Senate Bill S7547

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S7547

SPONSOR: MONTGOMERY
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the social services law, in relation to waiving the
requirement of establishing paternity or a child support order for
certain applicants or recipients of aid to dependent children

 
PURPOSE:

Prohibit child support collection enforcement when good cause exemptions
are claimed and proven by kinship caregivers who are seeking TANF Non-
Parent child only grants.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends the social services law, in relation to waiving the
requirement of establishing paternity or a child support order for
certain applicants or recipients of aid to dependent children.

              

 
JUSTIFICATION:

In New York State, approximately 195,000 children live with kin (grand-
parents, relatives, and family friends). Less than 5,000 are in kinship
foster care. For kinship families who are not foster families, New York
offers a special Temporary Assistance to Needy Families public financial
assistance benefit. This benefit is officially termed a "Non-Parent"
grant, but more commonly referred to as a "child only" grant. The phras-
es aptly describe the eligibility rules. It is available to children who
are living with non-parents, i.e. kinship caregivers, and "only" when
the child's income and resources do not exceed the budgeting rules.
Since most kinship children do not have income and resources, most are
eligible. See OTDA-05-INF-24 "Temporary Assistance Policy: Non-parent
Caregiver Cases and Temporary Assistance (TA)."

As of August 2018, according to Office of Temporary and Disability
Assistance statistics, 23,519 children were receiving the grant.  While
the number is a fraction of the total kinship children, it is consistent
with the national average of 12% of eligible children receiving the
grant.

The low percentage points out the need for outreach and facilitated
access so that more eligible children can receive the grant. One barrier
to access is that kinship caregivers who apply for the grant must agree
to cooperate with the local district in seeking support from absent
parents. Given the fact that most kinship care occurs when parents are
unable to parent because of drug/alcohol abuse, mental illness, incar-
ceration, or neglect and that kinship families outside of foster care
are "on their own" in managing relationships with absent parents, the
Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance developed special guidance
for counties as to when kin could claim an exemption from cooperation
with support. 08-INF-16 offers typical situations when kin are exempt,
including "special considerations related to emotional harm.":

   "Mrs. Green's 6-year-old nephew, James, lives with her and her fami-
ly.
    The Greens do not have custody or guardianship of James, but took
him
    in when his mother, an alcoholic, dropped him off at their house 10
    months ago. When his mother dropped James off he had lice
    infestation, was malnourished and had only the clothes he was
    wearing. Since that time his mother has not seen James, has been in
    and out of inpatient facilities and although she is now employed,
    continues to abuse alcohol. Mrs. Green has applied for TA for James
    and has asked to claim good cause due to emotional harm. The good
    cause claim is being
    requested because Mrs. Green fears that because she does not have
    custody that
    James' mother will remove him from her home and he would be put in
an
    unstable environment."

Caregivers often cite fear that parents will upset the stability and
well-being of children when the parents become the subject of support
collection or they may remove children from kinship homes.  Successfully
claiming the exemption, however, does not ensure that the local district
does not seek support. Collection efforts may continue.

An Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance regulation states:
   "A district can proceed to enforce a child support order without the
    caregiver's cooperation even when good cause is established if the
    district can do so without risk to the child or the caregiver. If
the
    district decides to do this, it must notify the caregiver and give
    her the opportunity to close her case. 18 NYCRR 369.2(b)(10)."

According to reports by the Kinship Navigator and the kinship service
providers across the state, upon learning that the count can seek
support despite a successful claim of exemption, caregivers frequently
withdraw their applications for Non-Parent grants. The result is that
qualifying kinship families are unable to access an essential public
benefit.

Given the low utilization and the disproportional number of impoverished
kinship caregivers, the Legislature deems it important to ensure that
kinship families with legitimate claims of good cause receive the
grants. There is simply no reason for counties to independently pursue
support collection when there is a harm or potential harm to caregivers
and children in their care.

For these reasons, local districts should be prohibited from seeking to
collect child support from parents when an applicant for public assist-
ance can show good cause for exempting their cooperation with support
collection. Good causes include domestic violence and emotional harm to
children and caregivers that would occur if support is pursued. Social
Services Law 349-b should be amended so that proof of good cause should
prohibit collection efforts.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

This is new legislation.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.