Testimony regarding the Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment

The NYCLU views state intervention in family life as a core civil liberties issue that implicates families’ fundamental rights to privacy, due process, and family integrity. There is increasing consensus that the family regulation system—the term we use to describe what is traditionally and misleadingly known as the “child welfare system”—ensnares far too many families, seriously infringing on these rights. Today’s hearing examines the administration of the State Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment (SCR), which is operated by the New York State Office of Children and Family Services and receives reports of suspected child abuse and maltreatment from across the state and refers them for investigation by local departments of child protective services (CPS). Given the decentralized nature of many aspects of the family regulation system, the SCR is one of the key mechanisms the state has to narrow the front door to system-involvement and prevent unnecessary harm by screening out reports that do not meet the legal criteria to warrant CPS referral. However, while the SCR is intended to play a pivotal role in shaping the scale and scope of state intrusion into the lives of New York families by determining which reports legally require investigation and which do not, it often fails do so. Data strongly suggests that the SCR is failing to effectively filter out reports that do not meet the definition of suspected neglect or abuse. Increased transparency and accountability are needed to ensure that the SCR rigorously adheres to legal guardrails—especially when the stakes are as high as potential family separation.