Cayuga County Human Services
Children and Family Services
Beverly Centers Director
Phone: (315) 253-1207
Fax: (315) 253-1298
The Services Section of Health and Human Services is responsible for administering the following programs:
- Child Protective Services
- Foster Care
- Preventive Services
- Adult Protective Services
- Family Day Care
- Information and Referral Services
Child Protective Services (CPS) is the sole agency to receive and investigate reports of child abuse and neglect, and to provide, arrange for, and monitor rehabilitative services for children and their families. On-call CPS workers perform this function whenever the Agency is closed, meaning a CPS worker is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Within 24 hours of receiving a report of suspected child abuse or maltreatment, an investigation must be initiated and an assessment of the safety of the child done. The law allows CPS 60 days from the time of the receipt of the report to complete a full investigation of the allegations contained within the report, as well as an evaluation of the care being provided to the children. The caseworker initiates Family Court action, where necessary, in order to compel the family to accept services or to seek a disposition which separates the children from the offending parent(s).
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Foster Care Services encompasses all activities and functions provided relative to the care of a child away from his home 24 hours per day in a certified foster family boarding home or a certified group home, Agency boarding home, child care institution, health care facility or any combination thereof. To be in Foster Care, a child's care and custody or guardianship and custody has been transferred to the Commissioner of the Department pursuant to Article 3 (Juvenile Delinquent), Article 7 (Person in Need of Supervision) or Article 10 (Abuse and Neglect) of the Family Court Act. Occasionally, a child comes into care on a voluntary basis. The goal of Foster Care is to achieve permanency for a child. By law our first goal is to reunite children with their families by addressing the reasons the children entered care. A services plan is devised and through diligence of effort a caseworker assists the family in its completion. However, if the family does not complete the services plan or is unable to benefit from services so the children can safely return home, a petition to terminate parental rights is filed in Family Court and permanency is achieved by placing the children in an adoptive home. Consequently, home finding and adoption services are an integral component of Foster Care work. In order to be a foster child a person must be under the age of 18, or be between the ages of 18 and 21 years and entered foster care before his or her 18th birthday and has consented to remain in foster care past his or her 18th birthday and be a student attending a school, college or university, or be regularly attending a course of vocational or technical training designed to fit him or her for gainful employment, or lack the skills or ability to live independently. Many of our foster parents adopt children they have cared for who become freed for adoption. Currently, approximately 140 children are in the care and custody of the Commissioner.
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Preventive Services are those supportive and rehabilitative services provided to children and their families for the purpose of averting a disruption of a family which will or could result in the placement of a child in foster care or of enabling a child who has been placed in foster care to return to his or her family at an earlier time than would other wise be possible, or of reducing the likelihood that a child who has been discharged from foster care will return to foster care. Cayuga County, currently, only offers Mandated Preventive Services. This means that in addition to the above definition of Preventive Services six specific circumstances have been set out in regulation to define those situations in which the provision of Preventive Services will be considered essential for the purposes of improving family relationships and preventing foster care placement. These include health and safety of child, parental refusal to maintain a child in the home, parental unavailability, parent service need and child services need. Certain services, known as Core Services, must be made available to children and families when their assessment and service plan indicate that the service is needed. These Core Preventive Services are day care, homemaker, parent training, parent aide, clinical services, transportation, emergency services, preventive housing services and crisis respite care and services in cases involving AIDS. Other Preventive Services, which may be offered, include such things as services, outreach activities and intensive, home-based family preservation services.
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Adult Protective Services responds to referrals on individuals who meet the criteria of being 18 years of age or older AND of having a physical or mental impairment AND of having no one willing or able to assist them. The vulnerable adult is at risk of harm and/or has an unmet essential need. Examples include such things as abuse, which may be physical, emotional, financial or sexual in nature or neglect, which may be perpetrated by a caretaker or the adult. In response to the referral a home visit is made and an assessment completed. The individual may be referred to community resources to assist needs being met. The goal is to maximize safety using the least restrictive interventions. If the issues are not resolved within 60 days, a case is opened and case management services continue.
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Day Care Services provide assistance in securing and subsidizing child care to eligible families transitioning off Temporary Assistance, to eligible full-time students who are parents through graduation from high school, to income eligible working families and to working foster parents for children in their care.
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Information and Referral Services
Information and Referral Services answers a published phone number to take referrals for the Preventive Services for Children Unit and for the Adult Protective Services Unit, and to provide information on services available in the community. This caseworker also handles NYSEG disconnect referrals by making required contacts and follow up home visits when necessary, teen referrals by meeting with teens who claim they have no place to live to gather information, discuss options, follow up with parent contacts and make referrals if needed, and Custody Evaluations for Family Court by completing a report based on home studies of the people requesting custody.
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Cayuga County Human Services Home Page
Updated: 5/5/2003