Requires a caller making a report of suspected child abuse or maltreatment to the central registry to leave their name and contact information; prohibits the office of children and family services from releasing information identifying a person who made such a report.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A2479A
SPONSOR: Hevesi TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the social services law, in relation to the adminis-
tration of the statewide central register of child abuse and maltreat-
ment
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To improve reporting to New York's Statewide Central Register of Child
Abuse and Maltreatment (SCR) by replacing anonymous reporting with
confidential reporting.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one of the bill amends section 422((2)(a) of the social services
law, as amended by chapter 357 of the laws of 2014 to provide that when
a call is made to the SCR by any person making an allegation that could
reasonably constitute a report of child abuse or maltreatment, the call-
er's name and contact information shall be included in the information
transmitted to OCFS and to the appropriate local child protective
service.
Section two of the bill amends section 422(2) of the social services law
by adding a new paragraph (d) to provide that a caller making a report
of suspected child abuse or maltreatment to the SCR shall be asked for
their name and contact information and that no report shall be transmit-
ted to a local child protective service for investigation unless the
caller's name and contact information are provided. It would also ensure
such information is not released by the commissioner or state central
register unless under certain circumstances.
Section three of the bill amends section 422(7) of the social services
law, as amended by chapter 434 of the laws of 1989, to prohibit the
office of children and family services from releasing information iden-
tifying a person who made a report when the subject of the report or
other persons named in the report request a copy of the record.
Provided however, the office shall release such information when the
caller gives their permission or pursuant to a demand for discovery for
an article 10 proceeding or for purposes of a fair hearing initiated by
the subject related to amending their record on the SCR.
Section four of the bill is the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Anonymous reporting to the SCR is a flawed and unnecessary policy that
harms thousands of New York families each year. Parents placed under
investigation because of an anonymous report are more than twice as
likely to be cleared of any wrongdoing as are parents investigated
because of other report types. (1) This extremely high error rate has
real consequences: over 10,000 New York families a year - mostly fami-
lies of color - have endured lengthy, invasive and traumatic investi-
gations on the basis of anonymous reports, all to eventually be absolved
of wrongdoing.(2) The majority of people who call the state hotline to
report suspected abuse or neglect are mandated reporters, who are
required to give their name and contact information. However, an ordi-
nary person who calls is not currently required to do so. State law
requires child protective services to conduct an extensive investigation
of every allegation of child abuse or neglect, whether or not there is
any evidence for the claim, and even if the report is clearly part of a
pattern of harassment.
If enacted, this bill will significantly reduce the number of inten-
tionally false calls to the state's central register by requiring that
every caller provide their name and contact information when making a
report to the hotline. This information would be kept confidential from
the public and from the person accused of abuse or neglect, while allow-
ing child welfare investigators to conduct a full and more reliable
investigation. This simple and common-sense solution will protect call-
ers' privacy by maintaining the confidentiality of individuals making
reports while discouraging maliciously false reports. It will help
shield families from unwarranted investigations and improve the accura-
cy, efficiency, and integrity of child welfare investigations. Confi-
dential reporting accomplishes the same privacy goals as anonymous
reporting while greatly reducing the risk of intentionally false
reports.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023: A.2479 (Hevesi)- rules report calendar 490
2021-2022: A.7879-A (Hevesi)- reported, referred to Rules
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that section
one of this act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
it shall have become a law.
(1) NYU Family Defense Clinic citing Children's Bureau, Admin. for Chil-
dren & Families, U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Servs., National Child
Abuse and Neglect Data System Child File (2019),
https://www.ndacan.acf.hhs.gov/datasets/ dataset-details.cfm?ID=237. In
2018, only 14% of anonymous reports were substantiated after an initial
investigation, compared with 30% of all other report types.
