April 30, 2022. The subsequent quarterly reports shall provide data for each quarter beginning May 1, 2022. The reports shall include, but not be limited to, the following information:
1. For each child placed into foster care due to a death from COVID-19, such child’s race, ethnicity, primary language, income and community district of residence;
2. For each household receiving services from ACS in which young adults are the legal guardians of their younger siblings due to a death from COVID-19, the head of household’s race, ethnicity, primary language, income and community district of residence;
3. The unique needs of such children and households and the plan of ACS, if any, to address such needs; and
4. Any additional information that ACS deems germane to such report.
c. The report required by subdivision b of this section shall include a data dictionary.
d. No information that is otherwise required to be reported pursuant to this section shall be reported in a manner that would violate any applicable provision of federal, state or local law.
§ 2. This local law takes effect immediately and expires and is deemed repealed 10 years after it becomes law.
NLB
LS #6717
3/8/2022