STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 3580--A 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY February 3, 2023 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. HEVESI -- read once and referred to the Committee on Children and Families -- recommitted to the Committee on Children and Families in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- 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 adoption subsidies provided for disabled or hard to place children The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Paragraph (c) of subdivision 1 of section 453 of the social 2 services law, as amended by chapter 83 of the laws of 1995, is amended 3 and three new paragraphs (c-2), (c-3) and (c-4) are added to read as 4 follows: 5 (c) No payments may be made pursuant to this subdivision if the social 6 services official determines that the adoptive parents are no longer 7 legally responsible for the support of the child or the child is no 8 longer receiving any support from such parents. For purposes of this 9 section: 10 (i) "any support" shall be limited to support that is directly for the 11 benefit of the adopted child that meets the food, clothing, education, 12 medical and shelter needs of the adopted child and that has an identifi- 13 able value; 14 (ii) "no longer legally responsible for the support of the child" 15 means (A) the child has become legally emancipated, married or joined 16 the military; (B) a court has ruled that the adoptive parent is no long- 17 er legally responsible for the support of the child; or (C) the adoption 18 is no longer legally valid by operation of law. 19 (c-1) The social services official on [a biennial] an annual basis 20 shall: 21 (i) require adoptive parents to certify that they are fulfilling their 22 obligations pursuant to any adoption subsidy agreement entered into in EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD05003-04-4
A. 3580--A 2 1 accordance with this section, including their obligation to provide 2 support for the child; 3 (ii) remind the adoptive parents of [their obligation] the following 4 obligations, which shall also be included in any agreement entered into 5 with an adoptive parent concerning payments made for the care and main- 6 tenance of the child pursuant to this section: 7 (A) to support the child [and]; 8 (B) to notify the social services official if the adoptive parents are 9 no longer providing any support of the child or are no longer legally 10 responsible for the support of the child[.]; and 11 (C) to notify the social services official if: (I) another person has 12 been granted physical custody of the child; (II) another person has been 13 appointed guardian for the child; or (III) the child no longer resides 14 with the adoptive parents. 15 (c-2) (i) If the adoptive parents fail to respond to an annual certif- 16 ication notice within thirty days of the receipt of the certification 17 notice from the social services official or the social services official 18 receives from any person information that provides reasonable cause to 19 suspect that the adoptive parents are no longer providing any support to 20 the child, the social services official shall review whether the adop- 21 tive parents are legally responsible for the support of the child and 22 whether the child is receiving any support from the adoptive parents. 23 Circumstances in which the social services official shall conduct this 24 review include the following: 25 (A) the child has been placed in foster care; 26 (B) a person alleges to the social services official that: 27 (I) a person other than the adoptive parent has been granted legal 28 custody of the child; 29 (II) another person has been appointed guardian for the child; or 30 (III) the child is reported to no longer reside with the adoptive 31 parent. 32 (ii) The adoptive parents shall be given an opportunity to respond to 33 the notice. Upon receiving confirmation that the parents continue to 34 meet their legal obligations to provide support to the child, the 35 department will take no further action to reduce, suspend, or terminate 36 the subsidy. If the parents fail to confirm that they continue to meet 37 their legal obligations to provide support to the child, the social 38 services official shall review all available information in order to 39 confirm the parents' continued eligibility to receive the subsidy. 40 (iii) If the child is not in foster care and, based on a review of the 41 available information, the social services official determines that the 42 adoptive parents are no longer legally responsible for the support of 43 the child or that the child is no longer receiving any support from the 44 adoptive parents, the social services official shall terminate the 45 assistance provided to the adoptive parents pursuant to this section. 46 The adoptive parents may appeal the termination of assistance to the 47 department in accordance with section twenty-two of this chapter. 48 (iv) If the child is in foster care and the social services official 49 determines that the child is no longer receiving any support from the 50 adoptive parents, the social services official may reduce, suspend, or 51 terminate the assistance provided to the adoptive parents pursuant to 52 this section. The adoptive parents may appeal the termination of assist- 53 ance to the department in accordance with section twenty-two of this 54 chapter. If assistance is reduced, suspended or terminated pursuant to 55 this paragraph and the child is returned from foster care to the care of 56 the adoptive parents, the social services official shall resume assist-
