BILL NUMBER:S5890A

TITLE OF BILL:  An act requiring the office of children and family
services to complete a report on the impact of a tax deduction for
expenses, including adoption fees, medical and legal fees, court costs
and any other related expenses paid or incurred by a taxpayer
attributed to the adoption of a child in foster care

PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF THE BILL: Help increase adoption rates for
the thousands of New York State Children waiting to be adopted and
currently under the custody of the State.

SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1. 1. The office of children and family services, in
consultation with the department of taxation and finance, shall
complete a report on the impact of a tax deduction for expenses,
including adoption fees, medical and legal fees, court costs and any
other related expenses paid or incurred by a taxpayer attributed to
the adoption of a child in foster care.

2. Such report shall include, but not limited too

(a) the trend of adoptions for children in foster care over the past
ten years;

              

(b) how many children have aged out of foster care in the past ten
years while in custody of the state;

(c) the length of the waiting period prior to adoption for children
who were in the state foster care system;

(d) the racial and ethnic breakdown of child adopted;

(e) the current number of children who have been placed in the foster
care system more than once over the past three years;

(f) the number of children in foster care with a parent or parents in
prison;

(g) efforts in place by the office of children and family services to
help promote adoption awareness, education and possibilities for
children in the foster care system that are eligible for adoption.;
and

(h) the total amount spent by the office of children and family
services and organizations contracted by such office in the promotion
of adoptions.

(i)

3. The report required pursuant to this act shall be provided to the
governor, the temporary president of the senate, the speaker of the
assembly, the minority leader of the senate and the minority leader of
the assembly, on or before July 30, 2015

Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately


JUSTIFICATION:  Currently, New York State has over 23,000 children in
custody in its foster care system. For a large number of these
children, returning to their natural parents is impossible. In 2011,
there were over 6,400 foster care children waiting to be adopted and
the median years each has to wait to be adopted is close to 4.5 years.

Many of these children age out of foster care services when they turn
18 years of age. Annually 700 children age out of the system and are
literally thrown out to the street without health care, housing or
support services for their mental health needs. The Affordable Care
Act will change the health factor for children who age-out but for
most of these children waiting for adoptions, the picture is bleak.

At an annual cost to New York State of over $33,000 per child in state
custody, it is obvious that New York State government must do more to
create incentives for families interesting in adopting a child in the
foster care system. This legislation examines what incentive and
changes need to be made to increase adoption rates for children in the
foster care system. There are over 150,000 children in our State
living without their parents and being supported by family friends,
older siblings, relatives an grandparents. Of that amount 23,000 are
in the custody of New York State.

In addition, it is well understood dynamic that the longer a child is
in the foster care system, the slimmer the chances for adoption. In
addition, as children age in state custody it becomes a negative for
them because families tend to adopt younger children. Therefore New
York must do more to place these children in health, loving and
nurturing home environments. At a total annual cost of over $759
million dollars to maintain the 23,000 in state custody, it is clearly
in the best interest of these children and to New York taxpayers to
create incentives to reduce the number of children in government
custody. At a time when the nation and the state are faced with
difficult economic decisions, it is incentives like the one outlined
in this legislation that need to be enacted diligently because it
reduces government expenditures.

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: New legislation

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT:  None. This study
will actually help reduce the state funding for foster care services
if recommendations are adopted which will increase adoption rates and
reduce the huge number of children living their entire childhoods in
state funded foster care.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect immediately