New York Assembly Bill A06533 Latest Draft

   
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 6533 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY March 5, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. TANNOUSIS -- read once and referred to the Committee on Children and Families AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to requiring child protective services to document home visits with photographs The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as "Marchella 2 Pierce's Law". 3 § 2. Subdivision 3 of section 421 of the social services law, as 4 amended by chapter 718 of the laws of 1986, paragraph (a) as amended by 5 chapter 110 of the laws of 1989 and the closing paragraph as amended by 6 chapter 320 of the laws of 1990, is amended to read as follows: 7 3. promulgate regulations setting forth requirements for the perform- 8 ance by local social services departments of the duties and powers 9 imposed and conferred upon them by the provisions of this title and of 10 article ten of the family court act. Such regulations shall establish 11 uniform requirements for the investigation of reports of child abuse or 12 maltreatment under this title. The department shall also issue guide- 13 lines which shall set forth the circumstances or conditions under which: 14 (a) personal contact shall be made with the child named in the report 15 and any other children in the same household, including interviewing 16 such child or children absent the subject of the report whenever possi- 17 ble and appropriate; 18 (b) photographs of visible physical injuries or trauma of children who 19 may be the victims of abuse or maltreatment shall be taken or arranged 20 for; 21 (c) medical examination of a child who may be a victim of abuse or 22 maltreatment and documentation of findings of such examination, shall be 23 required. 24 The department shall promulgate regulations to establish standards for 25 intervention, criteria for case closings, criteria for determining EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD09674-01-5 
 A. 6533 2 1 whether or not to initiate a child protective proceeding, and criteria 2 for the formulation of treatment plans and for the delivery of child 3 protective services including specification of the services to be clas- 4 sified as child protective services, which shall also apply to any soci- 5 ety for the prevention of cruelty to children which has entered into a 6 currently valid contract with a local department of social services to 7 investigate child abuse or maltreatment reports. The department shall 8 promulgate regulations establishing minimum standards and practices for 9 the delivery of child protective services in connection with monitoring 10 and supervising respondents and their families as ordered by a family 11 court pursuant to section ten hundred thirty-nine and paragraphs (i), 12 (iii), (iv) and (v) of subdivision (a) of section ten hundred fifty-two 13 of the family court act. The department shall require that every case- 14 worker, child protective services employee or any person acting pursuant 15 to a contract for services with a local social services department who 16 has contact with a child as part of a treatment plan or supervision and 17 monitoring, document each such contact with a photograph taken of the 18 child during such visit or contact using a tablet or comparable device. 19 Such photograph shall be part of the confidential case record for such 20 child and shall be subject to periodic review by the supervisor of the 21 case. Such photograph must be of sufficient quality to clearly identify 22 the child, and contain accurate data with regard to the time and date of 23 the photograph. The supervising authority may require, to the extent 24 practicable, that the caseworker utilize technology allowing for the 25 geographic documentation of said visit. Such regulations required under 26 this subdivision shall also require local child protective services to 27 comply with notification requirements of the family court act in 28 connection with such monitoring and supervisory responsibilities. 29 § 3. Section 372 of the social services law is amended by adding a new 30 subdivision 4-c to read as follows: 31 4-c. The records maintained pursuant to this section by any casework- 32 er, child protective services employee or authorized agency as defined 33 in section three hundred seventy-one of this title who has contact with 34 a foster child as part of a treatment plan or supervision and monitor- 35 ing, shall document each such contact with a photograph taken of the 36 child during such visit or contact consistent with the requirements set 37 forth in subdivision three of section four hundred twenty-one of this 38 article. 39 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.