The Adoptive and Foster Family Coalition of New York strongly advocates for the passage of Senate Bill S902;Â this legislation seeks to replace the system of anonymous reporting with one of confidential reporting.
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments November 9, 2022 on an Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) case, Brackeen versus Haaland. The court's decision will decide the constitutionality of the act.
As a result of the Coalition's lawsuit, families all over the state are seeing increases in foster care boarding rates. Previously, the state set a minimum and a maximum rate and each county could set the rate based on their budget. The lawsuit has eliminated that range and now each county must pay a standard base rate.
Raise the Age Coalition Slams Proposals to Roll Back Historic Youth Justice Legislation Calls for Real Solutions to Gun Violence, not Scapegoating Teenagers Statement from Children’s Defense Fund-NY, Citizens Committee for Children, Youth Represent, and Families Together on behalf of the Raise the Age Coalition.... In response to reports of last-minute proposals to include rollbacks to New York’s Raise the Age legislation in state budget negotiations, the Raise the Age Coalition calls on the Governor and legislative leaders to reject any proposals to dilute the historic youth justice law and to advance and invest in public safety solutions that address the root causes of gun violence. Rolling back reforms that are working for young people and communities is not the remedy.
On February 17, 2022, Senator Jabari Brisport and Assembly Member Andrew Hevesi, along with dozens of elected officials, sent Governor Kathy Hochul The Children and Families Reinvestment Act proposal. This proposed legislation, which has not yet been introduced, would provide increased funding to the state’s child welfare system. The Coalition is proud to endorse this proposed legislation and have affixed our name to the letter.Â
Help us make a difference by urging New York's leaders to establish and fund an independent Office of the Child Welfare Advocate (A.6269-A)
Establishes the office of the child welfare advocate to provide support to youth, biological parents, kinship caregivers and foster parents including prospective kinship caregivers or foster parents.
On December 29,2021, Governor Hochul signed into law legislation that raises the lower age of juvenile delinquency jurisdiction from seven to twelve years of age; establishes differential response programs for children under the age of twelve.
On December 22,2021, Governor Hochul signed into law legislation that adds additional services or supports for youths who were previously in the foster care system and deals with the reentry of former foster care children back into the foster care system.
Foster Parents to see an increase of more than 46% in the monthly reimbursement of expenses for children in foster care in the New York City area and an increase of 20%–40% in the monthly reimbursement of expenses for children in foster care in the rest of the state in 2022.
