§ 153-K — Funding for children and family services

* § 153-k. Funding for children and family services. 1. (a)\nExpenditures made by social services districts for child protective\nservices, preventive services provided, as applicable, to eligible\nchildren and families of children who are in and out of foster care\nplacement, independent living services, aftercare services, and adoption\nadministration and services other than adoption subsidies provided\npursuant to article six of this chapter and the regulations of the\ndepartment of family assistance shall, if approved by the office of\nchildren and family services, be subject to sixty-five percent state\nreimbursement exclusive of any federal funds made available for such\npurposes, in accordance with the directives of the department of family\nassistance and subject to the approval of the director of the budget.\n (b) Claims for preventive services and independent living services\nsubmitted by a social services district for reimbursement may be\ncomprised of in-kind, indirect services, and non-tax levy funds,\nincluding but not limited to privately donated funds, up to the same\namount as the social services district's claims for such services during\nfederal fiscal year nineteen hundred ninety-eight--ninety-nine were\ncomprised of in-kind, indirect services and non-tax levy funds;\nprovided, however, that up to seventeen and one-half percent of a social\nservices district's claims for preventive services and independent\nliving services may be comprised of privately donated funds if the\npercentage of its claims comprised of privately donated funds was less\nthan seventeen and one-half percent during federal fiscal year nineteen\nhundred ninety-eight--nineteen hundred ninety-nine. Federal\nreimbursement of such claims shall be available only to the extent\npermitted by federal law or regulations.\n 2. (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of this chapter or of any other\nlaw to the contrary, eligible expenditures by a social services district\nfor foster care services shall be subject to reimbursement with state\nfunds only to the extent of annual appropriations to the state foster\ncare block grant. Such foster care services shall include expenditures\nfor the provision and administration of: care, maintenance, supervision,\ntuition, and transportation costs related to the education of a foster\nchild or youth incurred in accordance with paragraph c of subdivision\nfour of section thirty-two hundred forty-four of the education law;\nsupervision of foster children placed in federally funded job corps\nprograms; and care, maintenance, supervision and tuition for adjudicated\njuvenile delinquents and persons in need of supervision placed in\nresidential programs operated by authorized agencies and in out-of-state\nresidential programs; except that, notwithstanding any other provision\nof law to the contrary, reimbursement with state funds pursuant to the\nstate foster care block grant shall not be available for tuition\nexpenditures for foster children, including persons in need of\nsupervision and adjudicated juvenile delinquents, made by a social\nservices district located within a city having a population of one\nmillion or more. Social services districts must develop and implement\nchildren and family services delivery systems that are designed to\nreduce the need for and the length of foster care placements and must\ndocument their efforts in the multi-year consolidated services plan and\nthe annual implementation reports submitted pursuant to section\nthirty-four-a of this chapter.\n (b) State reimbursement to each social services district shall be\nlimited to the district's allocation of the foster care block grant. The\nstate funds appropriated for the foster care block grant shall be\napportioned among the social services districts by the office of\nchildren and family services based on the district's claiming history\nand other factors. Such apportionments shall be subject to the approval\nof the director of the budget.\n (c) Any portion of a social services district's apportionment from the\nfoster care block grant for a particular state fiscal year that is not\nclaimed by such district during that state fiscal year may be used by\nsuch district for preventive services, independent living services or\naftercare services claimed by such district during the next state fiscal\nyear up to the amount remaining from the district's foster care block\ngrant apportionment; provided, however, that any claims for preventive\nservices, independent living services or aftercare services during the\nnext state fiscal year in excess of such amount shall be subject to\nstate reimbursement pursuant to subdivision one of this section. Any\nclaims submitted by a social services district for reimbursement for a\nparticular state fiscal year for which the social services district does\nnot receive state or federal reimbursement during that state fiscal year\nmay not be claimed against that district's block grant apportionment for\nthe next state fiscal year.\n 3. To the extent that monies are made available to the commissioner of\nthe office of children and family services from the children and family\nservices quality enhancement fund established pursuant to section\nninety-seven-yyy of the state finance law, the office of children and\nfamily services is authorized to conduct activities to increase the\navailability and/or quality of children and family services programs\nwhich may include, but not be limited to, staff recruitment, retention\nand training activities, research projects, and targeted services\nexpansion and/or demonstration projects to test innovative models for\nservice delivery which may include such areas as health, mental health\nand substance abuse services. Notwithstanding sections one hundred\ntwelve and one hundred sixty-three of the state finance law, such\nactivities shall be conducted without competitive bid or request for\nproposal.