Directs the office of victim services, in consultation with the office for the prevention of domestic violence, to establish a statewide supervised visitation initiative including culturally sensitive services that provide language access for those who need it and that are affordable for those with limited means to pay; requires the submission of regular assessments and reports.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A65B
SPONSOR: Hevesi TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the social services law, in relation to the establish-
ment of a statewide supervised visitation initiative to support safe and
structured parenting time
PURPOSE:
To establish a statewide supervised visitation initiative in New York
state
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends the social services law to add a new section 398-g
directing the Office of Children and Family Services, in consultation
with the Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence to administer
supervised visitation services throughout the state and require each
county and New York City to submit annual assessments of local needs for
such services.
Section 2 sets forth the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Twenty counties in New York State lack supervised visitation services, a
key resource providing safe, supervised contact between children and
parents in custody and domestic violence disputes. In a comprehensive
report compiled by the Unified Court System's Office of Justice Initi-
atives detailed the "serious gap in the availability of programs for
professional supervision of visitation." The report found that even in
areas that do have supervised visitation programs, the service offerings
are so limited as to have length wait-lists and high costs to litigants,
as well as limitations on the number of visits they can offer.
Families and children have a right to maintain relationships through
legal proceedings - especially when Family Court backlogs mean cases can
spend months, if not years, in limbo. Cost and limited programming
should not be prohibitive to accessing this crucial service.
This bill would authorize the Office of Children and Family Services, in
consultation with the Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence, to
administer supervised visitation throughout the state. It would require
counties and New York City to submit annual reports on the need for such
services in their area and require OCFS to report annually to the legis-
lature and governor data regarding each program's success in meeting
local need and recommendations for improvement.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2024:A.10521 - Referred to Children and Families
S.8661A (Sen. Hoylman-Sigal) - Referred to Finance
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Requires state budget funding to implement.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after it
shall have become a law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
65--B
Cal. No. 2
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 8, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. HEVESI, LAVINE, DINOWITZ, SEAWRIGHT, PIROZZOLO,
PEOPLES-STOKES, OTIS, SIMON, SAYEGH, SHRESTHA, KAY, ROMERO, KASSAY,
McMAHON, CRUZ -- read once and referred to the Committee on Children
and Families -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted
as amended and recommitted to said committee -- ordered to a third
reading, amended and ordered reprinted, retaining its place on the
order of third reading
AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to the establish-
ment of a statewide supervised visitation initiative to support safe
and structured parenting time
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
2 398-g to read as follows:
3 § 398-g. Supervised visitation to support safe and structured parent-
4 ing time. 1. The legislature finds and declares that professionally
5 supervised visitation programs are often necessary in order to keep
6 families safe, to foster healthy family relationships and to further the
7 best interests of children in family offense, child protective, and
8 custody and visitation proceedings in supreme and family courts. Recog-
9 nizing that a large number of counties have no supervised visitation
10 programs at all and, of those that have such programs, the need far
11 exceeds the availability of the programs, it is the intent of this
12 section to provide state support for the establishment of at least one
13 program in every county that does not have one and, for those counties
14 and cities that have programs, to expand their reach to meet the need.
15 Such programs may be essential in cases involving family violence,
16 mental health, or other cases in which supervision is vital to meet the
17 needs of the parent and/or child.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00032-04-6
A. 65--B 2
1 2. Within grant funds appropriated by the state for this purpose, the
2 office of victim services, in consultation with the office for the
3 prevention of domestic violence, shall establish a statewide supervised
4 visitation initiative to support safe and structured parenting time,
5 that shall include culturally sensitive services that provide language
6 access for those who need it and that are affordable for those with
7 limited means to pay. The office of victim services shall require each
8 county and New York City to submit annual assessments of the local needs
9 for supervised visitation services, as well as plans for meeting the
10 assessed needs and for collecting data regarding usage and effectiveness
11 of the programs. The submissions shall specify the services to be
12 provided, the estimated number of children and families to be served by
13 the programs, the estimated number of fee waivers and the estimated cost
14 of the programs. The submissions may include plans to contract with
15 private non-profit organizations for services and may include multi-
16 county programs if geographically accessible for families utilizing the
17 programs. The plan for such programs shall be included in the district-
18 wide child welfare services plan pursuant to section four hundred nine-d
19 of this article.
20 3. Such programs shall be made available to comply with supreme and
21 family court temporary and final orders requiring such supervision as a
22 condition of access to children and shall include provisions for waiver
23 of fees for users of such programs who cannot afford to pay. Where
24 directed by the court, the programs shall provide reports to the court
25 at the end of the visitation period and as the court otherwise directs.
26 4. The office of victim services shall promulgate regulations neces-
27 sary to implement this section and shall submit a report to the legisla-
28 ture and governor one year after the effective date of this section and
29 annually thereafter. The report shall provide data regarding the
30 programs in each county, shall evaluate the effectiveness of the state-
31 wide initiative in meeting local needs and shall include recommendations
32 for enhancing the initiative.
33 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
34 it shall have become a law.
