Section 501. General functions, powers and duties of division

The division
  for youth shall have the following functions, powers and duties:  1.  To
  develop  policies and plans for improving the administration of division
  facilities and the delivery of services therein.
    2. To establish, operate and maintain  treatment  programs  and  other
  services for youth placed with or committed to the division and programs
  for the care of conditionally released children.
    3.  To  establish,  operate  and  maintain  division facilities and to
  contract with authorized agencies as defined in  section  three  hundred
  seventy-one of the social services law for the operation and maintenance
  of non-secure facilities.
    4.  To  establish,  operate  and  maintain all division facilities and
  programs and all necessary powers to  see  that  the  purposes  of  each
  facility or program are carried into effect.
    5.   To  promulgate  rules  and  regulations  for  the  establishment,
  operation and maintenance of division facilities and programs.
    6. To  enter  into  contracts  with  any  person,  firm,  corporation,
  not-for-profit  corporation,  authorized  agency  as  defined by section
  three hundred seventy-one of the social services  law,  municipality  or
  governmental agency.
    7.   To   establish,   operate  and  maintain  programs  and  services
  alternative to division facilities for persons placed with the  division
  pursuant  to  section five hundred seven-a of this article. The division
  may contract with political subdivisions of the state, agencies  thereof
  or  supported  thereby,  not-for-profit  associations,  institutions  or
  agencies concerned with youth, for the operation and maintenance of such
  programs and services.
    8. (a) Subject to the amounts  appropriated  therefor,  to  establish,
  operate and maintain or to contract for the operation and maintenance of
  programs which may include, but not be limited to work training programs
  and  alternative  to  placement  programs authorized by law, in order to
  prevent and control juvenile delinquency,  and  to  advance  the  moral,
  physical, mental and social well-being of the youth of this state;
    (b)  To  establish  and  operate  or  to  participate with the federal
  government in  the  establishment  and  operation  of  job  corps  camps
  pursuant  to  the  federal  economic opportunity program and any federal
  laws amendatory or supplemental thereto, and to accept and receive  such
  youths as may be referred by federal agencies pursuant to such law.
    9.  To cooperate with other departments, divisions and agencies of the
  state, its political subdivisions and municipalities and cooperate  with
  public  and  private  agencies  and  departments throughout the state in
  order to assist in the rehabilitation and training of youth placed  with
  or committed to the division.
    10.  To  encourage  and  foster  an  exchange  of  information  and to
  cooperate with social agencies, both public and private,  which  may  be
  administering  to  the needs or assisting any members of the families of
  youth placed with or committed to the division.
    11. To develop a comprehensive five year plan  for  the  provision  of
  services  for  youths  ordered  by  the  court  into  the custody of the
  division. Such plan shall include, but not be limited to:
    (a) a projection of the  numbers  of  youths  to  be  placed  into  or
  committed  to  the  care  of  the division at secure, limited secure and
  non-secure levels of care for the five years encompassed by the plan;
    (b) an analysis of current and  anticipated  utilization  of  division
  facilities;
    (c)  a plan for increasing or decreasing residential capacities at all
  levels as indicated by paragraph (b) of this subdivision;

    (d) a comprehensive description of the types of services and  programs
  to be provided to youths in the custody of the division; and
    (e) a plan for containing costs at all levels of residential care.
    12.  To promulgate regulations concerning standards for the protection
  of children in residential facilities and programs operated or certified
  by the division, from  abuse  and  maltreatment.  Such  standards  shall
  include  the  prevention  and  remediation  of abuse and maltreatment of
  children  in  such  residential  facilities   or   programs,   including
  procedures for:
    (a)  consistent  with appropriate collective bargaining agreements and
  applicable  provisions  of  the  civil  service  law,  the  review   and
  evaluation  of  the  backgrounds  of and the information supplied by any
  person applying to be an employee, a volunteer or consultant which shall
  include but not be limited  to  the  following  requirements:  that  the
  applicant  set forth his or her employment history, provide personal and
  employment  references  and  relevant   experiential   and   educational
  information and sign a sworn statement indicating whether the applicant,
  to  the best of his or her knowledge, has ever been convicted of a crime
  in this state or any other jurisdiction;
    (b) establishing for  employees,  relevant  minimal  experiential  and
  educational   qualifications,  consistent  with  appropriate  collective
  bargaining agreements and applicable provisions  of  the  civil  service
  law;
    (c)  assuring  adequate  and  appropriate  supervision  of  employees,
  volunteers and consultants;
    (d)  demonstrating  by  a  residential  facility   or   program   that
  appropriate  action  is  taken  to assure the safety of the child who is
  reported to the state central register as  well  as  other  children  in
  care,  immediately  upon  notification  that  a report of child abuse or
  maltreatment has been made with respect to  a  child  in  a  residential
  facility or program;
    (e) removing of a child, consistent as applicable with any court order
  placing  the  child,  when  it  is determined that there is risk to such
  child if he or she continues to remain within a residential facility  or
  program; and
    (f)  appropriate preventive and remedial action to be taken, including
  legal  actions,  consistent  with  appropriate   collective   bargaining
  agreements and applicable provisions of the civil service law.
    Such standards shall also establish as a priority that:
    (i)  subject  to  the  amounts  appropriated therefor, administrators,
  employees, volunteers and consultants receive training in at  least  the
  following:   child  abuse  prevention  and  identification,  safety  and
  security  procedures,  the  principles   of   child   development,   the
  characteristics  of  children  in care and techniques of group and child
  management including crisis  intervention,  the  laws,  regulations  and
  procedures   governing   the  protection  of  children  from  abuse  and
  maltreatment, and other appropriate topics; provided however,  that  the
  division   may   exempt   administrators   and   consultants  from  such
  requirements upon demonstration of substantially equivalent knowledge or
  experience;
    (ii) subject to the amounts appropriated  therefor,  children  receive
  instruction,  consistent with their age, needs and circumstances as well
  as the needs  and  circumstances  within  the  residential  facility  or
  program, in techniques and procedures which will enable such children to
  protect themselves from abuse and maltreatment.
    The division shall take all reasonable and necessary actions to assure
  that employees, volunteers and consultants in residential facilities and
  programs  are  kept apprised on a current basis of all division policies