\n 4. (a) A social services district, either individually or in\ncombination with other social services districts, may establish managed\ncare systems or other systems to provide children and family services\nother than child protective services investigations, in accordance with\napplicable laws and regulations. Such a system may include, but not be\nlimited to, the establishment of capitated rates for service provided to\nchildren to prevent the placement of such children into foster care and\nto discharge such children from foster care to suitable, permanent, safe\nhomes in a more timely manner through preventive services, intensified\ndischarge planning, pre-adoptive services, after-care services and/or\npost-adoption services.\n (b) Social services district payments to case managers or public or\nprivate service providers under such a system may be based on\nreimbursement rates established by the office of children and family\nservices pursuant to section three hundred ninety-eight-a of this\nchapter, capitated rates or other payment mechanisms for all or a\nportion of the services, either separately or combined. To facilitate\npayments to case managers or providers, the office of children and\nfamily services may establish procedures for standardizing payments to\nmanagers or providers that enter into agreements with more than one\nsocial services district.\n (c) Under such a system, a social services district may delegate\nresponsibility for case management services to case managers or\nproviders in a manner designed to afford case manager or provider\naccountability through the incorporation of quality control standards\nthat provide appropriate monitoring of these services such as recognized\naccreditation mechanisms, performance audits by the social services\ndistrict or other means.\n (d) Under such a system, a social services district, in a purchase of\nservice agreement for preventive services with an authorized agency, may\ndelegate to such authorized agency the responsibility for approving and\npaying rent subsidies or assistance under paragraph (c) of subdivision\nfive and/or subdivision seven of section four hundred nine-a of this\nchapter.\n (e)(i) A social services district must obtain the office's prior\napproval of its plan for establishing and implementing such a system, in\naccordance with guidelines established by the office of children and\nfamily services.\n (ii) Such a plan may include requests for a waiver of any statutory or\nregulatory requirements established pursuant to sections thirty-four-a,\nfour hundred nine-d and four hundred nine-e of this chapter regarding\nthe form, content, development, or amendment of the child welfare\nservices plan component of the multi-year services plan and the annual\nimplementation reports, family services plans and uniform case records.\n (iii) Any request by a social services district for a waiver shall\nidentify the specific statute or regulation to be waived, and include a\njustification for the waiver and alternative actions to be taken by the\nsocial services district to satisfy the purposes of the statute or\nregulation. The office of children and family services may grant any\nsuch waiver request, subject to the approval of the director of the\nbudget, where the social services district applying for the waiver\ndemonstrates a reasonable administrative or programmatic justification\nfor the waiver. The potential fiscal impact of the waiver upon federal,\nstate and local governments shall be evaluated by the office of children\nand family services as part of its review of the request for a waiver.\nThe office of children and family services may impose durational and\nother reasonable conditions if an approval of the waiver is granted.\nWhere a waiver is granted, the office of children and family services\nshall have the authority to establish alternative standards to be\nfollowed by social services officials. The office of children and family\nservices may not grant a waiver that would fail to comply with\napplicable federal statutory or regulatory standards. The social\nservices district may not revise local practice or policy unless and\nuntil the office of children and family services approves the waiver.\n (iv) The office of children and family services shall provide notice\nto the governor and the legislature of each plan that is approved\nincluding a brief description of the plan and any waivers granted and\nany alternative standards established. The office shall provide an\nannual report to the governor and the legislature regarding the\nimplementation of all approved plans during a calendar year by January\nthirty-first of the following year.\n 5. (a) Social services districts shall conduct eligibility\ndeterminations and submit claims for reimbursement in such form and\nmanner and at such times and for such periods as the department of\nfamily assistance shall determine.\n (b) When certified by the department of family assistance, state\nreimbursement shall be paid from the state treasury upon the audit and\nwarrant of the comptroller out of funds made available therefor.\n (c) The department of family assistance is authorized in its\ndiscretion to make advances to social services districts in anticipation\nof the state reimbursement provided for in this section.