Int. No. 15-A
By Council Members de Blasio, The Speaker (Council Member Quinn), Addabbo Jr., Arroyo, Brewer, Comrie Jr., Dickens, Fidler, Foster, Gennaro, Gentile, James, Koppell, Liu, Mark-Viverito, Martinez, Monserrate, Nelson, Palma, Recchia Jr., Rivera, Sanders Jr., Stewart, Vacca, Vann, Weprin, White Jr., Mendez, Lappin, Yassky, Jackson, Garodnick, Katz, Barron, Sears, Oddo and The Public Advocate (Ms. Gotbaum)
A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to requiring regular reports regarding child protective services and family reunification practices at the New York City Administration for Children's Services.
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Title 21 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended to add a new Chapter 9 to read as follows:
CHAPTER 9
CHILDREN'S SERVICES
§ 21-901 Definitions.
§ 21-902 Quarterly Reports Regarding Child Welfare System.
§ 21-903 Annual Reports.
§ 21-901. Definitions. Whenever used in this chapter, the terms set forth below are defined as follows:
1. "ACS" means the administration for children's services, or any successor agency charged with operating the city's child welfare system.
2. "Case worker" means a diagnostic child protective specialist assigned to a zone.
3. "Commissioner" means the commissioner of ACS.
4. "Entry order" means an order entered pursuant to subdivision two of section ten hundred thirty-four of the family court act to enter specific premises where there is probable cause to believe an abused or neglected child may be found.
5. "IRT investigation" means an instant response team investigation conducted pursuant to the Administration for Children's Services and Law Enforcement Instant Response Teams Protocol dated February 1998 or any protocol hereafter promulgated that sets forth guidelines for the use of interdisciplinary instant response teams.
6. "Zone" means one of no fewer than 13 divisions of ACS child protective services headed by a deputy director who exercises oversight over the work of child protective managers, supervisors and child protective specialists in a specific geographic area, or the Office of Confidential Investigations.
§ 21-902. Quarterly Reports Regarding Child Welfare System. Beginning no later than July 31, 2006 and no later than the last day of the month following each calendar quarter thereafter, ACS will furnish to the speaker of the city council a report regarding New York City's child welfare system that includes, at a minimum, the following information:
1. Child protective services. The following information regarding child protective services shall be included in the quarterly report, disaggregated by zone:
a. number of case workers employed and number of vacancies in case work staff at the end of the reporting period;
b. experience of case workers, broken down by years of experience in New York City's child welfare system as follows: 1-3 years of experience; 3-5 years of experience; 5-7 years of experience; 7-9 years of experience; 9 or more years of experience;
c. average caseload of case workers;
d. number of case workers with a caseload of more than 15 cases;
e. number of level one supervisors;
f. experience of level one supervisors, broken down by years of experience in New York City's child welfare system as follows: number with 1-5 years of experience; 5-10 years of experience; 10-15 years of experience; 15-20 years of experience; 20 or more years of experience;
g. number of level two supervisors;
h. experience of level two supervisors, broken down by years of experience in New York City's child welfare system as follows: number with 1-5 years of experience; 5-10 years of experience; 10-15 years of experience; 15-20 years of experience; 20 or more years of experience;
i. number of child protective managers;
j. experience of child protective managers, broken down by years of experience in New York City's child welfare system as follows: number with 1-5 years of experience; 5-10 years of experience; 10-15 years of experience; 15-20 years of experience; 20 or more years of experience;
k. number of reports of suspected child abuse or neglect referred to the zone for investigation, disaggregated by the type of case;
l. number of reports of suspected child abuse or neglect referred to the zone for investigation that were indicated during the reporting period, disaggregated by the type of case and whether the case was referred to preventive services, court mandated services, foster care placement or closed;
m. number of unfounded cases, disaggregated by whether or not the case was referred to preventive services;
n. number of investigations that resulted in closure without referral to preventive services, disaggregated by the type of case and whether the case was indicated or unfounded and the reason for closure;
o. number of reports of suspected child abuse or neglect referred to the zone that involved a family with respect to which ACS had received at least one prior report of suspected abuse or neglect within the past 24 months, disaggregated by the type of case;
p. number of reports of suspected child abuse or neglect referred to the zone that involved a family that had at least one child previously in the foster care system, disaggregated by the type of case;
q. number of reports of suspected child abuse or neglect referred to protective services for which protective services conducted a 72-hour case conference, disaggregated by the type of case;
r. number of reports of suspected child abuse or neglect referred to protective services for which an elevated risk conference was held, disaggregated by the type of case;
s. number of IRT investigations commenced; and
t. number of entry orders sought and number of entry orders obtained.
2. Family Reunification. The following information regarding family reunification shall be provided in the quarterly report:
a. number of families reunited from foster care during the reporting period, disaggregated by zone and by length of stay in foster care in six month intervals;
b. of all families reunited during the reporting period, the number of families receiving aftercare services, disaggregated by zone and by the type of services being received; and
c. number of children who entered foster care during the reporting period who had been in the custody of the child welfare system within the thirty-six months immediately preceding the reporting period, disaggregated by zone.
3. ACS may use preliminary data to prepare the report required by this chapter to be delivered no later than July 31, 2006 and may include an acknowledgement that any preliminary data used in the report is non-final and subject to change.
§ 21-903. Annual Reports. Within 45 days after the end of each calendar year, ACS will publish and make available on its website an annual report compiling information provided in all quarterly reports required by this chapter for the prior calendar year.
§ 2. This local law shall take effect upon its enactment.
J.D.S.
LS#234
6/13/06