Bill Text: NY A10328 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Establishes a moratorium on the use of forensic child custody evaluators in family court proceedings by the office of court administration.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-05-13 - referred to judiciary [A10328 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-A10328-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          10328

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                      May 13, 2022
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Paulin) --
          read once and referred to the Committee on Judiciary

        AN ACT to amend the domestic relations law and the family court act,  in
          relation  to  establishing  a  moratorium on the use of forensic child
          custody evaluators in family court proceedings

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.  Section  70  of  the domestic relations law is amended by
     2  adding a new subdivision (c) to read as follows:
     3    (c) (1) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, there is
     4  hereby established a moratorium on the use  of  forensic  child  custody
     5  evaluators  in  family  court proceedings. No court shall order or allow
     6  into evidence a forensic custody report in the context of a  custody  or
     7  visitation proceeding.
     8    (2) For the purposes of this subdivision:
     9    (i)  "forensic  custody  report"  shall mean any report, assessment or
    10  evaluation prepared by a forensic child custody evaluator  and  used  by
    11  the court in a child custody or visitation determination; and
    12    (ii) "forensic child custody evaluator" shall mean a licensed psychia-
    13  trist,  psychologist or social worker authorized by statute or the court
    14  to perform a forensic evaluation relating to a party or a child in order
    15  to assist the court in a child custody or visitation determination.
    16    (3) Forensic child custody evaluators shall not  be  reinstated  until
    17  all  eleven  recommendations  of  the Blue-Ribbon commission on forensic
    18  custody evaluations have been implemented.
    19    § 2.  Subdivision 1 of section 240 of the domestic  relations  law  is
    20  amended by adding a new paragraph (a-3) to read as follows:
    21    (a-3)  (1) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, there
    22  is hereby established a moratorium on the use of forensic child  custody
    23  evaluators  in  family  court proceedings. No court shall order or allow
    24  into evidence a forensic custody report in the context of a  custody  or
    25  visitation proceeding.
    26    (2) For the purposes of this subdivision:

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD14754-04-2
        A. 10328                            2

     1    (i)  "forensic  custody  report"  shall mean any report, assessment or
     2  evaluation prepared by a forensic child custody evaluator  and  used  by
     3  the court in a child custody or visitation determination; and
     4    (ii) "forensic evaluator" shall mean a licensed psychiatrist, psychol-
     5  ogist  or  social worker authorized by statute or the court to perform a
     6  forensic evaluation relating to a party or a child in  order  to  assist
     7  the court in a child custody or visitation determination.
     8    (3)  Forensic  child  custody evaluators shall not be reinstated until
     9  all eleven recommendations of the  Blue-Ribbon  commission  on  forensic
    10  custody evaluations have been implemented.
    11    §  3.  Section  651 of the family court act is amended by adding a new
    12  subdivision (g) to read as follows:
    13    (g) 1. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, there  is
    14  hereby  established  a  moratorium  on the use of forensic child custody
    15  evaluators in family court proceedings. No court shall  order  or  allow
    16  into  evidence  a forensic custody report in the context of a custody or
    17  visitation proceeding.
    18    2. For the purposes of this subdivision:
    19    (i) "forensic custody report" shall  mean  any  report  or  evaluation
    20  prepared by a forensic child custody evaluator which includes such eval-
    21  uator's  recommendations, opinions or conclusions as to child custody or
    22  visitation; and
    23    (ii) "forensic child custody evaluator" shall mean a licensed psychia-
    24  trist, psychologist or social worker authorized by statute or the  court
    25  to perform a forensic evaluation relating to a party or a child in order
    26  to assist the court in a child custody or visitation determination.
    27    3. Forensic child custody evaluators shall not be reinstated until all
    28  eleven recommendations of the Blue-Ribbon commission on forensic custody
    29  evaluations have been implemented.
    30    § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.