NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A531
SPONSOR: Hevesi TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the social services law, in relation to establishing a
statewide kinship navigator program
PURPOSE:
The purpose of the bill is to strengthen the current Kinship Navigator
program, stabilize funding, and streamline services for caregivers.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one of the bill amends the social services law to establish the
Statewide Guardianship Assistance and Statewide Kinship Navigator
Program within the Office of Children and Family Services.
Section two adds a new section 458-g to define the "Statewide Kinship
Navigator Program" and define "Kinship Caregiver". It also provides for
the statewide coordination of services and the development of regional
expertise.
Section three of the bill establishes the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
In 2006, New York began investing state funds for kinship supports meant
to serve the non-foster care kinship community. A kinship navigator
service was enacted through budget language that would allow "for
services and expenses of the Catholic Family Center in Rochester to
establish, operate, and administrate a statewide kinship information and
referral network." The program was appropriated $250,000 to provide this
service to the kinship community across all of New York State. Separate
from the statewide kinship navigator funds, a total of $750,000 was
appropriated to establish and fund "kinship care demonstration programs"
which was used to fund localized kinship care case management services
throughout the state. These programs exist to help stabilize kinship
caregivers, who are relatives and close family friends, to help keep
children out of the foster care system. New York has an estimated
195,000 children being raised by kinship caregivers, 95% of whom are
caring for children without the support of the foster care system.
Funding for kinship services has been unstable. Dozens of programs
around the state have opened and then abruptly closed their doors to
kinship caregivers due to loss of funding or to the uncertainty in the
stability of the funds they received. As a result, kinship caregivers
are less likely to access available resources like public assistance,
Medicaid, food stamps, and other needed benefits.
Due to the current funding structure of New York's kinship services, the
system has been a rotating door of private agencies applying for grants
every 3-5 years from the Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS).
With each round of funds comes a new batch of programs who start from
nothing and try to build a meaningful service for kinship caregivers in
their community over the course of the grant period. When new grants
have been issued, the older, more established programs have often been
de-funded, leaving kinship caregivers without the supports of programs
and forcing experienced kinship professionals to move on to other areas
of expertise. This instability created by this method of funding kinship
services has been a disservice to the kinship community and is in
desperate need of reform.
In 2018, the Families First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) opened up
funding for kinship navigator services through Title IV-E, if those
services could meet an evidence-based standard. A 50% reimbursement of
funds spent by the state on kinship navigator services could be claimed
if the service provided was approved by the national clearinghouse. New
York has been engaged in implementation and evaluation of its kinship
services in an effort to meet the standards set forth by the FFPSA. OCFS
has entrusted the Catholic Charities Family and Community Services!
(CCFCS) kinship navigator program to be the pass-through for all federal
demonstration project funds, and they have in turn partnered with local
agencies to run programs intended to be evaluated for the clearinghouse,
demonstrating a unified system is possible in New York.
The need to unify the Kinship System of Care under one umbrella has
never been greater. As New York transitions into implementation of the
FFPSA, it has been estimated that kinship caregiving will increase as a
result of fewer children going into foster care. Having services avail-
able to families that meet the needs they present with will be increas-
ingly important in order to ensure that children who have been diverted
from foster care stay out of foster care and can remain safely in the
homes of kinship caregivers. Creating a unified statewide kinship navi-
gator by consolidating the current system into one entity with a phys-
ical presence regionally throughout the state will help streamline
services for caregivers and ensure they have access to robust informa-
tion, case management, legal, and respite services.
Investing in children by enacting a kinship navigator to be a regional
presence available in every county would ensure that kinship families
receive the support they need to thrive while keeping children out of
the foster care system, where New York spends an average of $67,000 per
child per year in foster care.'
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2024:A. 2797 - Referred to Ways and Means
2022:A. 10210 - Referred to Ways and Means
FISCAL:
To be determined
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
531
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 8, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. HEVESI -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Children and Families
AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to establishing a
statewide kinship navigator program
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The title heading of title 10 of article 6 of the social
2 services law, as added by section 4 of part F of chapter 58 of the laws
3 of 2010, is amended to read as follows:
4 KINSHIP GUARDIANSHIP ASSISTANCE AND STATEWIDE
5 KINSHIP NAVIGATOR PROGRAM
6 § 2. The social services law is amended by adding a new section 458-g
7 to read as follows:
8 § 458-g. Statewide kinship navigator program. 1. The statewide kinship
9 navigator program (hereinafter the "program"), is hereby established
10 within the office of children and family services.
11 2. Such program shall assist kinship caregivers who are seeking infor-
12 mation or assistance related to services and benefits that may be avail-
13 able to the caregiver or child. Within appropriations available, such
14 information and assistance shall include but not be limited to:
15 (a) referral services;
16 (b) access to a free legal consultation for kinship caregivers in need
17 of legal assistance or assistance understanding their legal rights;
18 (c) assistance applying for publicly funded benefits including but
19 not limited to public assistance, Medicaid, child health plus, child
20 care subsidies, and the supplemental nutrition assistance program
21 (SNAP); and
22 (d) information related to services available pursuant to section
23 three hundred ninety-two of this chapter.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01536-01-5
A. 531 2
1 3. For purposes of this section, "kinship caregiver" shall have the
2 same meaning as defined by subdivision twenty-two of section three
3 hundred seventy-one of this chapter, who is currently caring for a child
4 or is a prospective kinship caregiver. It shall also include relative
5 guardians and prospective relative guardians, as defined in section four
6 hundred fifty-eight-a of this title.
7 4. (a) The commissioner shall administer the statewide kinship naviga-
8 tor program, either directly or through contract. In addition to provid-
9 ing information and assistance, as required by subdivision two of this
10 section, the program shall also have the following responsibilities,
11 within appropriations available, which shall include but not be limited
12 to:
13 (i) statewide coordination of services, including coordination of
14 efforts among the office of children and family services, the department
15 of health, the office for the aging, the education department, the
16 office of temporary and disability assistance, the office of addiction
17 services and supports, the office of mental health, the office for
18 people with developmental disabilities, local social services districts
19 and relevant community-based organizations;
20 (ii) the provision of information as to the availability of, eligibil-
21 ity criteria for, and application procedure for available benefits and
22 services;
23 (iii) compilation of statistical data from state and local agencies
24 and dissemination to the public;
25 (iv) operation of a toll-free telephone number that may be called
26 to obtain basic information about the rights of, and services available
27 to kinship caregivers;
28 (v) operation of local respite services;
29 (vi) training related to caring for children; and
30 (vii) the consolidation of existing programs with existing contractors
31 that are satisfactorily performing as determined by the office of chil-
32 dren and family services and the expansion of service provision to
33 comply with federally approved standards; such consolidation plan shall
34 provide for submission of information regarding outcome-based measures
35 that demonstrate quality of services provided and program effectiveness
36 to the office of children and family services in a form and manner
37 and at such times as required by such office.
38 (b) The commissioner shall divide the state into not less than seven
39 and not greater than twelve regions in order for the kinship care navi-
40 gator program to develop regional expertise in carrying out the
41 provisions of this section.
42 5. The commissioner shall make grants, within amounts appropriated
43 therefor, to a community-based organization or consortia of community-
44 based organizations to operate the statewide kinship navigator program.
45 6. The commissioner shall promulgate any rules and regulations neces-
46 sary for the implementation of this section.
47 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
