NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A8248A
SPONSOR: Hevesi TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the social services law, in relation to the access of
certain information by the New York city department of investigation
PURPOSE:
To amend the social services law to authorize the New York City Depart-
ment of Investigation to have access to certain records related to juve-
niles for purposes of investigations within its legal authority.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the bill amends Subdivision 4 of section 372 of the social
services law by adding a new paragraph (c). This amendment establishes
that all relevant NYC Administration for Children's Services ("ACS")
records are subject to the review of the NYC Department of Investigation
("DOI").
Section 2 of the bill amends subparagraph (m) of paragraph (A) of subdi-
vision 4 of section 422 of the social services law, as amended by chap-
ter 12 of the laws of 1996. This amendment clarifies that no personal
identifying information in ACS records will be transmitted to DOI unless
they are essential to the investigation being conducted.
Section 3 of the bill amends paragraph (a) of subdivision 5 of section
422 of the social services law, as amended by chapter 555 of the laws of
2000, the opening paragraph as amended by section 3 of part R of chapter
56 of the laws of 2020, subparagraph (iii) as amended by section 7 of
part D of chapter 501 of the laws of 2012, and subparagraph (v) as
amended by chapter 256 of the laws of 2014. This amendment establishes
the conditions under which relevant sealed records may be accessed for
DOI oversight purposes.
Section 4 of the bill amends paragraphs (d) and (e) of subdivision 5 of
section 427-a of the social services law, paragraph (d) as amended, and
paragraph (e) as added by chapter 377 of the laws of 2011. This amend-
ment establishes that all relevant Collaborative Assessment, Response,
Engagement & Support ("CARES") records are subject to DOI review.
Section 5 of the bill amends paragraph (m) of subdivision 2 of section
496 of the social services law, as added by section 1 of part B of chap-
ter 501 of the laws of 2012. This amendment clarifies that no personal
identifying information in CARES records will be transmitted to DOI
unless they are essential to the investigation being conducted.
Section 6 establishes the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
The New York City Department of Investigation (DOI) is the Inspector
General of New York City responsible for independently investigating and
preventing corruption, fraud, waste, and abuse. In that capacity, DOI is
responsible for conducting oversight of New York City Administration for
Children's Services' (ACS) operations, including incidents of violence
and contraband in the City's juvenile detention centers, contraband
trafficking into the centers by center staff, the handling of cases
involving the death or serious injury of minor children, problems in the
foster care system, and allegations of staff misconduct. DOI staff
include investigators as well as peace officers who can make arrests and
participate in the execution of search warrants, and the agency staff
work closely with prosecuting offices to develop evidence and charge
cases warranting criminal prosecution, issue reports, and make recommen-
dations for policy and procedural reform where appropriate. In order to
provide this oversight and conduct robust investigations, DOI regularly
requires access to records and information maintained by ACS and the
State concerning youth.
The New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) main-
tains the Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment
which serves as the central repository for all child abuse and maltreat-
ment reports across the state. Reports made to the register are then
referred to the local child protective services, which in New York City
is ACS, for investigation and response.Similarly, the Justice Center
maintains the Vulnerable Persons Central Register which serves as the
central repository for all reports of abuse, neglect, and significant
incidents related to individuals who may be vulnerable to abuse and
neglect because of their reliance on professional caregivers in state
operated, licensed or certified facilities, programs or agencies. The
records maintained in the Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and
Maltreatment and the Vulnerable Persons Central Register include inves-
tigative records, including but not limited to written reports and
photographs, final dispositions, names and identifying data, dates and
circumstances and other essential information for thorough investi-
gations of abuse and maltreatment of children and vulnerable people,
operational and managerial failures, abuse of power, fraud, and
corruption. Under current law, DOI has the authority to access records
and information maintained in the registers for purposes of its investi-
gations, but only with prior approval of OCFS or the Justice Center, as
applicable, a lengthy and time-intensive process that sometimes results
in a denial, Conversely, other law enforcement agencies, like the New
York Police Department and the District Attorneys' Offices, de not need
prior approval. Moreover, DO I has no authority to access information
about unfounded reports of child abuse or maltreatment, whereas other
law enforcement agencies do have access.
ACS is also required by State law to maintain records on all juveniles
in its detention facilities, including but not limited to the child's
name, last known residence, and any further disposition or change in the
care of the child. Under current law, these records are confidential,
and OCFS requires a lengthy request and approval process before DOI can
obtain access to any of these records.
These restrictions hamper DOI's independent investigatory capabilities
in two significant ways. First, obtaining prior written OCFS approval
can be a burdensome and time-consuming process that must be completed
each time DOI needs access to juvenile-related records, and sometimes
results in a denial of access. The process unnecessarily delays or
prevents DOI's ability to conduct investigations in a timely manner,
often times in situations where the health and safety of children are at
risk. These delays are particularly harmful where DOI needs immediate
access to the juvenile detention facilities to investigate reports of
violence or mistreatment or to conduct undercover operations or contra-
band sweeps.