\n 6. (a) Payment of state reimbursement and advances shall be made to\nthe fiscal officer of the social services district entitled thereto\npursuant to the provisions of this chapter.\n (b) Any inconsistent provision of the law or regulation of the\ndepartment of family assistance notwithstanding, state reimbursement\nshall not be made for any expenditure made for the duplication of any\ngrant or allowance for any period.\n 7. The office of children and family services shall not reimburse any\nclaims for expenditures for those children and family services set forth\nin subdivisions one and two of this section that are submitted more than\ntwenty-two months after the calendar quarter in which the expenditures\nwere made.\n 8. Claims submitted by a social services district for reimbursement\nshall be paid after deducting any expenditures defrayed by fees, third\nparty reimbursement, and any non-tax levy funds including donated funds\nthat exceed the amount that may be claimed for state and federal\nreimbursement pursuant to paragraph (b) of subdivision one of this\nsection.\n 9. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the state shall not be\nresponsible for reimbursing a social services district and a district\nshall not seek state reimbursement for any portion of any state\ndisallowance or sanction taken against the social services district, or\nany federal disallowance attributable to final federal agency decisions\nor to settlements made, on or after July first, nineteen hundred\nninety-five, when such disallowance or sanction results from the failure\nof the social services district to comply with federal or state\nrequirements, including, but not limited to, failure to document\neligibility for the federal or state funds in the case record; provided,\nhowever, if the office of children and family services determines that\nany federal disallowance for services provided between January first,\nnineteen hundred ninety-nine and May thirty-first, nineteen hundred\nninety-nine results solely from the late enactment of the state\nlegislation implementing the federal adoption and safe families act, the\nstate shall be solely responsible for the full amount of the\ndisallowance or sanction. This provision shall be deemed to apply both\nprospectively and retroactively regardless of whether the disallowance\nor sanction is for services provided or claims made prior to or after\nApril first, two thousand two.\n 10. (i) In accordance with regulations developed by the office of\nchildren and family services, the office shall measure each district's\ncompliance with the federal child welfare outcome standards beginning no\nlater than twenty months after the effective date of this section. The\noffice is authorized to impose fiscal penalties against a social\nservices district that fails to substantially comply with the outcome\nstandards or to make sufficient progress towards complying with the\noutcome standards after developing and implementing a corrective action\nplan in the time and manner approved by the office. The imposition of a\nfiscal penalty shall be subject to an appeal process set forth in\nregulation. Any fiscal penalties received by the office of children and\nfamily services pursuant to this subdivision shall be deposited to the\ncredit of the children and family services quality enhancement fund\nestablished pursuant to section ninety-seven-yyy of the state finance\nlaw. For social services districts in counties with less than fifteen\nthousand children under the age of eighteen, the office may waive the\nfiscal penalties and the need for a corrective action plan if the\nfailure to substantially comply with the outcome standards was based on\nextraordinary circumstances. The office may provide fiscal incentives to\nsocial services districts with high performances on the federal child\nwelfare outcome standards. A social services district may pass on to its\ncontract agencies some portion of the fiscal penalties or fiscal\nincentives that may be attributable to such agencies.\n (ii) The office shall provide an annual report to the governor and the\nlegislature detailing: each county's performance on the outcome\nstandards, the amount of fiscal penalties imposed against each county,\nand the amount of fiscal penalties collected from each county. Said\nreport shall be delivered to the director of the budget, the chair of\nthe senate finance committee and the chair of the assembly ways and\nmeans committee annually on a calendar year basis, by March fifteenth of\nthe following year.\n 11. The office of children and family services shall submit a\npreliminary report to the governor and the legislature on or before the\nthirty-first day of December, two thousand four providing preliminary\ndata and information on the implementation of this section, and shall\nsubmit a final report by the fifteenth day of August, two thousand five\nassessing the implementation of and the outcomes resulting from the\nchildren and family services financing provisions established by this\nsection through the thirtieth day of June, two thousand five. The final\nreport shall include information regarding services delivery trends\nunder the financing structure set forth in this section and innovative\nmodels of service provision to be considered for replication.\n 12. Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, on or after January\nfirst, two thousand twenty, the state shall not reimburse for the cost\nof any placement of persons in need of supervision under article seven\nof the family court act.\n * NB Repealed June 30, 2027\n