Senate Bill S5573

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S5573

SPONSOR: MONTGOMERY
 
TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the social services law, in relation
to the standard of proof for unfounded and indicated reports of abuse or
maltreatment

 
PURPOSE:

These amendments will bring the Social Services Law and investigation of
indicated reports in line with the preponderance of the evidence stand-
ard used by Family Courts to determine whether or not a person has
committed neglect/abuse based on the underlying allegations of maltreat-
ment which are the subject of said indicated reports. This amendment
will help reduce the disproportionate impact of the determinations of
indicated reports on families and children of color and help to achieve
more strength-based and positive outcomes for families.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one of this bill amends the definition of what constitutes an
              

indicated report or unfounded report; (2) requires officials investigat-
ing suspected cases of maltreatment in New York to weigh all available
evidence to determine whether as a whole, the evidence requires that the
report be indicated using the preponderance of the evidence standard and
not the credible evidence standard; (3) requires upon a request for
administrative review by the State Central Register, that the reviewing
officers find that the report should be indicated by way of weighing all
available evidence and finding that there is a fair preponderance of the
evidence to support the indicated report on file; and (4) requires upon
a request for a fair hearing at the Office for Children and Family
Services, that the standard used to determine if there was in fact
maltreatment, is a fair preponderance of the evidence.

 
JUSTIFICATION

Under current law, a case has to be indicated if there is "some credible
evidence" of abuse or neglect. This is the lowest standard of proof --
far lower than used in other settings and in the vast majority of other
states. New York's highest court has said that the current standard is a
"bare minimum" standard that "imposes no duty on the fact finder to
weigh conflicting evidence, no matter how substantial, and allows a
report to be indicated if only one out of several believable items of
evidence supports it." Matter of Lee 77, 87 N.Y.2d 699 (1996).

This bill brings New York State's standard into line with due process
and the majority of states by adopting the preponderance of evidence
standard, which requires weighing all available evidence to determine
whether the evidence supports an indication or not.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

Revenue Neutral/Potential Revenue Savings

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.