Bill Requires Court Order for CPS Investigations in New York

For years, many residents of the state of New York have complained that changes needed to be made to make Child Protective Services a better functioning agency and it looks like there's a chance some of those changes may be on the way.

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There is a bill in the New York State Legislature that if passed would mean new standards would be put in place for Child Protective Services.

The bill would require that all Child Protective Service employees must get a court order as well as inform parents and guardians of their rights before storming in and searching homes.

Instead of barging in and throwing everything into chaos, CPS employees would be required to follow the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution which clearly states that Americans have the right to be protected from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government.

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Jasmine Wali, Director of Policy and Advocacy for JMAC for Families said that no new rights would be extended by the passing of this bill but instead, it would be a way to inform parents of their existing rights including the right to an interpreter, legal council, to refuse entry, and to do preventative services.

Wali notes, "Thousands of reports are coming in that are later found to be unsubstantiated, but the family is still experiencing all this trauma and this stress from this investigation.”

The bill is currently under review in the Senate Children and Families Committee.

Right now, anyone can make an anonymous report but a different bill has been introduced that would change anonymous reporting to confidential reporting. That bill is also under review by the Senate's Children and Families Committee.