A 8272: Provides access to representation for adults in child protective proceedings of the family court who are financially eligible as determined by the chief administrator of the courts; provides access by attorneys for adults and children to records of the statewide registry of child abuse and maltreatment.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 8272 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY May 7, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. DAVILA -- (at request of the Unified Court System) -- read once and referred to the Committee on Children and Families AN ACT to amend the family court act, in relation to representation of adults and children in family court proceedings; and to amend the social services law, in relation to access by attorneys for adults and children to records of the statewide registry of child abuse and maltreatment The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The part heading of part 6 of article 2 and section 261 of 2 the family court act, as added by chapter 682 of the laws of 1975, are 3 amended to read as follows: 4 COUNSEL FOR [INDIGENT] ADULTS IN 5 FAMILY COURT PROCEEDINGS WHO ARE FINANCIALLY UNABLE TO OBTAIN 6 COUNSEL 7 § 261. Legislative findings and purpose. Persons involved in certain 8 family court proceedings may face the infringements of fundamental 9 interests and rights, including the loss of a child's society and the 10 possibility of criminal charges, and therefore have a constitutional 11 right to counsel in such proceedings. Counsel is often indispensable to 12 a practical realization of due process of law and [may be helpful to] in 13 helping the court [in making] to make reasoned determinations of fact 14 and proper orders of disposition. The purpose of this part is to provide 15 a means for implementing the right to assigned counsel for [indigent 16 persons] adults in proceedings under this act who are financially unable 17 to obtain counsel. 18 § 2. The section heading and subdivision (c) of section 262 of the 19 family court act, as added by chapter 682 of the laws of 1975, are 20 amended to read as follows: EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD08843-01-5 
 A. 8272 2 1 Assignment of counsel for [indigent] persons who are financially 2 unable to obtain counsel. 3 (c) Implementation. (i) Any order for the assignment of counsel issued 4 under this part shall be implemented as provided in article eighteen-B 5 of the county law. 6 (ii) The determination of whether persons are financially eligible for 7 assignment of counsel under this part shall be made in accordance with 8 rules promulgated by the chief administrator of the courts. 9 (iii) Where representation is provided to an eligible adult prior to 10 the filing of a petition under article ten or ten-A of this act or to a 11 parent, caretaker or interested adult prior to the filing of a petition 12 under article ten-C of this act, such representation shall be eligible 13 for compensation under paragraph (i) of this subdivision. 14 § 3. The family court act is amended by adding a new section 1016-a to 15 read as follows: 16 § 1016-a. Representation for adults subject to a child protective 17 services investigation and/or child protective proceeding. (a) An adult 18 who is the subject of a child protective services investigation has the 19 right to counsel prior to the initiation of any court proceeding. If 20 such a person appears in court without counsel at the first appearance 21 for any matter under this article, the court, at the outset of the 22 proceeding, shall inform the person of the right to be represented by 23 counsel of their own choosing, of the right to have an adjournment to 24 confer with counsel, and of the right to publicly funded legal represen- 25 tation if the person is financially unable to obtain counsel. For 26 purposes of this section, such person shall be referred to as an "eligi- 27 ble person". 28 (b) Whenever a person has been provided with publicly funded legal 29 representation under this article, such representation shall continue 30 during (i) the period in which an order of disposition issued by the 31 court pursuant to section one thousand fifty-two of this article direct- 32 ing supervision or protection or suspending judgment, or any extension 33 thereof, is in effect; (ii) an adjournment in contemplation of dismiss- 34 al, as provided for in section one thousand thirty-nine of this article, 35 or any extension thereof; (iii) a permanency hearing pursuant to subdi- 36 vision (b) of section one thousand ninety of this act; and (iv) the 37 pendency of a supplemental or related proceeding, including any period 38 of continuing jurisdiction. 39 (c) All notices and reports required by law and all motions made by 40 any other party to the proceeding or the attorney for the child shall be 41 served upon the attorney for the eligible person. 42 (d) Representation of the eligible person terminates only if the court 43 relieves the attorney, or a final order is issued and the eligible 44 person is informed of any existing right to appeal and declines to exer- 45 cise any existing right to appeal and where no further jurisdiction 46 continues under section one thousand eighty-eight of this act or any 47 other provision of law. 48 (e) The attorney for the eligible person may be relieved as counsel 49 upon application to the court for termination of the appointment. If 50 the application is approved and the person remains eligible for publicly 51 funded counsel, the court shall immediately appoint another attorney 52 pursuant to section two hundred sixty-two of this act, upon whom all 53 notices and reports required by law and all motions made by any other 54 party to the proceeding or the attorney for the child shall be served. 55 (f) The attorney for the eligible person shall be entitled to compen- 56 sation pursuant to applicable provisions of law for services rendered 
 A. 8272 3 1 prior to and subsequent to the filing of a petition under this article, 2 including disposition of the petition, as well as all permanency and 3 other post-dispositional, supplemental and related proceedings. The 4 court may receive and approve periodic requests by attorneys for payment 5 for all such services provided. 6 § 4. Paragraph 1 of subdivision (a) of section 1094 of the family 7 court act, as amended by chapter 3 of the laws of 2012, is amended to 8 read as follows: 9 (1) appoint an attorney to represent the child in accordance with 10 section two hundred forty-nine of this act, and appoint an attorney to 11 represent a parent, caretaker or interested adult in accordance with 12 paragraph (ix) of subdivision (a) of section two hundred sixty-two of 13 this act, if [he or she] such parent, caretaker or interested adult is 14 financially unable to obtain counsel; provided, however, that where 15 publicly funded representation was provided prior to the initial appear- 16 ance, including any period prior to the filing of a petition under this 17 article, such representation shall be eligible for compensation under 18 section two hundred sixty-two of this act; 19 § 5. Subparagraph (t) of paragraph (A) of subdivision 4 of section 422 20 of the social services law, as amended by chapter 41 of the laws of 21 2010, is amended to read as follows: 22 (t) an attorney [for] representing a child[, appointed pursuant to the 23 provisions of section one thousand sixteen of] or an adult in any 24 proceeding under the family court act, social services law or domestic 25 relations law, or an attorney representing an adult who is the subject 26 of, or is another person named in the report, as defined in subdivisions 27 four and five, respectively, of section four hundred twelve of this 28 title, at any time such [appointment is in effect, in relation to any 29 report in which the respondent in the proceeding in which the attorney 30 for a child has been appointed is the subject or another person named in 31 the report, pursuant to sections one thousand thirty-nine-a and one 32 thousand fifty-two-a of the family court act] attorney provides repre- 33 sentation; provided, however, that a prospective attorney for a child or 34 for an adult who is the subject of, or is another person named in, the 35 report may have access to a report made pursuant to this title where 36 necessary to ascertain whether any conflict of interest would prevent 37 their representation; to assist the child or adult during the investi- 38 gation of such report; and to prepare for initial proceedings that 39 accompany the filing of a petition under the family court act, social 40 services law or domestic relations law; 41 § 6. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall 42 have become a law.