Section 462. Responsibility for standards

1. (a) The department of social
  services shall promulgate regulations concerning standards of  care  and
  treatment  and  fiscal,  administrative,  nutritional, architectural and
  safety standards,  consistent  with  the  provisions  of  section  three
  hundred  ninety-eight-a  of  this  chapter,  which  shall  apply  to all
  facilities exercising care or custody of children or providing  care  or
  shelter to unmarried mothers.
    (b) With respect to facilities exercising care or custody of children,
  no  license or operating certificate shall be provided or renewed unless
  it can be demonstrated that such facilities comply with regulations  for
  the  prevention and remediation of abuse and maltreatment of children in
  such facilities, including procedures for:
    (i) 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, 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;
    (ii)  establishing,  for  employees, relevant minimal experiential and
  educational  qualifications  consistent  with   appropriate   collective
  bargaining  agreements  and  applicable  provisions of the civil service
  law;
    (iii) assuring adequate  and  appropriate  supervision  of  employees,
  volunteers and consultants;
    (iv)   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 of child abuse and maltreatment
  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 such facility or program;
    (v) removing 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 facility or program;
    (vi) 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.
    (c) With respect to facilities exercising care or custody of  children
  such standards shall 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
  department  may exempt administrators and consultants of such facilities
  or programs from such requirements upon demonstration  of  substantially
  equivalent knowledge or experience; and
    (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  facility or program, in
  techniques and procedures which will enable  such  children  to  protect
  themselves from abuse and maltreatment; and

    (iii)  the  department shall take all reasonable and necessary actions
  to assure that employees, volunteers and consultants in residential care
  facilities and programs are kept apprised on  a  current  basis  of  all
  department  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.
    (d) Such regulations shall be developed  in  consultation  with  other
  state  departments  and agencies responsible for human services programs
  including,  but  not  limited  to,  the  department  of  education,  the
  department of health, the department of mental hygiene, the division for
  youth  and  the  board  of  social  welfare,  and  shall,  to the extent
  possible, be consistent with those promulgated by other  state  agencies
  for such purposes.
    (e)  This  subdivision  shall  not  apply to facilities operated by or
  certified or licensed to operate by another state agency.
    (f) No residential institution for children as defined in  subdivision
  forty-four   of  section  sixteen  hundred  seventy-six  of  the  public
  authorities law shall enter into a lease, sub-lease or  other  agreement
  with  the  dormitory  authority pursuant to subdivision forty of section
  sixteen hundred eighty of the public authorities law unless and until:
    (i) the office of children and family services, the  director  of  the
  division  of  the  budget and any other state agency which licenses such
  residential institutions for children first determines that the  project
  is  necessary  to  address  health  and  safety needs of children at the
  institution, approve the project cost upon determination that such costs
  are reasonable, necessary and cost effective based upon the  application
  of cost per square foot guidelines and any other standards applicable to
  the type of program or to the clinically-required needs of a specialized
  group of children to be served by the project; and
    (ii)  the  office  of children and family services or such other state
  agency which licenses such residential institution for children approves
  the plans  and  specifications  of  the  residential  facilities  to  be
  replaced,   reconstructed,   rehabilitated,   improved,   renovated,  or
  otherwise provided for, furnished or equipped.
    2. (a) The division for youth shall  establish  regulations  governing
  secure and non-secure detention facilities subject to article nineteen-G
  of  the  executive  law  and residential facilities operated as approved
  runaway programs or transitional  independent  living  support  programs
  pursuant to article nineteen-H of the executive law.
    (b)  The appropriate offices of the state department of mental hygiene
  shall establish regulations governing all child care facilities  subject
  to  articles  twenty-three,  thirty-one  and  thirty-two  of  the mental
  hygiene law.
    (c) The department of mental hygiene and the division for youth  shall
  propose  any  additional standards as are deemed necessary to adequately
  ensure the care of children in facilities subject to the inspection  and
  supervision  of  the  department, which care for a significant number of
  mentally disabled children, juvenile delinquents or persons in  need  of
  supervision.  The  final  form of any such additional standards shall be
  subject to the approval of the department of  mental  hygiene  for  such
  standards  related  to  the  care  of mentally disabled children, or the
  division for youth for such standards related to the  care  of  juvenile
  delinquents and persons in need of supervision.