Child Welfare

Families and young people should be able to easily access the economic, food, child care, and other concrete supports they need to thrive in every neighborhood and community around the state. 

Schuyler Center co-leads the Child and Family Wellbeing Action Network, an expanding statewide group of advocates, providers, and people impacted by New York’s child welfare system. Together, we seek to transform New York’s child welfare system by ensuring New York invests in and implements policies that strengthen and support children, youth and families. 


Transform the child welfare system by investing in policies that prevent unnecessary, harmful family investigations and separations, reduce institutional placements, foster transparency and accountability, and support child, family, and community wellbeing, including: 

  • Establishing the Child and Family Wellbeing Fund with a $30 million state investment 
  • Requiring child protective services caseworkers to advise parents and caregivers of their rights at first contact 
  • Requiring medical care providers to seek the informed consent of pregnant people and new mothers before they or their babies are drug tested. 
  • Prohibiting automatically referring parents of children who enter foster care to child support collection 

Wins

In recent years we’ve secured wins in transforming New York’s child welfare system, including:

  • A historic increase to the child welfare Preventive Services housing subsidy, from $300 a month to $725 a month for young people exiting foster care and families involved in the child welfare system—the first increase since 1988.
  • (S.550-A Brisport / A.66-A Hevesi) Anti-Harassment in Reporting Act – Anonymous calls to the State Central Register are sometimes made maliciously—by domestic abusers or others trying to punish a parent—and are more likely to ultimately be unsubstantiated, meaning there is insufficient evidence of abuse or neglect.  This change will protect children from intrusive, harmful, and unnecessary investigations. 
  •  (S.3781 Brisport / A.5434 Hevesi) – Requires the Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) to provide luggage to young people entering, living in, moving between, and exiting state custody, placement, or guardianship.

Schuyler Center, as part of the Child & Family Wellbeing Working Group, has just released our paper on the Child and Family Wellbeing Fund. This Fund is one of our top budget priorities this year because it prioritizes family and community leadership in disbursing state funds. This Fund would make state resources available to trusted local organizations, run by community members in the neighborhoods experiencing the most Child Protective Services involvement. This paper explains more about the structure of the Fund and why this innovative structure is needed in New York now.

Child Welfare Resources


May 12, 2026
Schuyler Center 2026 Memo in Support of S.845/A.860, the Maternal Health, Dignity, and Consent Act

Resource Category/Categories: Child Welfare, Early Childhood Health and Well Being, Health | Resource Type: Memos in Support


May 5, 2026
Memoradum – NYS Budget Priorities for Child, Family, and Community Wellbeing

Resource Category/Categories: Child Care, Child Poverty, Child Welfare, Health, NYS Budget, Oral Health | Resource Type: Memos in Support, Policy Priorities


April 29, 2026
2026 End of Session Policy Priorities

Resource Category/Categories: Child Care, Child Poverty, Child Welfare, Early Childhood Health and Well Being, Health, Oral Health | Resource Type: Policy Priorities


Child Welfare News