§ 442 — Child care review service; establishment, operations and procedure

§ 442. Child care review service; establishment, operations and\nprocedure. 1. The department, in consultation with the advisory\ncommittee, shall establish and operate a child care review service to\naccomplish the purposes of this title, for all children who are in the\ncare of an authorized agency and shall make such regulations as are\nappropriate to implement this title.\n 2. The service shall be implemented with respect to all children under\nthe age of twenty-one years for whom an authorized agency is providing\nfoster care as defined in subdivision (c) of section one thousand\neighty-seven of the family court act and for whom an application is\npending to an authorized agency for foster care.\n 3. The department is authorized to enter into agreements with any\nperson, firm, organization or association for the whole or any part of\nthe design or operation of the service as described in this title. Any\nsuch agreements shall specify that such person, firm, corporation or\nassociation shall safeguard the confidentiality of information received\nor maintained by the service, in the same manner, and will remain\nsubject to the same confidentiality requirements, as the department. In\naddition, any such agreement shall require such person, firm,\ncorporation or association to comply with other applicable federal and\nstate laws protecting the confidentiality of the information received or\nmaintained by the service.\n 4. The service shall collect, maintain, update, and distribute, as\nprovided in this title, information from each authorized agency to\nfurther the purpose of this title.\n 5. The service may request from any authorized agency, and such agency\nshall submit to the service all information, including updating of\ninformation, in the form and manner and at such times as the department\nmay require that is appropriate to the purposes and operation of the\nservice.\n 6. Information to be submitted to or collected by the service,\npursuant to subdivisions four and five, shall, to the extent possible,\nbe in compatible form so as to facilitate the making of public policy\ndecisions relating to child care programs supported by public funds and\nadministered by various state, local and voluntary agencies.\n 7. In designing the service, the department, in consultation with the\nadvisory committee, shall review all information reporting forms and\nfinancial claims forms, and shall make every effort to consolidate and,\nwhere appropriate, eliminate duplicative claiming and information\nreporting forms in order to develop uniform statewide claiming forms and\ninformation reporting forms.\n 8. Subject to regulations of the department the service shall:\n (a) prepare and make available on a regular basis to each authorized\nagency such data as they may require to meet the purposes of this title;\n (b) issue regular reports setting forth aggregate statewide and local\nstatistical data with appropriate analyses, but not including individual\nidentifying information; and\n (c) issue reports as to the capabilities of the service and the types\nof information maintained by the service.\n 9. The department in consultation with the advisory committee shall\nprepare and submit an annual report to the governor and the legislature\nas part of the annual report required to be filed prior to the fifteenth\nday of December of each year by subdivision (d) of section seventeen of\nthis chapter on its progress in the development and operation of the\nservice, including any significant problems encountered or anticipated\nin the design and operation of the service and any recommendations for\nadministrative or legislative changes that would further the purposes of\nthis title.\n 10. The state child care review service established pursuant to this\ntitle shall design and implement a system to:\n (a) monitor all financial claims made by social services districts for\neach child in foster care and child and family in receipt of preventive\nservices pursuant to title four of this chapter;\n (b) compile and maintain a cumulative record of information with\nrespect to actions taken on behalf of each individual child throughout\nhis or her length of stay in foster care;\n (c) compile and maintain information on actions taken by local social\nservices districts to initiate judicial proceedings as provided by\nsection three hundred fifty-eight-a of this chapter and to comply with\njudicial orders made pursuant to section one thousand eighty-nine of the\nfamily court act, to refer legally free children to the state adoption\nservice pursuant to section three hundred seventy-two-c of this chapter,\nand to comply with the provisions of section four hundred nine-e of this\narticle and the regulations of the office of children and family\nservices promulgated thereunder; and\n (e) compile and maintain comparative data for authorized agencies\nincluding, but not limited to, characteristics and numbers of children\nentering care and their families, admissions practices, delineated\nreasons for initial and continued placement or provision of preventive\nor child protective services, length of stay in care, length of time in\nreceipt of preventive services or child protective services, foster care\nreentry rates, number of children discharged to parents and relatives,\nthe characteristics, numbers and rates of children leaving foster care\nthrough adoption, costs of care and preventive services and other\ninformation indicative of authorized agency performance.\n