Quotes from Advocates:
 

“We applaud the New York State Legislature and Governor Hochul for heeding the call of impacted families to end anonymous reporting to the state central registry hotline,” said Angela Burton, co-chair of the Narrowing the Front Door Workgroup. “With this simple change, constitutionally recognized rights of family privacy and family integrity will be protected, sparing thousands of New York families from unnecessary, invasive, and traumatic intrusion into their lives.”

“We thank Governor Kathy Hochul for signing, and bill sponsors Senator Jabari Brisport and Assembly Member Andrew Hevesi for championing this vital piece of legislation. By replacing our current anonymous reporting system with confidential reporting, the Anti-Harassment in Reporting Act creates an important change to a system that has enabled malicious reporters to harass families,” said Nila Natarajan, Director of Family Defense & Policy at Brooklyn Defender Services. “As public defenders, we have seen the trauma caused when these invasive investigations have been weaponized. The signing of this legislation into law creates needed transparency and accountability and protects families from unnecessary contact with the family policing system. We are proud to have worked alongside community members, public defenders, and advocates across the state to pass this important bill.”

Joyce McMillan, Founder and Executive Director of Just Making A Change for Families (JMACforFamilies), said, “For decades in New York State, countless families, many of whom are Black and Brown, have been victimized by false reports to the State Central Registry.  With our governor signing this bill into law, we have ended the practice of weaponizing child welfare officials for personal and malicious reasons. We are now putting in place a practical, commonsense guardrail that will protect families and save taxpayers’ money. I am proud to stand with every advocate who understood and supported the passing of this important piece of legislation." 
 

Jeffrey Chang, Director of Communications at Lawyers For Children | Protecting Rights. Changing Lives, said, "We applaud the Governor and Legislature for passing this important bill, which will help to reduce the number of unnecessary and traumatic investigations without sacrificing child safety. Anonymous, baseless, reports are too often used as a tool of harassment when there is no real concern for a child's safety. This bill will take significant steps toward eliminating the use of the State Central Registry as a weapon, while ensuring that child protective resources are directed to cases where they are truly needed." -Betsy Kramer, Director of Policy & Special Litigation, Lawyers For Children."

Kate Breslin, President and CEO, Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy, said, “By signing the Anti-Harassment Act into law, Governor Hochul has chosen to protect families and children from unnecessary, disruptive, and life-altering investigations by Child Protective Services. With a longstanding loophole in the state hotline closed, New York is one step closer to transforming its child welfare system.”

"We applaud Governor Hochul for signing the Antiharassment in Reporting bill," said Dawne Mitchell, Chief Attorney of The Legal Aid Society's Juvenile Rights Practice. "The elimination of anonymous reporting in New York State is a huge step towards better protecting families caught up in a system whose disparate racial impact we witness every day. This bill minimizes malicious, false reporting that only serves to traumatize children and families. We thank Senator Brisport and Assembly Member Hevesi for your leadership and we look forward to continuing to work together to reduce the harms of family policing."

Cherriese Bufis-Scott, Executive Director of Diverse Mosaic Community Center, said, “From our frontline work in Upstate New York and across New York State, we see that anonymous reporting is frequently used to harass families for poverty rather than protect children. The Anti-Harassment in Reporting Act introduces long-overdue accountability and affirms that poverty is not neglect.” 

Lukee Forbes, Executive Director of We Are Revolutionary, said, “At We Are Revolutionary, our mission is to address Adverse Childhood Experiences and keep families whole, which is why we strongly support the Anti-Harassment in Reporting law.” 

Pat O’Brien, Executive Director of Adoptive and Foster Family Coalition NY said “many of our constituents who are relative parents, foster parents, and adoptive parents have false allegations made against them by anonymous callers. So they are not unlike other parents where they are falsely targeted, particularly if neighbors or landlords do not want additional children living in their buildings or neighborhoods. The foster/adoptive/kinship coalition of parents and families is equally passionate about this bill being signed.” 

Dale Margolin Cecka, Assistant Professor of Law and Director of the Family Violence Litigation Clinic at Albany Law School, said, “When I published the first comprehensive legal analysis of anonymous reporting of child neglect over a decade ago, the goal was to raise awareness of a flawed reporting system that harms the very families it purports to protect. Today, Governor Hochul has taken a historic step in recognizing that confidential reporting — not anonymous reporting — is the path forward to protect New York’s most vulnerable children and families. During my time representing parents targeted by malicious anonymous reports, including victims of domestic violence, I’ve witnessed what happens when countless hours of investigative resources are diverted from families genuinely in need. Confidential reporting is a meaningful step toward a child welfare system that prioritizes accountability, fairness, and real protection. As the third state in the U.S. to implement these reforms, New York is leading the way in creating a system that directs resources where they’re truly needed and shields families from the weaponization of reporting hotlines.”    

"Each year, more than 10,000 New York families are subjected to invasive and traumatic investigations by the family policing system based solely on anonymous reports. Most of these families are Black or Brown and almost all of them – 93% – are cleared of any wrongdoing. Shifting to a system of confidential reporting is a long overdue step to preventing baseless and harassing reports that are shrouded in anonymity. We thank the impacted parents who have fought long and hard for this change, Senator Brisport and Assemblymember Hevesi for their partnership in this fight, and Governor Hochul for signing this bill into law" said Tehra Coles, Executive Director/CEO of Center for Family Representation (CFR).

“Long a breeding ground for harassment and retaliation, anonymous reporting to the central registry hotline has been wielded as a weapon against Black and brown families, eroding trust in schools, hospitals, shelters, and other public institutions without corresponding gains in child safety," said Linda Tigani, Chair and Executive Director of the NYC Commission on Racial Equity. "As the racial equity oversight agency for the state’s largest child welfare system, NYC CORE commends Governor Hochul for answering the call of families who have been negatively impacted by anonymous reporting, and increasing transparency and credibility in a process rife with potential for—and evidence of—racial bias."
 

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