NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A7596
SPONSOR: Rivera TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the social services law, in relation to limitations on
the number of cases handled by child welfare personnel
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends section 409-g of the social services law to limit the
number of cases on a foster care worker's caseload to a maximum of 16.
Section 2 provides for an effective date of 60 days after the bill
becomes law.
JUSTIFICATION:
According to the Council of Family and Child Caring Agencies (COFCCA),
caseworkers in New York State handle an average of 25-30 cases at a.
time. This overload of cases seriously undermines the effectiveness of
their work, keeps them from providing adequate services to the families
they serve, and places the foster children in harm's way. There have
been a number of recent cases where foster children have languished in
the system because of the worker's inability to get the cases in order.
Most of the time the reason for this is not the caseworker's ineptness,
but the overwhelming number of services they need to coordinate for so
many families. According to the National Association of Social Workers
(NASW) the maximum number of cases a foster care worker can adequately
serve is 16.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall have
become a law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7596
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
April 1, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. RIVERA -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Social Services
AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to limitations on
the number of cases handled by child welfare personnel
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The section heading of section 409-g of the social services
2 law, as added by chapter 611 of the laws of 1979, is amended to read as
3 follows:
4 Training of child welfare personnel; limitation on caseloads.
5 § 2. Section 409-g of the social services law is amended by adding a
6 new closing paragraph to read as follows:
7 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the number of cases under
8 the supervision of any foster care worker shall not exceed sixteen at
9 any one time.
10 § 3. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
11 have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11227-01-5
