NYS Comptroller reports Child Protective Services non-compliant with laws more than 50% of the time

NYS Comptroller reports Child Protective Services non-compliant with laws more than 50% of the time
July 16, 8:27 AMAlbany CPS and Family Court ExaminerDaniel Weaver


Comptroller's CPS Report released on June 4, 2009
A report issued in June of this year by the Office of the New York State Comptroller, Thomas P. DiNapoli, Division of Government Accountability reveals that Child Protective Services investigations are not in compliance with New York State laws more than fifty percent of the time.

When a Child Protective Services agency receives a report of suspected child abuse and neglect, it has seven days to determine whether intervention is needed to protect the child against immediate or impending danger of harm, and sixty days to complete its investigation.

The report title, Office of Children and Family Services Oversight of Child Protective Services Outside New York City Report 2007-S-129, covers the years 2006-2007 and states that during those years, Child Protective Services did not meet the seven and sixty day deadlines the majority of the time.

Chemung County had the worst rate of finishing safety assessments within the mandated seven days during 2007, failing to do so 92.3% of the time, with Sullivan County failing to do so 91.1% of the time.

Other counties with high rates of non-compliance were Montgomery County with a 90.4% rate of non-compliance, Onondaga 85.4% and Schenectady County 83.4%.

Hamilton County had the highest rate of non-compliance with the sixty date mandate for completing investigations. Hamilton County failed to complete its investigations within the sixty day limit 95.8% of the time. Chemung and Schenectady counties tied for second place with a rate of 85.6% non-compliance. Allegany County was third with a non-compliance rate of 83.6% followed by Montgomery County with a rate of 81.6%.

The report also reveals that the rate of non-compliance has risen since 1997. In 1997 the rate of non-compliance in the state was 37% for completing the investigations in sixty days and 40% non-compliance for finishing safety assessments in seven days.

The Comptroller's report made three suggestions to the New York State Office of Children and Family Services to improve compliance with the law. The Office agreed with the first two recommendations but stated that recommendation three had already been implemented.

"1. Expedite the efforts to explore the application of mobile technology to improve compliance with the seven-day and 60-day requirements.

2. Work with the districts to identify alternatives and best practices to improve compliance with the seven-day and 60-day requirements.

3. As part of the CONNECTIONS system upgrade, develop a capability for monitoring whether the local districts are intervening in a timely and appropriate manner to protect the children who are at risk in the most serious types of CPS cases."

The New York State Office of Children and Family Services has ninety days to report to the Governor, State Comptroller, legislative leaders and fiscal committees detailing its plans for implementing the recommendations in the report.

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