STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5893 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY February 24, 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 allowing prospective and current agency personnel complete training through remote training methods The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 409-g of the social services law, as added by chap- 2 ter 611 of the laws of 1979, is amended to read as follows: 3 § 409-g. Training of child welfare personnel. 1. Within the amounts 4 appropriated therefor, including all federal reimbursement received or 5 to be received on account thereof, the department shall develop and 6 implement a plan for the training of social services district and other 7 authorized agency personnel, including caseworkers involved in the 8 provision or supervision of preventive services, foster care services 9 and adoption services. Such training shall include but need not be 10 limited to: 11 [1. Permanence] (a) permanence casework: casework methodologies 12 focused on activities designed to prevent placement in foster care or to 13 shorten the length of stay in care for those children who can be 14 returned home or freed for adoption; 15 [2. Development] (b) development of skills to facilitate rehabili- 16 tation or restoration of the family unit; 17 [3. Development] (c) development of knowledge and skills in legally 18 freeing children for adoption and providing adoption services; 19 [4. Development] (d) development of knowledge and skills to prepare 20 for court processes necessary in foster care and adoption; and 21 [5. Development] (e) development of case management skills including 22 planning for permanence for each child. 23 2. The commissioner, in consultation with the commissioner of the 24 office of children and family services, shall establish rules and regu- EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD06807-01-5
A. 5893 2 1 lations for allowing prospective and current agency personnel to 2 complete any required training for certification as agency personnel 3 through remote training methods which evince that all participants are 4 in attendance for the duration of the training and are able to ask ques- 5 tions of the instructor, and for providing certification upon the 6 completion of such training through remote training methods. 7 § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall 8 have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or 9 repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of 10 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed 11 on or before such date.