Permanency Hearings: Children Freed for Adoption: Bill # S 7027:
Laws of 2002, ch. 663
This new legislation, effective immediately, will significantly
aid in the effort to spur achievement of permanency for children freed for
adoption, but not yet adopted. A copy of the text of the legislation is
available on www.assembly.state.ny.us
(Legis. Info. System: bill # S 7027 of 2001).
In order to eliminate confusion regarding permanency hearing
mandates, this legislation requires a permanency hearing pursuant to Family
Court Act §1055-a to be convened and completed immediately following,
but not more than 60 days after, commitment of guardianship and custody of a
child to an agency either as a result of a termination of parental rights
proceeding or approval of a surrender. Since the cases are
already on the calendar, the Court has flexibility to determine whether a
formal petition or simply a report would be required for the permanency hearing
and what schedule and form of service should be utilized to assure prompt
notification of all required permanency hearing participants, including foster
parents. All subsequent permanency
petitions will then have to be filed no later than six months after completion
of the prior §§1055-a hearing and each hearing will be required to be completed
within 60 days of the filing of the petition. Simplicity and certainty as to
the applicable time-frames is thus be provided by requiring the calendar to
begin for all children freed for adoption at the same time – i.e., immediately upon
the freeing of the child – and by specifying uniform deadlines both for
the filing of subsequent petitions at six-month intervals and for
completion of hearings within 60 days thereafter.
Additionally, FCA sec. 1055(h) is clarified to provide that while children
freed for adoption, either as a result of surrender or termination of parental
rights, are no longer be considered placed in foster care on the original child
protective proceeding, they are nonetheless still be deemed to be in foster
care and subject to periodic permanency hearings pursuant to section 1055-a of
the Family Court Act until permanency is actually achieved. This ensures that
all children in this category will remain in foster care for purposes of federal
reimbursement, notwithstanding the "suspension" language of section
1055(h) of the Family Court Act. A child originally placed pursuant
to a child protective petition, however, would still be considered to be
so placed in cases in which there is another parent or other person whose
consent would be required for an adoption but whose parental rights have not
been terminated. Such a child would remain subject to extensions of
placement and permanency hearings in accordance with section 1055(b) of the Family
Court Act, rather than section 1055-a, and would also be entitled to federal
foster care reimbursement.
Finally, the proposal makes several technical amendments to section 392 of the
Social Services Law, specifically removing obsolete references to children
freed for adoption, whose permanency hearings are now held in accordance with
section 1055-a of the Family Court Act instead of that section, and
reinstating paragraph (c) of subdivision six of section 392 of the Social
Services Law, a provision of the Adoption and Safe Families Act that was
inadvertently repealed as part of Chapter 534 of the Laws of 1999. [Note:
A technical amendment will be submitted to the Legislature to delete
now-obsolete language regarding the old freed child review time-frame in FCA
1055-a, inadvertently not deleted in the new statute].
Effective date: Dec. 3, 2002.
Office of Court Administration
bill.