§ 423. Child protective service responsibilities and organization;
purchase of service and reimbursement of cost; local plan. 1. (a) Every
local department of social services shall establish a "child protective
service" within such department. The child protective service shall
perform those functions assigned by this title to it and only such
others that would further the purposes of this title. Local social
services departments shall distribute the laws, regulations and policies
of the department pursuant to section four hundred twenty-one of this
article to any society for the prevention of cruelty to children which
has entered into a currently valid contract with a local department of
social services.

(b) Every local department of social services shall provide to the
child protective service information available to the local department
which is relevant to the investigation of a report of child abuse or
maltreatment or to the provision of protective services, where the
confidentiality of such information is not expressly protected by law.

(c) The child protective service shall have a sufficient staff of
sufficient qualifications to fulfill the purposes of this title and be
organized in such a way as to maximize the continuity of responsibility,
care and service of individual workers toward individual children and
families. A social services district shall have flexibility in assigning
staff to the child protective service provided that each staff assigned
to such service has the staff qualifications and has received the
training required by the department regulations promulgated pursuant to
subdivisions four and five of section four hundred twenty-one of this
title.

(d) Consistent with appropriate collective bargaining agreements and
applicable provisions of the civil service law, every child protective
service shall establish a procedure to review and evaluate the
backgrounds of and information supplied by all applicants for
employment. Such procedures shall include but not be limited to the
following requirements: that the applicant set forth his or her
employment history, provide personal and employment references and
relevant experiential and educational information, and sign a sworn
statement indicating whether the applicant, to the best of his or her
knowledge, has ever been convicted of a crime in this state or any other
jurisdiction.

(e) For purposes of this title, a child protective service shall
include an Indian tribe that has entered into an agreement with the
department pursuant to section thirty-nine of this chapter to provide
child protective services to Indians residing upon the tribe's
reservation in the state. Notwithstanding any other provision of law,
for the purposes of this title, a social services district or a local
department of social services shall include an Indian tribe that has
entered into an agreement with the department pursuant to section
thirty-nine of this chapter to provide child protective services. Such
Indian tribe shall only be considered a child protective service while
such an agreement is in effect.

2. Any other provision of law notwithstanding, but consistent with
subdivision (1) of this section, the child protective service, based
upon the local plan of services as provided in subdivision (3) of this
section, may purchase and utilize the services of any appropriate public
or voluntary agency including a society for the prevention of cruelty to
children. When services are purchased by the local department pursuant
to this section and title, they shall be reimbursed by the state to the
locality in the same manner and to the same extent as if the services
were provided directly by the local department.

3. (a) Each social services district shall prepare and submit to the
commissioner, after consultation with local law enforcement agencies,
the family court and appropriate public or voluntary agencies including
societies for the prevention of cruelty to children and after a public
hearing, a district-wide plan, as prescribed by the commissioner, for
the provision of child protective services which shall be a component of
the district's multi-year consolidated services plan. This plan shall
describe the district's implementation of this title including the
organization, staffing, mode of operations and financing of the child
protective service as well as the provisions made for purchase of
service and inter-agency relations. Commencing the year following
preparation of a multi-year consolidated services plan, each local
district shall prepare annual implementation reports including
information related to its child protective services plan. The social
services district shall submit the child protective services plan to the
department as a component of its multi-year consolidated services plan
and subsequent thereto as a component of its annual implementation
reports and the department shall review and approve or disapprove the
proposed plan and reports in accordance with the procedures set forth in
section thirty-four-a of this chapter.

4. As used in this section, "service" or "services" shall include the
coordinating and monitoring of the activities of appropriate public or
voluntary agencies utilized in the local plan.

5. In accordance with the provisions of subdivisions one and two of
this section, a local department of social services may submit to the
department a plan for a special program for the purpose of (a) ensuring
the delivery of services to children and their families by arranging for
the purchase and utilization of the service of any appropriate public or
voluntary agency to provide rehabilitative services to at least the
majority of children and families assisted by the child protective
service; and (b) strengthening the monitoring role of the child
protective service.

Such program shall also include provisions for the training of
employees of public and private agencies assigned functions of the child
protective service, in the duties and responsibilities of the child
protective service and in the provision of services to children and
families, pursuant to this title. The department shall approve such a
plan in not more than six social services districts upon satisfactory
demonstration that a local department of social services will
effectively discharge all responsibilities required by this title. Any
such plan must be submitted to the department as part of the multi-year
services plan required pursuant to section thirty-four-a of this chapter
and, if approved, shall be operative for a period not to exceed three
years. The department shall contract with an individual, partnership,
corporation, institution or other organization for the performance of a
comprehensive evaluation of the effectiveness of the implementation of
such plans. A report of such evaluations shall be submitted by the
department to the governor and the legislature by January first,
nineteen hundred ninety. Nothing in this subdivision shall be deemed to
relieve a child protective service from any responsibilities assigned to
it by this title.

6. A social services district may establish a multidisciplinary
investigative team or teams and may establish or work as part of a child
advocacy center established pursuant to section four hundred
twenty-three-a of this title, at a local or regional level, for the
purpose of investigating reports of suspected child abuse or
maltreatment. The social services district shall have discretion with
regard to the category or categories of suspected child abuse or
maltreatment such team or teams may investigate, provided, however, the
social services district shall place particular emphasis on cases
involving the abuse of a child as described in paragraph (i), (ii) or
(iii) of subdivision (e) of section one thousand twelve of the family
court act, sexual abuse of a child or the death of a child. Members of
multidisciplinary teams shall include but not be limited to
representatives from the following agencies: child protective services,
law enforcement, district attorney's office, physician or medical
provider trained in forensic pediatrics, mental health professionals,
victim advocacy personnel and, if one exists, a child advocacy center.
Members of the multidisciplinary team primarily responsible for the
investigation of child abuse reports, including child protective
services, law enforcement and district attorney's office, shall
participate in joint interviews and conduct investigative functions
consistent with the mission of the particular agency member involved. It
shall not be required that members of a multidisciplinary team not
responsible for the investigation of reports participate in every
investigation. Such other members shall provide victim advocacy,
emotional support, and access to medical and mental health care, where
applicable. All members, consistent with their respective agency
missions, shall facilitate efficient delivery of services to victims and
appropriate disposition of cases through the criminal justice system
and/or the family court system in a collaborative manner, however,
non-investigative team members shall note their specific role in the
team for reports covered under this title. Notwithstanding any other
provision of law to the contrary, members of a multidisciplinary
investigative team or a child advocacy center may share with other team
members client-identifiable information concerning the child or the
child's family to facilitate the investigation of suspected child abuse
or maltreatment. Nothing in this subdivision shall preclude the creation
of multidisciplinary teams or child advocacy centers which include more
than one social services district. Each team shall develop a written
protocol for investigation of child abuse and maltreatment cases and for
interviewing child abuse and maltreatment victims. The social services
district is encouraged to train each team member in risk assessment,
indicators of child abuse and maltreatment, and appropriate interview
techniques.