18 CRR-NY 901-1.1NY-CRR
STATE COMPILATION OF CODES, RULES AND REGULATIONS OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
TITLE 18. DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
CHAPTER II. REGULATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
SUBCHAPTER L. HOMELESS HOUSING AND ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
PART 901. MANDATED REPORTER REQUIREMENT AND BACKGROUND CHECKS
SUBPART 901-1. MANDATED REPORTER REQUIREMENT, STATEWIDE CENTRAL REGISTER OF CHILD ABUSE AND MALTREATMENT, AND REGISTER OF SUBSTANTIATED CATEGORY ONE CASES OF ABUSE OR NEGLECT
18 CRR-NY 901-1.1
18 CRR-NY 901-1.1
901-1.1 Mandated reporter requirement, Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment, and Register of Substantiated Category One Cases of Abuse or Neglect.
(a) Definitions.
When used in this Subpart, unless expressly stated otherwise, the following definitions apply:
(1) Contractor means any person who is employed by an individual, corporation, partnership or association which provides goods or services to the publicly-funded emergency shelter for families with children, and who has the potential for regular and substantial contact with the children who are served by the publicly-funded emergency shelter for families with children.
(2) Facility, as set forth in paragraph (8) of this subdivision, provides shelter to families with children receiving temporary housing assistance and receiving services from the operator or provider, or a social services district in instances where the social services district directly operates the facility, or a contractor on behalf of the operator or provider or such social services district, which provides any of the following: meals, supervision, assessment services, permanent housing preparation services, recreational services, information and referral services, health services, or child-care services.
(3) Justice Center means the Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs.
(4) Office means the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance.
(5) Prospective consultant means any person who has applied to be a consultant for the publicly-funded emergency shelter for families with children, including but not limited to in the capacity of providing consultation and/or advice, who will have the potential for regular and substantial contact with children who are served by the publicly-funded emergency shelters for families with children.
(6) Prospective employee means any person who has applied to be employed by the publicly-funded emergency shelter for families with children who will have the potential for regular and substantial contact with children who are served by the publicly-funded emergency shelters for families with children.
(7) Prospective volunteer means a person who has applied to participate in activities with or for the benefit of persons receiving services from a publicly-funded emergency shelter for families with children, under the supervision of staff or management of such provider, for which he or she receives no salary or remuneration, who will have the potential for regular and substantial contact with children who are served by the publicly-funded emergency shelters for families with children.
(8) Publicly-funded emergency shelter for families with children means any facility, as defined in this Subpart, with overnight sleeping accommodations and that is used to house recipients of temporary housing assistance and which houses or may house children and families with children, except residential programs for victims of domestic violence licensed by the New York State Office of Children and Family Services.
(b) Screening requirements for publicly-funded emergency shelters for families with children are as follows:
(1) All references to regular and substantial contact with a service recipient for purposes of applying section 495 of the Social Services Law to publicly-funded emergency shelters for families with children shall mean the “potential for regular and substantial contact with children who are served by a publicly-funded emergency shelter for families with children.”
(i) Publicly-funded emergency shelters for families with children must inquire of the Office of Children and Family Services whether any prospective employee, prospective consultant, prospective volunteer, or contractor who will have the potential for regular and substantial contact with the children who are served by the publicly-funded emergency shelter for families with children, is the subject of an indicated report of child abuse or maltreatment on file with the Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment (SCR) via the SCR database check process as required in section 424-a of the Social Services Law. Each publicly-funded emergency shelter for families with children may inquire of the Office of Children and Family Services whether any current employee who has the potential for regular and substantial contact with children being served by the publicly-funded emergency shelter for families with children is the subject of an indicated report of child abuse or maltreatment on file with the SCR. An inquiry regarding any current employee may be made only once in any six-month period.
(ii) Publicly-funded emergency shelters for families with children must check the Register of Substantiated Category One Cases of Abuse or Neglect (staff exclusion list) maintained by the Justice Center per section 495 of the Social Services Law before determining whether to hire or otherwise allow any person as an employee, administrator, consultant, intern, volunteer or contractor who will have the potential for regular and substantial contact with children served by the publicly-funded emergency shelter for families with children.
(2) Prior to making any inquiries pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subdivision, the publicly-funded emergency shelter for families with children must notify, using a prescribed form, the person who will be the subject of the inquiries, that:
(i) an inquiry will be made to determine whether such person is the subject of an indicated report of child abuse or maltreatment on file with the SCR; and
(ii) an inquiry will be made to determine whether such person is listed on the Register of Substantiated Category One Cases of Abuse or Neglect maintained by the Justice Center per section 495 of the Social Services Law.
