The federal government's dereliction allows states to fall short on meeting minimum child welfare standards. Below is information specific to New York:

CFSR Results Summary: In its Child and Family Services Review (CFSR) process, HHS determines whether each state is in substantial conformity with 7 specific outcomes (pertaining to the areas of safety, permanency and family and child well-being) and 7 systemic factors (relating to the quality of services delivered to children and families and the outcomes they experience).  In the first two rounds of the CFSR, HHS has concluded that New York was:

Round 1 (2002)

• NOT in substantial conformity with 5 of the 7 Outcomes
• NOT in substantial conformity with 3 of the 7 Systemic Factors

Round 2 (2009)   

• NOT in substantial conformity with 7 of the 7 Outcomes
• NOT in substantial conformity with 5 of the 7 Systemic Factors

Although federal law mandates that any state found not to be operating in substantial conformity during an initial or subequent review must begin a full review within two years after approval of the state's program improvement plan, HHS has announced that New York will not undergo Round 3 of the CFSR until FY 2016 (see CFSR Technical Bulletin #7 (March 2014)).

Documents from the U.S. Health & Human Services Children's Bureau

• Child and Family Services Review Reports and Results
  
  
  • New York Performance Improvement Plan (Round 2)
  • Final Report: New York Child and Family Services Review, 2009 (Round 2)
  • New York Performance Improvement Plan (Round 1)
  • Final Report: New York Child and Family Services Review, 2002 (Round 1)
• Title IV-E State Reports and Program Improvement Plans (PIPs)
  
  
  • Initial Primary (FY 2003)
  • PIP
  • Secondary Review (FY 2006)
  • Primary Review (FY 2009)
  • Subsequent Primary Review (FY 2012)
• Other Documents / Reports
  
  
  • New York AFCARS Assessment Review (2012)
  • New York section from HHS' Child Welfare Outcomes, 2009-2012, Report to Congress

Child Welfare Litigation*

• Marisol v. Giuliani
  Plaintiffs charged that New York City’s failure to care for and protect children in its custody (or those reported to be in danger of abuse and neglect), jeopardized their health, education, safety, stability, permanency, and developmental well-being. The lawsuit sought to reform all aspects of the system.

*litigation summary taken from information provided by the website of the National Center for Youth Law, which also contains summaries of o child welfare cases

Child Welfare In the News**

• Screening Law Meant to Prevent Poor Foster Care
  Associated Press - January 06, 2015
  New York will require local social service agencies next year to screen potential foster parents to determine whether they've had previous licenses revoked or children removed from their care and to state the reasons why.
  
• Cuomo nixes report on child protective service caseloads
  Associated Press - January 04, 2015
  Gov. Andrew Cuomo has vetoed legislation that would have required local social services directors report annually on the average monthly caseloads of their staff in child protective services.
  
• Extend NY foster care to beyond age 18 (Opinion)
  Newsday - December 28, 2014
  About 250,000 youth nationally face this daunting reality each year. Personally, I've never met an 18-year-old who is ready to live on his or her own -- and, as a college professor, I see a lot of young people his age. Information Gateway Resource: Extending Out-of-Home Care for Youth Past Age 18:
  
• How did a sex offender become a foster parent? (Includes video)
  WHEC - December 17, 2014
  Chief Benedict says, "It is frustrating for us and our agency and I believe probably everybody -- the school, CPS workers -- looking into something like this. When it would seem like it shouldn't have been allowed to go on."
• The Limits of Protection: Fixing Child Abuse Investigations
  City Limits - December 17, 2014
  A spate of child deaths in the media has called attention, once again, to perennial problems with child protective investigations. This second installment of a three-part series asks: Can investigations be reformed, or are they, by their nature, fatally flawed? Part 1: The Limits of Protection: A Child Welfare Reality Check:
• Bureaucratic Indifference, New York Style Contributes to Little Girl's Suffering, Death (Opinion)
  Niagara Falls Reporter - December 16, 2014
  From the Niagara Falls City Police, who intervened on a domestic dispute at the home of Nocera's mother, Lisa Miljour, to the Niagara County Department of Child Protective Services, who took little Donella from her home, to the Governor's Mansion in Albany, where foot dragging on the part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo prevented the girl from receiving medical marijuana treatments some believe could have staved off the cancer and certainly would have relieved her pain in a healthier way than the hard narcotics that eventually put her into a coma, the system failed the child in the worst way imaginable.
• Limits of Protection: Can Mayor's Push Reduce Child Abuse Deaths?
  City Limits - December 16, 2014
  This story is the first in a three-part series examining the challenges faced by child-protective services-and the families whom they investigate-in New York City and elsewhere.
  
  
• CPS was involved weeks before baby shaken to death
  WIVB 4 - December 08, 2014
  Although the medical examiner ruled the death of 7-week-old Michael Clifford Junior a homicide and police say he was shaken to death, there have been no criminal charges. But News 4 has confirmed that Erie County Child Protective Services have been involved since weeks before Baby Michael died.
  

**news summaries taken from daily newsfeed service of HHS' Child Welfare Information Gateway