§ 473 — Protective services

New York § 473

• Jurisdiction: New York
• Law SOS: Social Services
• Title 1: Protective Services
• Art. 9-B: Adult Protective Services

Text

§ 473. Protective services. 1. In addition to services provided by\nsocial services officials pursuant to other provisions of this chapter,\nsuch officials shall provide protective services in accordance with\nfederal and state regulations to or for individuals without regard to\nincome who, because of mental or physical impairments, are unable to\nmanage their own resources, carry out the activities of daily living, or\nprotect themselves from physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse,\nactive, passive or self neglect, financial exploitation or other\nhazardous situations without assistance from others and have no one\navailable who is willing and able to assist them responsibly. Such\nservices shall include:\n (a) receiving and investigating reports of seriously impaired\nindividuals who may be in need of protection;\n (b) arranging for medical and psychiatric services to evaluate and\nwhenever possible to safeguard and improve the circumstances of those\nwith serious impairments;\n (c) arranging, when necessary, for commitment, guardianship, or other\nprotective placement of such individuals either directly or through\nreferral to another appropriate agency, provided, however, that where\npossible, the least restrictive of these measures shall be employed\nbefore more restrictive controls are imposed;\n (d) providing services to assist such individuals to move from\nsituations which are, or are likely to become, hazardous to their health\nand well-being;\n (e) cooperating and planning with the courts as necessary on behalf of\nindividuals with serious mental impairments; and\n (f) other protective services for adults included in the regulations\nof the department.\n 2. (a) In that the effective delivery of protective services for\nadults requires a network of professional consultants and services\nproviders, local social services districts shall plan with other public,\nprivate and voluntary agencies including but not limited to health,\nmental health, aging, legal and law enforcement agencies, for the\npurpose of assuring maximum local understanding, coordination and\ncooperative action in the provision of appropriate services.\n (b) Each social services district shall prepare, with the approval of\nthe chief executive officer, or the legislative body in those counties\nwithout a chief executive officer, after consultation with appropriate\npublic, private and voluntary agencies, a district-wide plan for the\nprovision of adult protective services which shall be a component of the\ndistrict's multi-year consolidated services plan as required in section\nthirty-four-a of this chapter. This plan shall describe the local\nimplementation of this section including the organization, staffing,\nmode of operations and financing of the adult protective services as\nwell as the provisions made for purchase of services, inter-agency\nrelations, inter-agency agreements, service referral mechanisms, and\nlocus of responsibility for cases with multi-agency services needs.\nCommencing the year following preparation of a multi-year consolidated\nservices plan, each local district shall prepare annual implementation\nreports including information related to its adult protective services\nplan as required in section thirty-four-a of the social services law.\n (c) Each social services district shall submit the adult protective\nservices plan to the department as a component of its multi-year\nconsolidated services plan and subsequent thereto as a component of its\nannual implementation reports and the department shall review and\napprove the proposed plan and reports in accordance with the procedures\nset forth in section thirty-four-a of this chapter.\n 3. Any social services official or his designee authorized or required\nto determine the need for and/or provide or arrange for the provision of\nprotective services to adults in accordance with the provision of this\nsection, shall have immunity from any civil liability that might\notherwise result by reason of providing such services, provided such\nofficial or his designee was acting in the discharge of his duties and\nwithin the scope of his employment, and that such liability did not\nresult from the willfull act or gross negligence of such official or his\ndesignee.