Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
Q&A
NYC Children's Services' perspective on proposed formal kinship care program
1:05:21
·
3 min
The Deputy Commissioner shares NYC Children's Services' perspective on the proposed formal kinship care program for older adults (Intro 1184) and how it might complement existing services.
- NYC Children's Services sees value in having supports for families, caregivers, and children
- The agency believes there's a benefit to having these supports outside of ACS, as people are often afraid to approach ACS directly
- The proposed program should be aware of and able to access existing preventive services and Family Enrichment Centers to avoid duplication
- Family Enrichment Centers, which are expanding from 4 to 30 locations, sometimes offer grandparent caregiving programs based on community needs
- The Deputy Commissioner suggests that the proposed program would be best suited outside of ACS to have a broader reach, as most children in New York City are not involved with ACS
- Coordination between the proposed program and existing services would be important to ensure comprehensive support for kinship caregivers
Crystal Hudson
1:05:21
Understood.
1:05:22
And then a couple of questions related to the bill specifically.
1:05:27
Does NYC Children see value in a formal kinship care program for older adults as proposed in intro November?
UNKNOWN
1:05:36
We I would say we always think that having supports for families and caregivers and the children is beneficial.
1:05:48
There's also a benefit to these types of supports not being inside ACS because for obvious reasons, people are afraid to come to ACS.
1:05:56
And so, you know, the more supports there are for families in New York City, the better.
Crystal Hudson
1:06:03
Okay.
1:06:03
Great.
1:06:04
And how might such a program complement or overlap with existing NYC Children's services?
UNKNOWN
1:06:09
I mean, think we'd want to make sure that, as an example, this new program knew how to access the services and supports we already have on the preventive side.
1:06:22
You know, we wouldn't want people to duplicate those services.
1:06:25
We also have family enrichment centers where we're growing from four of those to there'll be 30 soon.
1:06:32
They're opening up.
1:06:33
There are about 15 now open where people can drop in, and they're built for the needs of that community.
1:06:41
And so some of those family enrichment centers do actually have grandparent caregiving programs that that community wanted.
1:06:50
And so we would also want this program to be aware of how to access and where the family enrichment centers are too.
Crystal Hudson
1:06:57
Great.
1:06:58
And you said this a moment ago, but I just want to confirm for the record that you think a program like this would be best suited outside of your agency.
UNKNOWN
1:07:08
I do for a variety of reasons, including that most children in New York City are actually not involved with ACS.
1:07:15
And so to have the more breadth, I think, outside ACS.
1:07:20
Of course, if this program were with ACS, we do have the family enrichment centers programs that aren't for families with investigations.
1:07:29
So we'd, of course, do the best we could to make it feel as make it both feel empty, as safe as possible.
Crystal Hudson
1:07:35
Yeah.
1:07:36
It's it's not a trick question.
1:07:38
It's okay if you don't want it.
1:07:39
I just wanna confirm.
1:07:43
But I appreciate your answers.
1:07:47
That concludes my questions for both of you.
1:07:50
Thank you so much for your time and both of you for being here.
Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez
1:07:53
And thank you.
1:07:54
And please excuse my interruption there.
Crystal Hudson
1:07:56
It's all good.
1:07:57
All good.
1:07:58
No worries.
1:09:04
Alrighty.
1:09:05
I now open the hearing for public testimony.