N.Y. Social Services Law 372-F – Statewide adoption service
§ 372-f. Statewide adoption service. 1. There shall be established by the department either directly or through purchase a statewide adoption service which shall serve all authorized agencies in the state as a means of recruiting adoptive families for children who have been legally freed for adoption but have remained in foster care for a period of three months or more. Such period in foster care shall include any period of foster care immediately preceding the date on which the child was legally freed for adoption. The service shall provide descriptions and photographs of such children, and shall also provide any other information deemed useful in the recruitment of adoptive families for each such child. The service shall be updated monthly.
Terms Used In N.Y. Social Services Law 372-F
- Authorized agency: means
(a) Any agency, association, corporation, institution, society or other organization which is incorporated or organized under the laws of this state with corporate power or empowered by law to care for, to place out or to board out children, which actually has its place of business or plant in this state and which is approved, visited, inspected and supervised by the office of children and family services or which shall submit and consent to the approval, visitation, inspection and supervision of such office as to any and all acts in relation to the welfare of children performed or to be performed under this title; provided, however, that on and after June first, two thousand seven, such term shall not include any for-profit corporation or other for-profit entity or organization for the purposes of the operation, management, supervision or ownership of agency boarding homes, group homes, homes including family boarding homes of family free homes, or institutions which are located within this state;
(b) Any court or any social services official of this state authorized by law to place out or to board out children or any Indian tribe that has entered into an agreement with the department pursuant to section thirty-nine of this chapter;
(c) Any agency, association, corporation, institution, society or other organization which is not incorporated or organized under the laws of this state, placing out a child for adoption whose admission to the United States as an eligible orphan with non-quota immigrant status pursuant to the federal immigration and nationality act is sought for the purpose of adoption in the State of New York or who has been brought into the United States with such status and for such purpose, provided, however, that such agency, association, corporation, institution, society or other organization is licensed or otherwise authorized by another state to place out children for adoption, that such agency, association, corporation, institution, society or other organization is approved by the department to place out such children with non-quota immigrant status for adoption in the State of New York, and provided further, that such agency, association, corporation, institution, society or other organization complies with the regulations of the department pertaining to such placements. See N.Y. Social Services Law 371 - Child: means a person actually or apparently under the age of eighteen years;
2. See N.Y. Social Services Law 371 - Foster parent: shall mean any person with whom a child, in the care, custody or guardianship of an authorized agency, is placed for temporary or long-term care, and "foster child" shall mean any person, in the care, custody or guardianship of an authorized agency, who is placed for temporary or long-term care. See N.Y. Social Services Law 371
- Home: includes a family boarding home or a family free home. See N.Y. Social Services Law 371
2. The service may be organized on a regional basis, but shall be provided to all authorized child caring agencies and in accordance with the regulations of the department, to all appropriate citizen groups and other organizations and associations interested in children's services.
3. The department shall promulgate regulations governing the operations of the adoption service.
4. (a) Except as set forth in paragraph (b) of this subdivision, each authorized agency shall refer to the adoption service, accompanied by a photograph and description, as shall be required by departmental regulations, each child in its care who has been legally freed for adoption and who has been in foster care for the period specified in subdivision one of this section and for whom no adoptive home has been found. If the child is fourteen years or older and will not consent to his or her adoption, such child need not be listed on the service. Such children's names shall be forwarded to the department by the authorized agency, with reference to the specific reason by which the child was not placed on the service. The department shall establish procedures for periodic review of the status of such children. If the department determines that adoption would be appropriate for a child not listed with the service, the agency shall forthwith list the child. Each authorized agency may voluntarily refer any child who has been legally freed for adoption. In addition, upon referral of a child by an authorized agency, the department may determine that the listing of a child with the service is not in the child's best interest where: the child has been placed with a relative within the third degree of consanguinity of the parents of the child and the child does not have a permanency goal of adoption, or the child is not emotionally prepared for an adoptive placement. Any child who is not listed based on one of these factors and who is not placed in an adoptive placement within six months of referral to the department must be listed with the service at the end of the six month period in accordance with regulations of the department except where the child is placed with a relative within the third degree of consanguinity of the parents of the child, in which case the department may determine that the listing continues to be contrary to the child's best interests. The department shall establish procedures for the periodic review of the status of such children.
(b) An authorized agency shall not refer to the adoption service a child in its care who has been legally freed for adoption when the child has been placed with a foster parent who has expressed, in writing, an interest in adopting the child; provided, however, that such child shall be referred to the adoption service in accordance with paragraph (a) of this subdivision where the foster parent has withdrawn interest in adopting the child or has been disapproved as an adoptive resource for the child. An authorized agency shall not refer to the adoption service a child in its care who has been legally freed for adoption where the agency has identified two or more potential placements for the child; provided, however, that such child shall be referred to the adoption service in accordance with paragraph (a) of this subdivision when such child has not been placed into an adoptive home within nine months of having been freed for adoption.