NY State Senate Bill 2019-S6118

Senate Bill S6118

2019-2020 Legislative Session

Limits the number of cases a foster care worker may have under his or her supervision at any one time to 16 cases

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Children And Families 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

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 08, 2020	referred to children and families
May 16, 2019	referred to children and families

2019-S6118 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Children And Families
Law Section:: Social Services Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §409-g, Soc Serv L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2021-2022: S2587
2023-2024: S5031

2019-S6118 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Limits the number of cases a foster care worker may have under his or her supervision at any one time to 16 cases.

2019-S6118 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S6118

SPONSOR: MONTGOMERY
 
TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the social services law, in relation
to limitations on the number of cases handled by child welfare personnel

 
PURPOSE:

This bill will limit the number of cases that a foster care caseworker
can have at anyone time to sixteen cases.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends section 409-g of the social services law to limit the
number of cases on a foster care worker's caseload to a maximum of 16.

Section 2 provides for an effective date of 60 days after the bill
becomes law.

 
EXISTING LAW:

Currently there are no limits on the number of cases that a foster care
worker can have on the case load.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

According to the Council of Family and Child Caring Agencies (COFCCA),
caseworkers in New York State handle an average of 25-30 cases at a
time. This overload of cases seriously undermines the effectiveness of
their work, keeps them from providing adequate services to the families
they serve, and places the foster children in harm's way. There have
been a number of recent cases where foster children have languished in
the system because of the worker's inability to get the cases in order.
Most of the time the reason for this is not the caseworker's ineptness,
but the overwhelming number of services they need to coordinate for so
many families. According to the National Association of Social Workers
(NA8W) the maximum number of cases a foster care worker can adequately
serve is 16.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2003/04: S.5705/A.3798 A.1984/S.3160 of 2006-08

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall have
become a law.

2019-S6118 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   6118
 
                        2019-2020 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               May 16, 2019
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  MONTGOMERY  -- read twice and ordered printed, and
   when printed to be committed to the Committee on Children and Families
 
 AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to  limitations  on
   the number of cases handled by child welfare personnel
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. The section heading of section 409-g of the social services
 law, as added by chapter 611 of the laws of 1979, is amended to read  as
 follows:
   Training of child welfare personnel; LIMITATION ON CASELOADS.
   §  2.  Section 409-g of the social services law is amended by adding a
 new closing paragraph to read as follows:
   NOTWITHSTANDING ANY OTHER PROVISION OF LAW, THE NUMBER OF CASES  UNDER
 THE  SUPERVISION  OF  ANY FOSTER CARE WORKER SHALL NOT EXCEED SIXTEEN AT
 ANY ONE TIME.
   § 3. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth  day  after  it  shall
 have become a law.
 
 
 
 
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD11899-01-9

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