The Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) was officially
created on January 8, 1998, by merging the programs of the former state Division
for Youth, the developmental and preventive children and family programs
administered by the former state Department of Social Services, and the
Commission for the Blind and Visually Handicapped.
OCFS was created to
improve the integration of services for New York State's young people, its
vulnerable adult populations, and families in need of strengthening; to promote
their development; and protect them from violence, neglect, abuse, and
abandonment. The agency provides a system of family support, juvenile justice,
and child welfare services with a funding level of $3.6 billion for programs
that support the safety and well-being of children and adults.
OCFS has
wide-ranging responsibilities for the provision of services to children, youth,
families, and vulnerable adults. The agency is responsible for programs and
services involving foster care, adoption and adoption assistance; child
protective services, including operating the Statewide Central Register for
Child Abuse and Maltreatment; preventive services for children and families;
services for pregnant adolescents; child care and referral programs; and
protective programs for vulnerable adults.
Additionally, the agency is
responsible for all elements of the state's juvenile justice programs,
administering and managing 34 residential facilities for over 2,000 youth
remanded to the agency's custody by family and criminal courts. OCFS also
coordinates, in part, the state government response to the needs of Native
Americans and their children on reservations and in communities.
The
Division of Development and Prevention Services, through its central and
regional offices, is responsible for statewide oversight of services and
programs provided by local social services districts and voluntary agencies on
behalf of at-risk children, youth and families, and vulnerable adults.
The division's primary program areas and mission focus are: child
protective services, including the Statewide Central Register for Child Abuse
and Maltreatment; institutional abuse investigations, child fatality reporting
and investigations; foster care; adoption and the Interstate Compact for
Placement of Children; prevention services; child day care, family day care, and
school-age child care programs' licensing and inspection; domestic violence;
teenage pregnancy; program and community development; adult protective services
and family-type homes; coordination of services to Native Americans; local
planning activities; program monitoring and compliance; certification,
licensing, inspecting, and regulatory enforcement of residential facilities and
non-residential programs; training; technical assistance, supervision, and
monitoring of local departments of social services; technical assistance,
monitoring, and licensing of voluntary authorized agencies; and review and
analysis of local district and voluntary agency services delivery and operations
for assessment of best practice standards and compliance with state and federal
laws and regulations.