NY Soc Serv L § 442 (2021)
2021 New York Laws SOS - Social Services Article 6 - Children Title 8 - State Child Care Review Service 442 - Child Care Review Service; Establishment, Operations and Procedure.

§  442.  Child  care  review  service;  establishment,  operations and procedure.  1.  The  department,  in  consultation  with  the   advisory committee,  shall  establish  and operate a child care review service to accomplish the purposes of this title, for all children who are  in  the care  of  an  authorized  agency  and shall make such regulations as are appropriate to implement this title.   2. The service shall be implemented with respect to all children under the age of twenty-one years for whom an authorized agency  is  providing foster  care  as  defined  in  subdivision  (c)  of section one thousand eighty-seven of the family court act and  for  whom  an  application  is pending to an authorized agency for foster care.   3.  The  department  is  authorized  to enter into agreements with any person, firm, organization or association for the whole or any  part  of the  design  or operation of the service as described in this title. Any such agreements shall specify that such  person,  firm,  corporation  or association  shall safeguard the confidentiality of information received or maintained by the service,  in  the  same  manner,  and  will  remain subject  to the same confidentiality requirements, as the department. In addition,  any  such  agreement  shall  require   such   person,   firm, corporation  or  association to comply with other applicable federal and state laws protecting the confidentiality of the information received or maintained by the service.   4. The service shall collect, maintain,  update,  and  distribute,  as provided  in  this  title,  information  from  each authorized agency to further the purpose of this title.   5. The service may request from any authorized agency, and such agency shall submit to the  service  all  information,  including  updating  of information,  in the form and manner and at such times as the department may require that is appropriate to the purposes  and  operation  of  the service.   6.  Information  to  be  submitted  to  or  collected  by the service, pursuant to subdivisions four and five, shall, to the  extent  possible, be  in  compatible  form so as to facilitate the making of public policy decisions relating to child care programs supported by public funds  and administered by various state, local and voluntary agencies.   7.  In designing the service, the department, in consultation with the advisory committee, shall review all  information  reporting  forms  and financial  claims forms, and shall make every effort to consolidate and, where  appropriate,  eliminate  duplicative  claiming  and   information reporting forms in order to develop uniform statewide claiming forms and information reporting forms.   8. Subject to regulations of the department the service shall:  (a)  prepare  and make available on a regular basis to each authorized agency such data as they may require to meet the purposes of this title;  (b) issue regular reports setting forth aggregate statewide and  local statistical data with appropriate analyses, but not including individual identifying information; and  (c)  issue reports as to the capabilities of the service and the types of information maintained by the service.   9. The department in consultation with the  advisory  committee  shall prepare  and submit an annual report to the governor and the legislature as part of the annual report required to be filed prior to the fifteenth day of December of each year by subdivision (d) of section seventeen  of this  chapter  on  its  progress in the development and operation of the service, including any significant problems encountered  or  anticipated in  the  design and operation of the service and any recommendations for administrative or legislative changes that would further the purposes of this title.    10. The state child care review service established pursuant  to  this title shall design and implement a system to:  (a) monitor all financial claims made by social services districts for each  child in foster care and child and family in receipt of preventive services pursuant to title four of this chapter;  (b) compile and maintain  a  cumulative  record  of  information  with respect  to  actions taken on behalf of each individual child throughout his or her length of stay in foster care;  (c) compile and maintain information on actions taken by local  social services  districts  to  initiate  judicial  proceedings  as provided by section three hundred fifty-eight-a of this chapter and to  comply  with judicial orders made pursuant to section one thousand eighty-nine of the family  court  act, to refer legally free children to the state adoption service pursuant to section three hundred seventy-two-c of this chapter, and to comply with the provisions of section four hundred nine-e of this article and the  regulations  of  the  office  of  children  and  family services promulgated thereunder; and  (e)  compile  and  maintain  comparative  data for authorized agencies including, but not limited to, characteristics and numbers  of  children entering  care  and  their  families,  admissions  practices, delineated reasons for initial and continued placement or provision  of  preventive or  child protective services, length of stay in care, length of time in receipt of preventive services or child protective services, foster care reentry rates, number of children discharged to parents  and  relatives, the  characteristics,  numbers and rates of children leaving foster care through adoption, costs  of  care  and  preventive  services  and  other information indicative of authorized agency performance.