(3) Temporary approval pending SCR determination.
(i) Except as set forth in subparagraph (ii) of this paragraph, a publicly-funded emergency shelter for families with children may not permit a person hired by the publicly-funded emergency shelter for families with children, a volunteer, consultant, or contractor to have unsupervised contact with children served by the publicly-funded emergency shelter for families with children prior to obtaining the results from the SCR database check as required by section 424-a of the Social Services Law and this subdivision.
(ii) An employee, consultant, contractor, or volunteer of a publicly-funded emergency shelter for families with children may have contact with children served by the publicly-funded emergency shelter for families with children prior to the receipt of the SCR database check results required by section 424-a of the Social Services Law and this subdivision only where such person, is in the line of sight supervision of an existing staff member for whom:
(a) the result of SCR database check made pursuant to section 424-a of the Social Services Law has been received by the publicly-funded emergency shelter for families with children and the publicly-funded emergency shelter for families with children hired the existing staff member with knowledge of the result of the inquiry; or
(b) an inquiry to the SCR was not made because such employee was hired before July 19, 2017, the effective date of the amendment to section 424-a of the Social Services Law, which added publicly-funded emergency shelters for families with children as a provider agency for purposes of that statute.
(4) If an applicant, staff person or other person about whom the publicly-funded emergency shelter for families with children has made an inquiry, pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subdivision, is found to be the subject of an indicated report of child abuse or maltreatment or a substantiated report of abuse or neglect, such publicly-funded emergency shelter for families with children must determine, on the basis of information it has available and in accordance with guidelines referenced in Social Services Law 424-a and those developed and disseminated by the office, whether to hire or retain the person as an employee, volunteer or consultant or to permit the person providing goods or services, to have access to children being served by the publicly-funded emergency shelter for families with children.
(5) Whenever such person is hired, retained, used or given access to children, such publicly-funded emergency shelter for families with children must maintain a written record, as part of the application file or employment or other personnel record of such person, of the specific reason(s) why such person was determined to be appropriate and acceptable as an employee, volunteer, consultant or provider of goods or services with access to children being served by the publicly-funded emergency shelter for families with children.
(c) Mandated reporting.
(1) In accordance with the provisions of sections 413 and 415 of the Social Services Law, employees of publicly-funded emergency shelter for families with children must report or cause a report to be made whenever they have a reasonable cause to suspect a child being served by the publicly-funded emergency shelter for families with children is being abused or maltreated by a parent or other person legally responsible for the child. The report must be made immediately to the SCR. The mandated reporting responsibility applies whenever such employees have reasonable cause to suspect that a child coming before them in their professional or official capacity is an abused or maltreated child, or when they have reasonable cause to suspect that a child is an abused or maltreated child where the parent, guardian, custodian or other person legally responsible for such child comes before them in their professional or official capacity and states from personal knowledge facts, conditions or circumstances which, if correct, would render the child an abused or maltreated child. The provider, director, other person in charge, or a designated agent of the publicly-funded emergency shelter for families with children shall provide all current and new employees with information on how to recognize the signs of child abuse and maltreatment.
(2) A report regarding any suspected incidents of child abuse or maltreatment concerning a child being served by the publicly-funded emergency shelter for families with children must be done in the following manner:
(i) Employees of publicly-funded emergency shelter for families with children must personally make, or cause to be made, an immediate report to the SCR consistent with section 415 of the Social Services Law by telephone, followed by a written report within 48 hours, in the form and manner prescribed by the Office of Children and Family Services, to the child protective service of the social services district in the county in which the child resides.
(ii) After making the initial report, the reporting employee must immediately notify the provider, director, other person in charge or a designated agent of the publicly-funded emergency shelter for families with children that the report was made.
(d) Severability.
If any provision of this Subpart or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is determined to be invalid, such determination shall not affect other provisions or applications of this Subpart not subject to such determination, and, to this end, the provisions of this Subpart are deemed to be severable.
18 CRR-NY 901-1.1
Current through July 31, 2021
End of Document |
IMPORTANT NOTE REGARDING CONTENT CURRENCY: The "Current through" date indicated immediately above is the date of the most recently produced official NYCRR supplement covering this rule section. For later updates to this section, if any, please: consult editions of the NYS Register published after this date; or contact the NYS Department of State Division of Administrative Rules at [email protected]. See Help for additional information on the currency of this unofficial version of NYS Rules.