NY legislators want better foster care background

PHOTOGRAPHER: The Associated Press

New York legislators have approved amending state law to require agencies placing children in foster care first check whether prospective parents have done it before and provided poor or questionable care.

Sponsors say caseworkers sometimes remove children from homes suspected of being unsafe without either revoking the parents’ certificate to provide foster care or reporting them to the state’s child abuse hotline.

Those parents may simply apply to another agency for foster children and get money for their care.

The amendment, if signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, would require all foster care agencies check with the Office of Children and Family Services to determine whether prospective parents ever had foster a child removed from their home, evaluate the reasons why and determine if the foster home should be reopened.