NY State Senate Bill 2017-S2986

Senate Bill S2986

2017-2018 Legislative Session

Relates to staff qualifications for supervisory and non-supervisory child protective services workers

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Finance Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 30, 2018	reported and committed to finance
Jan 03, 2018	referred to children and families
Jun 06, 2017	reported and committed to rules
Jan 18, 2017	referred to children and families

Votes

- Jan 30, 2018 - Children And Families Committee Vote
  S2986
  
  3
  
  Aye
  
  0
  
  Nay
  
  3
  
  Aye with Reservations
  
  0
  
  Absent
  
  1
  
  Excused
  
  0
  
  Abstained
  - - Children And Families Committee Vote: Jan 30, 2018
      
      aye (3)
      
      Avella
      
      Persaud
      
      Savino
      
      aye wr (3)
      
      Bonacic
      
      Helming
      
      Serino
      
      excused (1)
      
      Montgomery
  Jun 6, 2017 - Children And Families Committee Vote
  S2986
  
  3
  
  Aye
  
  0
  
  Nay
  
  3
  
  Aye with Reservations
  
  0
  
  Absent
  
  1
  
  Excused
  
  0
  
  Abstained
  - - Children And Families Committee Vote: Jun 6, 2017
      
      aye (3)
      
      Avella
      
      Montgomery
      
      Persaud
      
      aye wr (3)
      
      Bonacic
      
      Helming
      
      Savino
      
      excused (1)
      
      Serino

co-Sponsors

2017-S2986 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A2356
Current Committee:: Senate Finance
Law Section:: Social Services Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §421, Soc Serv L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2013-2014: S6343, A8429
2015-2016: S2120, A3027
2019-2020: S652

2017-S2986 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Relates to staff qualifications for supervisory and non-supervisory child protective services workers.

2017-S2986 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S2986

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act to amend the social services law, in relation
to staff qualifications 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
caseworkers 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

supervisors 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 especially the case when that individual is not formally
trained in the fields of social work, psychology or counseling, which
provide substantial training to deal with mental health, substance
abuse, and criminal issues that often arise in CPS cases.

Many experts in the field agree that the generalized training
regarding investigations and form work is inadequate preparation to
deal with the real-world, severe issues that arise in a child
protection case. Initial and ongoing training on trauma and the
sociological and psychological effects of persistent 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 important step towards improving our child protection
system throughout New York State.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

A. 8429 of 2014;
A3027A of 2016

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

None.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect immediately.

2017-S2986 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
     S. 2986                                                  A. 2356
 
                        2017-2018 Regular Sessions
 
                       S E N A T E - A S S E M B L Y
 
                             January 18, 2017
                                ___________
 
 IN  SENATE  -- Introduced by Sens. KENNEDY, BRESLIN, DILAN -- read twice
   and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee
   on Children and Families
 
 IN ASSEMBLY -- Introduced by M. of A. PEOPLES-STOKES,  BLAKE,  SANTABAR-
   BARA,  WALKER  --  read once and referred to the Committee on Children
   and Families
 
 AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to staff qualifica-
   tions for non-supervisory and supervisory  child  protective  services
   workers
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, 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-supervi-
 sory 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  ENFORCE-
 MENT,  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 SEVENTEEN  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

  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD00956-01-7

 S. 2986                             2                            A. 2356

 services experience as requirements]. Provided, however, that such regu-
 lations 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
 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 SEVENTEEN  THAT  AMENDED
 THIS PARAGRAPH.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Senate Bill S2986

Share this bill

Sponsored By

Timothy M. Kennedy