Section 615.
§ 615. Administration; commissioner. There shall be an administration
for children's services, the head of which shall be the commissioner of
children's services.
Section 616.
§ 616. Deputies. The commissioner shall appoint at least three deputy
commissioners.
Section 617.
§ 617. Powers and duties. a. The commissioner shall have the powers
and perform the duties of a commissioner of social services under the
social services law for the purpose of fulfilling his or her
responsibilities under this section. The commissioner shall have the
power to perform functions related to the care and protection of
children including, but not limited to:
1. performing the functions of a child protective service, including
without limitation, the receipt and investigation of reports of child
abuse and maltreatment;
2. providing children and families with preventative services for the
purpose of averting the impairment or disruption of families which could
result in the placement of children in foster care; enabling children
placed in foster care to return to their families; and reducing the
likelihood that a child who has been discharged from foster care may
return to such care;
3. providing suitable and appropriate care for children who are in the
care, custody, or guardianship of the commissioner;
4. providing appropriate daycare, Head Start and other child-care
services; and
5. providing services to ensure that legally responsible parents
provide child support.
b. Wherever the powers and duties of an agency other than the
administration for children's services as set forth in the charter or
administrative code confer any authority over the areas of child
welfare, child development or child support enforcement within the
jurisdiction of the commissioner of children's services pursuant to
section six hundred seventeen of this chapter, such powers and duties
shall be deemed to be within the jurisdiction of the administration for
children's services and shall be exercised by such administration;
provided that such other agency may exercise such powers and duties
where required by state or federal law, or, with respect to child
support enforcement or determinations of eligibility for subsidized
child care, by the department of social services as directed by the
mayor.
c. No agency practice, including but not limited to any tracking
system, record keeping or reporting system or data collection system or
device, may prejudice the rights of, stigmatize or otherwise harm a
person because of his or her gender or relationship to a child or
children involved in a child protective matter. To the extent that
requirements of this subdivision are subject to state approval, the
agency will request permission to make any changes in policy necessary
to comply with the provisions of this subdivision within ninety days of
the effective date of the local law that added this subdivision. The
agency shall promulgate such rules as are necessary for the purposes of
implementing and carrying out the provisions of this subdivision.
Section 618.
§ 618. The commissioner shall, in addition:
a. establish, initiate, control, maintain and operate secure and
non-secure facilities for the temporary care and maintenance away from
their own homes only of children alleged to be or adjudicated as
juvenile delinquents and only of children alleged, adjudicated or
convicted as juvenile offenders in detention as defined in subdivision
one of section five hundred ten-a of the executive law;
b. contract with other public and private agencies for such services,
in order to ensure that adequate, suitable, and conveniently accessible
accommodations and proper care will be available when required for
detention, within the appropriations available therefore;
c. establish such regulations for the operation of secure and
non-secure detention facilities as may be necessary and not inconsistent
with state or local law or with applicable rules and regulations of any
state or city agency having jurisdiction. Notwithstanding any other
provision of law, the commissioner shall provide or secure the
availability of conveniently accessible and adequate non-secure
detention facilities, certified by the state office of children and
family services, as resources for the courts in the city of New York
pursuant to provisions of the family court act, the criminal procedure
law, and section five hundred ten-a of the executive law;
d. develop, implement and maintain systems to collect, store and
disseminate data concerning juvenile delinquency, juvenile crime and the
juvenile justice system;
e. participate with other city agencies in the development,
implementation and maintenance of a juvenile justice information system,
to include (i) an index of records of the family court and department of
probation related to proceedings conducted pursuant to article three of
the family court act, and (ii) other information, including but not
limited to age, sex, race, date of birth, charges, dispositions,
warrants, calendar information and case management data connected with
such cases, such records to be made available to the family court, the
probation department, and an agency with which the child is placed or
committed upon request, and otherwise to be kept confidential except as
provided by law;
f. plan, develop, conduct and supervise programs, including diversion
and aftercare for previously detained juveniles, for the prevention of
juvenile delinquency and juvenile crime and for youths arrested,
charged, adjudicated or convicted of having committed delinquent or
criminal acts, and conduct research and demonstration projects related
thereto.
Section 619.
§ 619. Advisory board. a. There shall be in the department a juvenile
justice advisory board consisting of eleven members.
b. It shall be the duty of the board to advise the commissioner and
make recommendations. The board shall submit an annual report of its
activities to the mayor.
c. The members of the board shall be appointed by the mayor and shall
serve at the pleasure of the mayor. Five of the members, one resident
from each of the five boroughs of New York city, shall be recommended
for appointment by a majority vote of the council members of the
respective borough.
d. The mayor shall designate one of the members of the board to be
chair and one to be vice chair, neither of whom shall be employees of
the city of New York.
e. The members of the board shall serve without compensation.
To the extent possible under law, Friends of Devin Balkind for Public Advocate has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to New York City Administrative Code. This work is published from: United States.
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