\n 4. For the purpose of developing improved methods for the delivery of\nprotective services for adults, the department with the approval of the\ndirector of the budget, shall authorize a maximum of five demonstration\nprojects in selected social services districts. Such projects may serve\na social services district, part of a district or more than one\ndistrict. These demonstration projects shall seek to determine the most\neffective methods of providing the financial management component of\nprotective services for adults. These methods shall include but not be\nlimited to: having a social services district directly provide financial\nmanagement services; having a social services district contract with\nanother public and/or private agency for the provision of such services;\nutilizing relatives and/or friends to provide such services under the\ndirection of a social services district or another public and/or private\nagency and establishing a separate public office to provide financial\nmanagement services for indigent persons. The duration of these projects\nshall not exceed eighteen months. Furthermore, local social services\ndistricts shall not be responsible for any part of the cost of these\ndemonstration projects which would not have otherwise accrued in the\nprovision of protective services for adults. The total amount of state\nfunds available for such financial management services demonstration\nprojects, exclusive of any federal funds shall not exceed three hundred\nthousand dollars. The commissioner shall require that a final\nindependent evaluation by a not-for-profit corporation be made of the\ndemonstration projects approved and conducted hereunder, and shall\nprovide copies of such report to the governor and the legislature.\n 5. Whenever a social services official, or his or her designee\nauthorized or required to determine the need for, or to provide or\narrange for the provision of protective services to adults in accordance\nwith the provisions of this title has a reason to believe that a\ncriminal offense has been committed, as defined in the penal law,\nagainst a person for whom the need for such services is being determined\nor to whom such services are being provided or arranged, the social\nservices official or his or her designee must report this information to\nthe appropriate police or sheriff's department and the district\nattorney's office when such office has requested such information be\nreported by a social services official or his or her designee.\n 6. Definitions. When used in this title unless otherwise expressly\nstated or unless the context or subject matter requires a different\ninterpretation:\n (a) "Physical abuse" means the non-accidental use of force that\nresults in bodily injury, pain or impairment, including but not limited\nto, being slapped, burned, cut, bruised or improperly physically\nrestrained.\n (b) "Sexual abuse" means non-consensual sexual contact of any kind,\nincluding but not limited to, forcing sexual contact or forcing sex with\na third party.\n (c) "Emotional abuse" means willful infliction of mental or emotional\nanguish by threat, humiliation, intimidation or other abusive conduct,\nincluding but not limited to, frightening or isolating an adult.\n (d) "Active neglect" means willful failure by the caregiver to fulfill\nthe care-taking functions and responsibilities assumed by the caregiver,\nincluding but not limited to, abandonment, willful deprivation of food,\nwater, heat, clean clothing and bedding, eyeglasses or dentures, or\nhealth related services.\n (e) "Passive neglect" means non-willful failure of a caregiver to\nfulfill care-taking functions and responsibilities assumed by the\ncaregiver, including but not limited to, abandonment or denial of food\nor health related services because of inadequate caregiver knowledge,\ninfirmity, or disputing the value of prescribed services.\n (f) "Self neglect" means an adult's inability, due to physical and/or\nmental impairments to perform tasks essential to caring for oneself,\nincluding but not limited to, providing essential food, clothing,\nshelter and medical care; obtaining goods and services necessary to\nmaintain physical health, mental health, emotional well-being and\ngeneral safety; or managing financial affairs.\n (g) "Financial exploitation" means improper use of an adult's funds,\nproperty or resources by another individual, including but not limited\nto, fraud, false pretenses, embezzlement, conspiracy, forgery,\nfalsifying records, coerced property transfers or denial of access to\nassets.\n 7. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, for the purposes of\nthis article an Indian tribe that has entered into an agreement with the\noffice of children and family services pursuant to section thirty-nine\nof this chapter, which includes the provision of adult services by such\nIndian tribe, shall have the duties, responsibilities and powers of a\nsocial services district or a social services official for the purpose\nof providing adult protective services.\n 8. The office of children and family services shall create and keep\ncurrent best practice guidelines for the provision of adult protective\nservices pursuant to this article. Such guidelines shall be distributed\nfor use to local social services districts, and posted on such office's\nwebsite, and shall include, but not be limited to, the procedures for:\n (a) reviewing any previous child or adult protective involvement;\n (b) assessing and identifying abuse and neglect of persons believed to\nbe in need of protective services;\n (c) interviewing persons believed to be in need of protective services\nand their caretakers;\n (d) reviewing when it is appropriate to seek a warrant to gain access\nto persons believed to be in need of protective services;\n (e) identifying and making referrals for appropriate services; and\n (f) communicating the rights of persons believed to be eligible for\nprotective services.\n