Second, the inability to access any information about unfounded records
means that DOI is wholly unable to investigate certain types of miscon-
duct allegations against ACS employees, such as undue familiarity, or to
have a full picture of a family's history with ACS when there is an
incident of involving the death or serious injury of a child or an alle-
gation of fraud. For example, if ACS investigates and finds a report of
child abuse to be unfounded, DOI is unable to review whether the ACS
investigation was conducted properly or whether the ACS employees
engaged in misconduct during the course of the ACS investigation, or
even to confirm the existence of the ACS investigation, because it has
no ability to access those records.
This lack of City oversight into the investigations of the reports ACS
deems unfounded is dangerous and creates a risk to the City and the
children and families that ACS is, tasked with protecting. DOI should be
treated in a similar manner to other law enforcement agencies and over-
sight bodies under the law and be granted access to the records it needs
to conduct its investigations.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New
FISCAL:
To be determined
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall have
become law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8248--A
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 5, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. HEVESI -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Children and Families -- committee discharged, bill amended,
ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to the access of
certain information by the New York city department of investigation
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 4 of section 372 of the social services law is
2 amended by adding a new paragraph (c) to read as follows:
3 (c) All such records relating to such children shall be open to
4 inspection by the New York city department of investigation for purposes
5 of an investigation within the legal authority of the department of
6 investigation.
7 § 2. Subparagraph (m) of paragraph (A) of subdivision 4 of section 422
8 of the social services law, as amended by chapter 12 of the laws of
9 1996, is amended to read as follows:
10 (m) the New York city department of investigation provided however,
11 that no information identifying the subjects of the report or other
12 persons named in the report shall be made available to the department of
13 investigation unless such information is essential to an investigation
14 within the legal authority of the department of investigation [and the
15 state department of social services gives prior approval];
16 § 3. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 5 of section 422 of the social
17 services law, as amended by chapter 555 of the laws of 2000, the opening
18 paragraph as amended by section 3 of part R of chapter 56 of the laws of
19 2020, subparagraph (iii) as amended by section 7 of part D of chapter
20 501 of the laws of 2012 and subparagraph (v) as amended by chapter 256
21 of the laws of 2014, is amended to read as follows:
22 (a) Unless an investigation of a report conducted pursuant to this
23 title that is commenced on or before December thirty-first, two thousand
24 twenty-one determines that there is some credible evidence of the
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11843-02-5
A. 8248--A 2
1 alleged abuse or maltreatment or unless an investigation of a report
2 conducted pursuant to this title that is commenced on or after January
3 first, two thousand twenty-two determines that there is a fair prepon-
4 derance of the evidence that the alleged abuse or maltreatment occurred,
5 all information identifying the subjects of the report and other persons
6 named in the report shall be legally sealed forthwith by the central
7 register and any local child protective services which investigated the
8 report. Such unfounded reports may only be unsealed and made available:
9 (i) to the office of children and family services for the purpose of
10 supervising a social services district;
11 (ii) to the office of children and family services and local or
12 regional fatality review team members for the purpose of preparing a
13 fatality report pursuant to section twenty or four hundred twenty-two-b
14 of this chapter;
15 (iii) to a local child protective service, the office of children and
16 family services, or all members of a local or regional multidisciplinary
17 investigative team or the justice center for the protection of people
18 with special needs when investigating a subsequent report of suspected
19 abuse, neglect or maltreatment involving a subject of the unfounded
20 report, a child named in the unfounded report, or a child's sibling
21 named in the unfounded report pursuant to this article or article eleven
22 of this chapter;
23 (iv) to the subject of the report; [and]
24 (v) to a district attorney, an assistant district attorney, an inves-
25 tigator employed in the office of a district attorney, or to a sworn
26 officer of the division of state police, of a city, county, town or
27 village police department or of a county sheriff's office when such
28 official verifies that the report is necessary to conduct an active
29 investigation or prosecution of a violation of subdivision four of
30 section 240.50 of the penal law[.]; and
31 (vi) to the New York city department of investigation for purposes of
32 an investigation within the legal authority of the department of inves-
33 tigation, including, but not limited to, when an inspector general of
34 the New York city department of investigation determines that the report
35 is necessary to conduct an active investigation of a violation of subdi-
36 vision four of section 240.50 of the penal law.
