Andrew Hevesi

Last-minute budget negotiations between the New York statehouse and governor’s office could result in increasing Family Court attorneys’ pay for the first time in years.

New York lawmakers have proposed state spending plans that call for $3 billion in investments in child care, and an increased spending on child welfare.

Legislation signed into law by New York’s governor will bar the arrest of most children younger than 12 years old, a move pushed for years by advocates decrying the state’s overly punitive justice system.

Thursday marked a raucous day of hearings in New York City, with parents protesting the overreach of the child welfare system.

Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi is shifting his focus towards preventing early trauma that can compound into a multitude of lifelong problems.

When she turned 21 last year, seven years after entering foster care in New York City, Jeanette Rivera suddenly found herself fending for herself — and her three young children.  “They didn’t wait to make sure that I was ready to be on my own, they didn’t make sure I had food, that my bills were paid or that I even understood how to pay my portion of my rent,” Rivera said.

Thanks to an amendment to a state social services law approved by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) last month, older foster youth who find a market-rate apartment can now receive a monthly housing subsidy from Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) even if they live with a roommate. 

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation late last month making it easier for close relatives and family friends to receive financial support for kinship guardianship agreements (KinGAP). Godparents, step-parents, the adoptive parents of half-siblings, neighbors and other kinds of kin will be eligible for the subsidy until the child turns 21.