Bill Text: NY A06792 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Requires child protective services to orally and in writing disclose certain information to parents and caretakers who are the subject of a child protective services investigation; requires such oral and written disclosure to contain certain information regarding the rights of the person under investigation.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 14-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-05-03 - print number 6792a [A06792 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-A06792-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 6792--A 2021-2022 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY April 8, 2021 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. WALKER, COOK, SAYEGH, TAYLOR, GOTTFRIED, SIMON, EPSTEIN, JACKSON, CRUZ, BURGOS, JEAN-PIERRE, QUART -- read once and referred to the Committee on Children and Families -- recommitted to the Committee on Children and Families in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to requiring child protective services to disclose certain information to parents and caretakers who are the subject of a child protective services investi- gation The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The social services law is amended by adding a new section 2 424-c to read as follows: 3 § 424-c. Information regarding parent or caretaker's rights. A parent 4 or caretaker has the right to receive certain information regarding 5 their rights at the initial point of contact during a child protective 6 investigation. 7 1. At the initial point of contact with a parent or caretaker, child 8 protective services shall orally and in writing disseminate, in the 9 parent or caretaker's preferred language, information regarding the 10 parent or caretaker's rights during such investigation and shall docu- 11 ment in the case record that such information has been provided to the 12 parent or caretaker. Such information shall include, but need not be 13 limited to, the following information: 14 (a) The parent or caretaker is not required, unless court ordered, to 15 permit the child protective services representative to enter the resi- 16 dence of the parent or caretaker; 17 (b) The parent or caretaker who is the subject of the investigation is 18 entitled to be informed of the allegations being investigated; EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD10274-07-2A. 6792--A 2 1 (c) The parent or caretaker is not required, unless court ordered, to 2 speak with the child protective services representative, and any state- 3 ment made by the parent, caretaker or other family member may be used 4 against the parent or caretaker in an administrative or court proceed- 5 ing; 6 (d) The parent or caretaker is entitled to seek the advice of an 7 attorney and to have an attorney present when the parent or caretaker is 8 questioned by a child protective representative; 9 (e) The parent or caretaker is not required, unless court ordered, to 10 allow a child protective services representative to interview or examine 11 a child; 12 (f) The parent or caretaker is not required, unless court ordered, to 13 agree to any requests made by a child protective services represen- 14 tative, including, but not limited to, requests to sign a release of 15 information, to take a drug or alcohol test, or to submit to a mental 16 health evaluation; 17 (g) Contact information for resources which may be available to 18 parents and caretakers during a child protective services investigation, 19 including legal services from a designated organization. 20 2. If at the initial point of contact with the parent or caretaker the 21 child protective services worker has reasonable cause to believe that 22 exigent circumstances exist that present an imminent danger to the 23 child's life or health and there is no time to seek a court order under 24 section one thousand twenty-four of the family court act, the child 25 protective services worker shall take all lawful measures necessary to 26 protect the child's life or health prior to disseminating information 27 regarding the parent or caretaker's rights during the investigation 28 pursuant to subdivision one of this section. 29 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
