N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 18 § 421.8

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 50, December 11, 2024

Section 421.8 - Services to children

Authorized agencies shall:

(a) recognize that any child who is legally free, is adoptable;

(b) register each legally freed child with the State Adoption Service, in accordance with Part 420 of this Chapter;

(c) consider each legally freed child's eligibility for adoption subsidy, in accordance with section 421.24 of this Part;

(d) keep the length of interim foster care placements of children free for adoption to a minimum, placing such children in adoptive homes as early as practicable;

(e) arrange a medical examination for each child for whom adoption is planned in order to determine the state of the child's health, significant factors that may interfere with normal development, and the implications of any medical problems. The medical report shall be filed with the child's record;

(f) provide casework services to each legally free child, obtain a current understanding of his or her needs and encourage his or her participation in planning, according to his or her age and capacity; and

(g) provide or arrange for all services necessary to ensure that siblings and/or half-siblings are placed together, unless contraindicated, in accordance with sections 421.2(e) and 421.18(d) of this Part; and

(h) provide each legally free child with adoption services, directly or through purchase of service. The following services are to be provided:

(1) In the case of a child who has not been placed in an adoptive home, evaluation of placement needs, preplacement planning and preparation with reports thereon at intervals as required by the department, and recruitment, adoption study, training and placement planning for prospective adoptive parents.

(i)Parent training is activity designed to increase parents' understanding of the dynamics of parent-child relationships, including providing such parents with the information, skills and attitudes needed to integrate an adopted child into the family by responding constructively to the patterns of behavior the child brings from previous homes and uses to test parent commitment, or to ward off closeness and emotional dependency.

(ii) These training activities may be carried out by the family's adoption worker, other agency personnel or through subcontract. This may be carried out in a group process involving and training other applicants or families with whom a child has been placed.

(2) In the case of a child who is already placed in an adoptive home, parent training, for the parents with whom the child has been placed, supervision and post-adoption services, with reports thereon as required by the department.

(i)Supervision is a process involving individual and group interviews to support the mutual adjustment of the child and family, to enable the agency to keep informed on the progress and well-being of the child in the adoptive home, and to help the family and child to obtain services that may be needed. Supervision begins on the date a child is placed in a home and concludes on the date of the adoption decree.

(ii)Post-adoption services means counseling, training parents on how to care for children with special needs, providing clinical and consultative services, and coordinating access to community supportive services for the purpose of ensuring permanence of the placement. Such services may be designed to treat problems which developed after the date of the adoption decree. Post-adoption services may extend for three years from the date of the adoption decree.

(3) In the case of a child who is not photo listed because the child is age 14 or older and refuses adoption, or the child is placed with a relative within the third degree of consanguinity of the parents of the child and does not have a goal of adoption, evaluation of placement needs, with reports thereon at intervals as required by the department.

N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. Tit. 18 § 421.8

Amended New York State Register December 23, 2015/Volume XXXVII, Issue 51, eff. 12/23/2015