Legal Options for Kinship Caregivers in New York StatePresented by Kinship Navigator for CTAC

RYAN JOHNSON, MSWASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, NYS KINSHIP NAVIGATORPOLICY COORDINATOR, NYS KINCARE COALITION

March 2020

Welcome

Thank you to our partners for their collaboration in developing this series.

Webinar Basics• All are muted, please chat in your questions

throughout the webinar. • Slides and recording will be posted on the CTAC

website www.ctacny.org. Look under the Upcoming Events tab for calendar and navigate to the date of the presentation.

Introductions• Ryan Johnson

Kinship 101: An Introduction to Kinship Care in New York StateTuesday, January 28, 2020https://www.ctacny.org/training/kinship-care-101

Financial Assistance for Kinship CaregiversTuesday, February 11, 2020https://calendar.ctacny.org/event/?id=921

Previous Kinship Webinars

NYS Kinship Navigator An overview of the services offered by the NYS Kinship

Navigator and information on Custody, Guardianship, Grandparent Visitation, and Financial Benefits

About Us:

Ryan Johnson, MSW

Associate Director, NYS Kinship Navigator

Policy Coordinator, NYS KinCare Coalition

TakeawaysKinship Navigator Services

Families First Preventive Services Act – Kinship Navigator Project

Custodial Arrangements

Financial Benefits

NYS Kinship Navigator Services

NYS Kinship Navigator

• Information• Legal Fact Sheets

• County Resources

• Helpline

• Referral• Case Management Programs

• Support Groups

• Legal Referral Network

• Education• Statewide Presentations

• Online Video Archive

• Legislative education

• Advocacy• Case by case advocacy

• Statewide advocacy

NYS Kinship Navigator

• Strategies:• Connections to available financial assistance and legal advocacy

• Partnering with local kinship services and departments of social services

• Centralized information database

Helpline:877-454-6463

Website:www.nysnavigator.org

Virtual Case Assistance

• Virtual Case Assistance is offered in select counties in New York where there is no “on the ground” help available to kinship families.

• It is a pilot project being developed in conjunction with the Office of Children and Family Services, funded by the Children’s Bureau, and is an attempt to create additional kinship-focused supports for caregivers who may need help applying for benefits, getting connected to community resources, or other types of help.

Virtual Case Assistance

The project covers Warren, Washington, Saratoga, Albany, Schenectady, Rensselaer, and Onondaga Counties

• Services provided:• Assignment to a virtual case assistant who will stay with the case for 6 months

• Facilitated benefits applications

• Facilitated referrals

• Extensive follow up from KN and from CHSR• Participants in research study get Walmart gift cards

Becoming a CaregiverPrivate and Public Kinship Care

Private Care:No Child Welfare Involvement

• Informal Custody (no court proceeding)

• Persons in Parental Relation

• Parental Designations

• Custody/Guardianship (court proceeding)

• Parents Consent

• Parents Do Not Consent (Extraordinary Circumstances)

Public Care (Child Welfare Involvement):May Lead to Private Care

• No Removals (no court proceeding)• Alternative Living Arrangements (aka Safety Plans)• Informing about “options”

• Removals (court proceeding)• Abuse/Neglect Proceedings (court)• Informing about “options”• Direct Custody• Foster Care• Exits to Private Care

Custodial Options for Caregivers

• “Informal Custody”

• Legal Custody

• Legal Guardianship

• Direct Custody

• Foster Care

• KinGAP

• Adoption

Elements of Care:

1. Recognition, 2. Authority, 3. Security, 4. Assistance

1. Recognition

1. Terms of Art are Diverse and Not Intuitive (Some examples)• Statutory: acting as a parent (DRL 75), relative caretaker (Surrogate Court)

• Case law: in loco parentis (common law), de facto custody (other states use it)

• Regulatory: alternative living arrangements (NYCRR 430.10)

• Popular: Kinship care

2. Authority

• Caregiving Decisions• Schooling and School Enrollment

• Medical Care

• Accessing Records

3. Security

• Protections from Parents• No Court Order – At Risk

• Court Orders

• On Consent

• On Extraordinary Circumstances

• Child Welfare – concerns for kinship foster parents

4. Assistance

• Financial: access to, and types of benefits

• Resources: access to, and types of benefits

Informal Custody

• Authority:• Schooling

• Caregiver can enroll (if you have assumed care and control, can prove residence, and child intends to remain)• Department of Education regulation 8 NYCRR 100.2 (y)(3)Section 100.2(y)

• Make schooling decisions in certain circumstances (Edl 3202, 3212 - person in parental relationship)