A. 3580--A 3 1 ance effective from the date when the child was returned to the adoptive 2 parent's care. 3 (c-3) If the social services official terminates the adoption assist- 4 ance provided to adoptive parents pursuant to paragraph (c-2) of this 5 subdivision and the child resides with another person who has been 6 granted physical custody or appointed as guardian of the child, the 7 social services official shall enter into a written agreement to make 8 adoption assistance payments to the custodian or guardian; provided, 9 however, that no person shall receive an adoption subsidy payment for 10 any child for whom they previously had parental rights which were termi- 11 nated pursuant to a proceeding under section three hundred eighty-four-b 12 of this article or for whom they previously had parental rights which 13 were surrendered pursuant to a written instrument executed in accordance 14 with section three hundred eighty-three-c of this article. Such 15 payments shall be made retroactive from the termination of assistance to 16 the adoptive parents pursuant to paragraph (c-2) of this subdivision and 17 shall be made until the child's twenty-first birthday. A custodian or 18 guardian who receives adoption assistance payments pursuant to this 19 paragraph shall be subject to the same requirements that apply to adop- 20 tive parents under this section. 21 (c-4) If the social services official terminates the adoption assist- 22 ance provided to adoptive parents pursuant to paragraph (c-2) of this 23 subdivision after the eighteenth birthday and before the twenty-first 24 birthday of the adopted child, and no person other than the adoptive 25 parents has legal custody or guardianship of the child, the social 26 services official shall make payments to the child: 27 (i) through direct payments to the child, if the social services offi- 28 cial determines the child demonstrates the ability to manage such direct 29 payments; or 30 (ii) to a representative payee certified by the social services offi- 31 cial in accordance with paragraph (g) of this subdivision. 32 § 2. Clause (B) of subparagraph (iii) of paragraph (g) of subdivision 33 1 of section 453 of the social services law, as added by chapter 518 of 34 the laws of 2006, is amended to read as follows: 35 (B) If the twenty-first birthday of the child occurs while awaiting 36 the certification of a representative payee, the child shall be entitled 37 to retroactive direct payment of subsidy payments since the death of the 38 adoptive parent or parents or the termination of assistance to the adop- 39 tive parent or parents pursuant to paragraph (c-2) of this subdivision 40 after the eighteenth birthday of the child. 41 § 3. Subdivision 2 of section 453 of the social services law, as 42 amended by chapter 83 of the laws of 1995, is amended to read as 43 follows: 44 2. [The] Any agreement provided for in subdivision one of this section 45 shall be subject to the approval of the department upon the application 46 of the social services official; provided, however, that in accordance 47 with the regulations of the department, the department may authorize the 48 social services official to approve or disapprove the agreement on 49 behalf of the department. In either situation, if the agreement is not 50 approved or disapproved by the social services official within thirty 51 days of submission, the voluntary authorized agency may submit the 52 agreement directly to the department for approval or disapproval. If the 53 agreement is not disapproved in writing by the department within thirty 54 days after its submission to the department, it shall be deemed 55 approved. Any such disapproval shall be accompanied by a written state- 56 ment of the reasons therefor.
A. 3580--A 4 1 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately; provided however that: 2 (a) the office of children and family services shall submit to the 3 United States Department of Health and Human Services, Administration 4 for Children, Youth and Families, an amendment to the state title IV-E 5 state plan regarding the provisions of this act; 6 (b) notwithstanding any other provision of law, this act shall not 7 take effect unless and until ninety days following the date that the 8 United States Department of Health and Human Services, Administration 9 for Children, Youth and Families approves a title IV-E state plan amend- 10 ment regarding the provisions of this act; and 11 (c) the office of children and family services shall notify the legis- 12 lative bill drafting commission upon the occurrence of the submission 13 set forth in this section in order that the commission may maintain an 14 accurate and timely effective data base of the official text of the laws 15 of the state of New York in furtherance of effectuating the provisions 16 of section 44 of the legislative law and section 70-b of the public 17 officers law. 18 (d) Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of 19 any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on 20 its effective date are authorized to be made and completed on or before 21 such effective date.