  and procedures relating to the protection of  children  from  abuse  and
  maltreatment,  and shall monitor and supervise the provision of training
  to such administrators, employees, volunteers, children and consultants.
  Such  standards  shall, to the extent possible, be consistent with those
  promulgated by other state agencies for such purposes.
    13. To cooperate with the state  department  of  social  services  and
  other  departments, divisions and agencies of the state when a report is
  received pursuant to title six of article six of the social services law
  to protect the health and safety of children in  residential  facilities
  or  programs.  Such  cooperation shall include: the making of reports of
  alleged child abuse and maltreatment, providing necessary assistance  to
  the   state   department   of   social   services  in  the  department's
  investigation thereof and considering the recommendations of  the  state
  department  of  social  services for appropriate preventive and remedial
  action, including legal actions, and provide or direct  the  residential
  facility  to  provide  such written reports thereon to the department of
  social services as to the implementation  of  plans  of  prevention  and
  remediation  approved  by  the division pursuant to title six of article
  six of the social services law.
    14. To provide for the development and implementation  of  a  plan  of
  prevention  and remediation with respect to an indicated report of child
  abuse or maltreatment. Such action shall include: (a) within ten days of
  receipt  of  an  indicated  report  of  child  abuse  or   maltreatment,
  development  and  implementation of a plan of prevention and remediation
  to be taken with respect to a custodian or the residential  facility  in
  order  to  assure  the  continued  health  and safety of children and to
  provide for the prevention of future acts of abuse or maltreatment;  and
  (b)   development  and  implementation  of  a  plan  of  prevention  and
  remediation, in the event an investigation of a report of alleged  child
  abuse or maltreatment determines that some credible evidence of abuse or
  maltreatment  exists and such abuse or maltreatment may be attributed in
  whole or in part to noncompliance by the residential facility or program
  with  provisions  of  this  chapter  or  regulations  of  the   division
  applicable to the operation of such residential facility or program. Any
  plan  of prevention and remediation required to be developed pursuant to
  paragraph (b) of this  subdivision  by  a  facility  supervised  by  the
  division  shall  be  submitted  to  and  approved  by  the  division  in
  accordance with time limits established by regulations of the  division.
  Implementation  of  the  plan  shall  be  monitored  by the division. In
  reviewing the continued qualifications  of  a  residential  facility  or
  program  for  an operating certificate, the division shall evaluate such
  facility's compliance with plans of prevention and remediation developed
  and implemented pursuant to this subdivision.
    15. In the event that the  office  of  children  and  family  services
  determines that significant service reductions, public employee staffing
  reductions   and/or   the   transfer  of  operations  to  a  private  or
  not-for-profit entity are anticipated in  the  office  of  children  and
  family  services long term planning process or for a particular facility
  in a future year, to take the following actions:
    (a) confer with the department of civil service, the governor's office
  of employee relations and any other state agency to  develop  strategies
  which attempt to minimize the impact on the state workforce by providing
  assistance    in    obtaining   state   employment   in   state-operated
  community-based services  or  other  employment  opportunities,  and  to
  develop  strategies  for  the  development  of  necessary retraining and
  redeployment programs. In planning such strategies, the commissioner  of
  the  office  of  children  and  family  services  shall  provide for the
  participation of the representatives of the employee labor organizations

  and for the participation of managerial and  confidential  employees  to
  ensure continuity of employment;
    (b)  consult with the department of economic development and any other
  appropriate state  agencies  to  develop  strategies  which  attempt  to
  minimize  the  impact  of  such  significant  service reductions, public
  employee staffing reductions and/or the  transfer  of  operations  to  a
  private or not-for-profit entity on the local and regional economies;
    (c)  provide  for  a  mechanism  which  may  reasonably be expected to
  provide notice to local governments, community  organizations,  employee
  labor organizations, managerial and confidential employees, consumer and
  advocacy  groups  of  the  potential for significant service reductions,
  public employee staffing reductions and/or the transfer of operations to
  a private or not-for-profit entity at such state-operated facilities, at
  least twelve months prior to commencing such service reduction; and
    (d) consult  with  the  office  of  general  services  and  any  other
  appropriate  state  agency  in  developing  a  mechanism for determining
  alternative uses for land and buildings to be vacated by the  office  of
  children  and  family services. Such a mechanism should include a review
  of other programs or state agencies that  could  feasibly  expand  their
  operations  onto a state-operated campus and are compatible with health,
  safety and programmatic needs of persons served in such facilities.
    16. To perform such acts as are necessary or convenient to  carry  out
  the  division's  functions, powers and duties in furtherance of the best
  interests of youth, consistent with the provisions of this article.