NY: NY Law Would Scale Back Practice of Billing Parents for Foster Care

Imprint – March 13, 2024

Across the country, impoverished parents whose kids are removed from their homes following allegations of abuse and neglect are later stuck with the bill for foster care – a practice critics say makes it harder for families to reunify. A bill now before the New York Legislature aims to reduce the number of low-income families saddled with such debt, mirroring similar reforms nationwide. “Every year, thousands of parents whose children have been involuntarily removed to foster care are required to contribute to the cost of their child’s stay in the foster system,” Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal stated in an email to The Imprint. “Not only does this create a financial burden for thousands of families, it actually extends the amount of time parents and children are apart, as poverty-related conditions are among the greatest contributors to the child welfare system.” Under Senate Bill 7054, which is sponsored by Ron Kim in the Assembly, collecting child support from parents with kids in foster care would be far less frequent. Lawmakers Kim and Hoylman-Sigal said they introduced the bill after hearing concerns from social workers and family law attorneys and reviewing research that shows tracking down child support payments from struggling parents costs taxpayers more than is ultimately retrieved.

Also: Assembly Bill A4027: https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2023/A4027

NY Law Would Scale Back Practice of Billing Parents for Foster Care