• Medical• Caregiver may make certain medical decisions: immunization (Public Health Law 2164), emergency (Good Samaritan

Law)

• Records• Caregiver can not access records

• Security: At risk

Informal Custody

Parental Consent in Writing:• Parental Designation Forms (GOL 1551-55)

• Routine Medical and Educational decision making

• Renewable • One month designation – no notary

• Up to 12 months designation – notary required

• Can be notarized from a different country

• Springing• Can take place upon particular events

• Security: parent can nullify the designation at any time

Legal Custody

• Legal Custody (Family Court Act Article 6 (aka V-Docket)• Decision making authority comes from a court order

• Court orders can specify what decision making powers the custodian has

• Statutory Authority includes: Medical and Educational decision making

• Security: Parents can petition the court to re-gain custody at any time – would need to show a change in circumstance if child had been removed for safety concerns

Legal Guardianship

• Legal Guardianship • Decision making power is statutory

• Re: necessary consents, protection, education, care and control, health and medical

• Procedure is more complicated than custody proceedings

• Security: Same as a custodian, a parent can petition the court to regain custody of the child at any time – would need to show change in circumstance if finding of extraordinary circumstances

Private Adoption

• Adoption• Adoptive parents have full rights and duties of a parent

• Requires a termination/surrender of parental rights

• Caregiver would lose access to financial supports (child only grant/nonparent caregiver grant)

• Security: parents rights are terminated, parents can not get the child back

Standby Guardianship

• Parents, guardians, legal custodians, and primary caretakers who cannot locate the natural parents, can name a standby guardian via a petition to Family Court or to Surrogate's Court or by a written designation that is witnessed.

• Power is springing: death, debilitation, incapacity, administrative separation

Safety Plans/Direct Custody

• Safety Plans (Alternative Living Arrangements, Relative Placement) • Authority same as “informal custody” – CPS supervision

• Direct Custody (N-Docket, Article 10, 1017, Temporary Custody)• Physical Custody to the caregiver (child resides in the home of a caregiver)

• Court retains jurisdiction over custodial arrangement of the child

• “Foster care on the cheap” – no foster care support but most of the same responsibilities

Kinship Foster Care

• Foster Care (Approved/Certified)• Can be an “Emergency Certification” or can convert from a “Direct Custody”

placement

• Foster parent classes required

• Includes ongoing supports like case management, visitation services, child care, foster care subsidies

• Exits to permanency include: Return to Parent, Adoption, KinGAP, Art 6

Adoption from Foster Care

• Adoption• Adoptive parents have full rights and duties of a parent

• If a child has been adopted as part of a foster care case, then a subsidy may be provided

• Security: parents rights are terminated, parents can not get the child back

KinGAP

• KinGAP (Kinship Guardianship Assistance Program)• the child and relative are related by blood, marriage, or adoption, the caregiver is the appointed guardian

of a half sibling, or a person who has a positive relationship with the child (fictive kin);

• the child has been in foster care and placed with the relative for at least six previous consecutive months;

• the agency has “ruled out” reunification and adoption (i.e., two permanency goals – return to the parents’ home and adoption – are not possible for the child); FF and PH must be completed

• the agency has decided it is in the child’s best interests for the relative to be the child’s guardian

• Over 14 must consult, over 18 must consent

Other Related IssuesGrandparent Visitation

Grandparent Visitation

• Grandparents have the right to ask the court for visitation but not the right to visitation with their grandchildren

• Court to conduct a two-part test:• Does grandparent have standing?

• What is the best interest of the child?

Outreach: Help Us Reach Caregivers!

Contact Us: www.nysnavigator.org

Download: Permission to Contact Procedure and From

Post and Distribute Promotional Materials

Presentations Available via Webinar or in Person

Join KinCare Coalition: www.kincarecoalition.org

Participate: September 16th, 2020 Celebration of Kinship Care Month

Contact

Ryan Johnson, MSWAssociate Director

ryanjohnson@cfcrochester.org

Helpline: 877-454-6463Cell: 585-315-9641

Upcoming EventsBuilding Youth Engagement and Involvement: Learn How YOUTH POWER! Can Support You

Thursday, March 5th – 11:30 AM-12:30 PM

The Supervisor’s Role in Creating a High Performance TeamWednesday, March 18th – 2-3 PM

Reducing Access Disparities in Mental Health Treatment with TechnologyMonday, March 23rd – 12-1 PM

Register at www.ctacny.org

Contact CTAC

Please send questions to: ctac.info@nyu.edu

Logistical questions usually receive a response in 1 business day or less.

Longer & more complicated questions can take longer.

We appreciate your interest and patience!

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