Children and Family Services, Office of

Agency Web Site: http://ocfs.ny.gov

Mission

The Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) serves New York's public by promoting the safety, permanency and well-being of our children, families and communities. OCFS achieves results by setting and enforcing policies, building partnerships, and funding and providing quality services.

Organization and Staffing

OCFS is headed by a Commissioner who is served by an Executive Deputy Director and several Deputy Commissioners who oversee various departments and programs. Agency staff are located throughout the State in OCFS operated residential facilities and in regional offices, where they work with county commissioners to implement and monitor local programs.

Budget Highlights

The FY 2018 Executive Budget recommends $3.9 billion for OCFS, which is a decrease of $90.0 million from FY 2017. The change primarily reflects: an increase in General Fund support for child care subsidies that resulted from an equal decrease in Temporary Assistance For Needy Families (TANF) fund support; recommended budget actions in foster care, Committee on Special Education placements, youth programs, and the use of Federal Title XX funds; collective bargaining salary increases; and the elimination of legislative adds. The FY 2018 Executive Budget recommends a workforce of 2,965 FTEs, an 11 FTE increase from FY 2017 related to staff at the Human Services Call Center.

Major budget actions include the following:

• Raising the age of juvenile jurisdiction from age 16 to age 18. Full State share implementation costs are estimated at $191 million in FY 2022. Capital investments of $110 million are also included to address the need for additional OCFS facility capacity.
• Restructuring the funding of room and board costs in New York City for placements of children with severe disabilities in residential schools by the Committee on Special Education.
• Restructuring the funding of tuition costs in New York City for children in foster care.
• Reducing the Foster Care Block Grant to provide an estimated 50 percent State share to counties net of Federal funding.
• Requiring that a portion of Title XX funding be used for Child Care subsidy costs, enabling the State to maintain the current level of Child Care subsidies while reducing General Fund costs for the program.
• Reauthorizing the Child Welfare Financing structure for five years; continuing the system that has helped to incentivize reductions in the Foster Care population.

For more information on this agency's budget recommendations located in the Executive Budget Briefing Book, click on the following link:

Briefing Book – Human Services (PDF)

Program Highlights

Child Welfare Services

Child Welfare Services provides a variety of services to families to ensure the safety and well-being of children, and to strengthen families to successfully care for their children. Child Protective Services includes: investigating reports of child abuse or maltreatment, providing solutions to protect children, and helping prevent future occurrences of abuse or maltreatment. Preventive Services are provided to families with children at risk of entering foster care. Independent Living Services teach youth aging out of foster care the necessary skills to be independent adults.

Foster Care

Foster Care provides out-of-home placements for children and youth who have been removed from their homes due to: abuse/neglect by their parent, or a court determination that a child is a "person in need of supervision" or a juvenile delinquent. Foster boarding homes provide care in a home setting by foster parents, and residential programs serve youth with more significant health or emotional needs. The foster care caseload has dropped from 37,000 in FY 2003 to 17,500 in FY 2017 after the State reformed child welfare financing to incentivize preventive and child protective services that help keep families together.

Child Care

The Child Care Block Grant (CCBG) provides child care subsidies to: families on public assistance, families transitioning off of public assistance, and low-income families. The FY 2018 budget provides $889.3 million for the NYS Child Care Block Grant,in addition to local dollars. The Budget includes $806 million to continue the current level of funding for child care subsidies.

Adoption Services

Adoption Services provides funding for expenses related to the adoption of children from the Foster Care system. Subsidies are provided to families to help meet the needs of caring for handicapped and hard-to-place children.

Adult Protective Services

Adult Protective Services provides services to individuals 18 and over that present the following: physical and/or mental disabilities resulting in a reduced capacity for self-care; evidence of harm or risk of being harmed by others; and lack of assistance from others. In 2015, the agency received approximately 58,280 adult protective services referrals.

Domestic Violence Services

Domestic Violence Services provides services to individuals 16 and over that have been victims of domestic violence (DV). Services are designed to provide safety and support to victims and their children through approved residential and non-residential programs. In 2015, 11,585 adults and children received DV residential services and 40,743 adults and children received DV non-residential services.

Committees on Special Education

Committees on Special Education (CSE) are the primary placement system for providing special education services for children with educational disabilities. CSEs place students into day and residential schools, both in and out-of-state, and CSE funding supports the maintenance costs of residential CSE placements. During FY 2016 1,348 students were placed in-state and an additional 380 students were placed out-of-state.

Runaway and Homeless Youth Services

The Runaway and Homeless Youth Program provides funding to counties for contracts with not-for-profit runaway programs that provide services to youth. Services include short-term shelter and long-term transitional and independent living services for youth. All youth receive case management services and basic needs, either directly by the service provider or through referral to other programs. The Executive Budget includes legislation that provides counties that offer runaway and homeless youth programs the option to increase the length of stay in programs and raise the eligibility age to 24.

Youth Facilities and Youth Program Services

The Youth Facilities Program supports the Division for Juvenile Justice and Opportunities for Youth (DJJOY), which provides a range of core mandated and enhanced services to court adjudicated youth and their families, delivered in state-operated residential facilities and at community sites. The Program also provides support for local detention facilities that house youth while the cases are pending in family court. In addition, the Youth Development Program provides funding to localities to support delinquency prevention programs.

Commission for the Blind

The Commission for the Blind supports services to legally blind children and older adults including Vocational Rehab Basic Support, Independent Living for Adults and Preschool Children, Independent Living for Older Blind, Supported Employment programming and In-Service Training. The Commission also provides support for assessments, mobility training, academic instruction, case management and job-oriented vocational instruction.

Statewide Central Register

The Statewide Central Register is responsible for screening all calls of suspected child abuse and maltreatment.

Human Services Call Center

The Human Services Call Center (HSCC) provides consistency and quality for information and customer service. HSCC handles over 1 million calls for ten state agencies from 33 different lines.

Note: Most recent estimates as of 1/17/2017