37 § 4. Paragraphs (d) and (e) of subdivision 5 of section 427-a of the
38 social services law, paragraph (d) as amended and paragraph (e) as added
39 by chapter 377 of the laws of 2011, are amended to read as follows:
40 (d) All reports assigned to, and records created under, the family
41 assessment and services track, including but not limited to reports made
42 or written as well as any other information obtained or photographs
43 taken concerning such reports or records shall be confidential and shall
44 be made available only to:
45 (i) staff of the office of children and family services and persons
46 designated by the office of children and family services;
47 (ii) the social services district responsible for the family assess-
48 ment and services track case;
49 (iii) community-based agencies that have contracts with the social
50 services district to carry out activities for the district under the
51 family assessment and services track;
52 (iv) providers of services under the family assessment and services
53 track;
54 (v) any social services district investigating a subsequent report of
55 abuse or maltreatment involving the same subject or the same child or
56 children named in the report;
A. 8248--A 3
1 (vi) a court, but only while the family is receiving services provided
2 under the family assessment and services track and only pursuant to a
3 court order or judicial subpoena, issued after notice and an opportunity
4 for the subject of the report and all parties to the present proceeding
5 to be heard, based on a judicial finding that such reports, records, and
6 any information concerning such reports and records, are necessary for
7 the determination of an issue before the court. Such reports, records
8 and information to be disclosed pursuant to a judicial subpoena shall be
9 submitted to the court for inspection and for such directions as may be
10 necessary to protect confidentiality, including but not limited to
11 redaction of portions of the reports, records, and information and to
12 determine any further limits on redisclosure in addition to the limita-
13 tions provided for in this title. A court shall not have access to the
14 sealed family assessment and services reports, records, and any informa-
15 tion concerning such reports and records, after the conclusion of
16 services provided under the family assessment and services track; [and]
17 (vii) the subject of the report included in the records of the family
18 assessment and services track; and
19 (viii) the New York city department of investigation for purposes of
20 an investigation within the legal authority of the department of inves-
21 tigation.
22 (e) Persons given access to sealed reports, records, and any informa-
23 tion concerning such reports and records, pursuant to paragraph (d) of
24 this subdivision shall not redisclose such reports, records and informa-
25 tion except as follows:
26 (i) the office of children and family services and social services
27 districts may disclose aggregate, non-client identifiable information;
28 (ii) social services districts, community-based agencies that have
29 contracts with a social services district to carry out activities for
30 the district under the family assessment and services track, and provid-
31 ers of services under the family assessment and services track, may
32 exchange such reports, records and information concerning such reports
33 and records as necessary to carry out activities and services related to
34 the same person or persons addressed in the records of a family assess-
35 ment and services track case;
36 (iii) the child protective service of a social services district may
37 unseal a report, record and information concerning such report and
38 record of a case under the family assessment and services track in the
39 event such report, record or information is relevant to a subsequent
40 report of suspected child abuse or maltreatment. Information from such
41 an unsealed report or record that is relevant to the subsequent report
42 of suspected child abuse and maltreatment may be used by the child
43 protective service for purposes of investigation and family court action
44 concerning the subsequent report and may be included in the record of
45 the investigation of the subsequent report. If the social services
46 district initiates a proceeding under article ten of the family court
47 act in connection with such a subsequent report of suspected child abuse
48 and maltreatment and there is information in the report or record of a
49 previous case under the family assessment and services track that is
50 relevant to the proceeding, the social services district shall include
51 such information in the record of the investigation of the subsequent
52 report of suspected child abuse or maltreatment and shall make that
53 information available to the family court and the other parties for use
54 in such proceeding provided, however, that the information included from
55 the previous case under the family assessment and services track shall
56 then be subject to all laws and regulations regarding confidentiality
A. 8248--A 4
1 that apply to the record of the investigation of such subsequent report
2 of suspected child abuse or maltreatment. The family court may consider
3 the information from the previous case under the family assessment and
4 services track that is relevant to such proceeding in making any deter-
5 minations in the proceeding; [and]
6 (iv) a subject of the report may, at [his or her] such subject's
7 discretion, present a report, records and information concerning such
8 report and records from the family assessment and services track case,
9 in whole or in part, in any proceeding under article ten of the family
10 court act in which the subject is a respondent. A subject of the report
11 also may, at [his or her] such subject's discretion, present a report,
12 records and information concerning such report and records from the
13 family assessment and services track, in whole or in part, in any
14 proceeding involving the custody of, or visitation with the subject's
15 children, or in any other relevant proceeding. In making any determi-
16 nation in such a proceeding, the court may consider any portion of the
17 family assessment and service track report, records and any information
18 concerning such report and records presented by the subject of the
19 report that is relevant to the proceeding. Nothing in this subparagraph,
20 however, shall be interpreted to authorize a court to order the subject
21 to produce such report, records or information concerning such report
22 and records, in whole or in part; and
23 (v) the New York city department of investigation may provide such
24 reports, records and information to a district attorney, an assistant
25 district attorney, or an investigator employed in the office of a
26 district attorney, or to a United States attorney, assistant United
27 States attorney, or an investigator employed in the office of a United
28 States attorney for purposes of a criminal prosecution related to an
29 investigation within the legal authority of the department of investi-
30 gation.
31 § 5. Paragraph (m) of subdivision 2 of section 496 of the social
32 services law, as added by section 1 of part B of chapter 501 of the laws
33 of 2012, is amended to read as follows:
34 (m) the New York city department of investigation; provided, however,
35 that no information identifying the subjects of the report or other
36 persons named in the report shall be made available to the department of
37 investigation unless such information is essential to an investigation
38 within the legal authority of the department of investigation [and the
39 justice center or the applicable state oversight agency gives prior
40 approval];
41 § 6. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall
42 have become a law.
