BILL NUMBER:  S6017

 TITLE OF BILL :

An act to amend the social services law, in relation to the option of
a non-parent caretaker to exclude a half-sibling from the public
assistance household

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1 of this bill would amend the SSL § 131-c(1) to allow a
non-parent caregiver to exclude a child with income from the public
assistance household.

 EXISTING LAW :

Social Services Law § 131-c(1) currently requires that when a minor is
named as an applicant for public assistance, that his or her parents
and minor brothers and sisters also apply for assistance and be
included in the household for purposes of determining eligibility and
grant amount. Although the statute uses the phrase "minor brothers and
sisters," the law has been used to require the income of half-siblings
to be applied as income against the other half-sibling to reduce the
amount of the public assistance benefits of the child with no income.
The income of any child, such as child support or social security
survivor's benefits is considered available to the entire household,
              

and reduces the entire grant of the household accordingly, unless
disregarded under some other provision of law.

 JUSTIFICATION :

Children who have parents who are unable to care for them due to the
death, drug addiction, incarceration or disability of the parent, are
sometimes cared for by relatives rather than placed in foster care.
These relatives are often on fixed incomes with limited resources.
Studies show that children placed in care with relatives fare much
better emotionally and intellectually than children who go into foster
care with strangers (Marc Winokur, Amy Holtan, and Deborah Valentine,
"Kinship Care for the Safety, Permanency, and Well-Being of Children
Removed From the Home for Maltreatment," Campbell Systematic Reviews 1
(2009), doi:10.4073/ csr.2009.1; Rubin, D., Springer, S. H., Zlotnik,
S., & Kang-Yi, C. D. (2017). Needs of Kinship Care Families and
Pediatric Practice. Pediatrics, 139(4), e20170099.
doi:10.1542/peds.2017-0099; National Survey of Child and Adolescent
Well-Being (NSCAW), CPS Sample Component Wave 1 Data Analysis Report,
Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
Administration for Children and Families, April 2005.)

A child who is being cared for by a non-parent relative is eligible
for a "child only" grant, a public assistance grant for one person,
which in most counties is under $400 per month. The "child only" grant
is calculated without taking the relative's income into consideration,
because the relative is not the parent and not responsible for the
support of the child.

Social Services Law § 131-c(1), which is known as the "filing unit
rule," requires that the income of children be applied to their
parents and siblings. The statute has been interpreted to require the
income of half siblings to be applied to their half-siblings. This may
make sense when children live with a parent. However, the rule is also
applied when a non-parent caregiver, who has no legal responsibility
for the support of a child in their care takes in a second child with
income. Example:

Grandparent, who lives on a fixed income of Social Security Retirement
benefits, is taking care of a grandchild. The child is receiving a
"child only" grant, which is calculated without taking the
grandparent's income into consideration.

If the grandparent takes in a second child who is the half-sibling of
the grandchild, and that half-sibling has Social Security Survivor's
or Disability benefits because the child's parent has died or become
seriously disabled, that income, will be applied against the needs of
the grandchild receiving the child only grant, which generally results
in the elimination that benefit, in effect, making one grandchild
responsible to support the other in violation of Social Services Law
101. This unfair result is remedied by this bill which would allow the
income of the half-sibling to be disregarded so that one grandchild
would remain eligible for the child only grant, and the grandchild
with income would be continue to be supported with his own income.
This assures financial stability for the grandparent providing care.

 PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

This is new bill.

 FISCAL IMPACT :

Because "child only" grants are generally funded with federal
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant funding,
this bill will have little anticipated local impact. Child only grants
are funded only with state and local dollars when the non-parent
caretaker is not related to the child, which is uncommon.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
The bill would be effective immediately.