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New York
The Honorable |
Since becoming Governor, George E. Pataki has been instrumental in expanding the protections afforded to New York's abused and neglected children and has served as a strong advocate for prevention programs designed to alleviate the risk of child abuse and neglect. Governor Pataki signed into law the Elisa's Law Child Protective Services Reform Act of 1996. Named after a six-year-old girl who died of repeated abuse, Elisa's Law allows child protective service workers access to records of previous allegations of abuse or neglect, thus facilitating their effort to identify potential patterns of abuse, to conduct more complete investigations, and to make better informed decisions about risks to children. To further institutionalize the Governor's commitment to protecting children, he enacted Chapter 136 of the Laws of 1999, commonly referred to as the Governor's Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) bill. This legislation provides parameters for multidisciplinary investigation teams, child fatality review teams, and Citizen Review Panels. Since 1995, Governor Pataki has allocated $9.6 million dollars for local initiatives to ensure that local Child Protective Services, law enforcement, prosecution, and medical professionals work in a coordinated and collaborative manner to reduce further trauma to victims of child abuse and neglect. In the area of child abuse prevention, Governor Pataki has been instrumental in developing and expanding the Healthy Families New York Program, a voluntary program providing systematic assessment of pregnant women and new parents for risks that may lead to child abuse and poor health/development outcomes. Since the program began in 1995, over 9000 families, representing 61 different nationalities, have been served, and 250,000 home visits have been provided. Governor Pataki also has been supportive of prevention programs funded through the Children and Family Trust Fund. Since the Governor has been in office, the Trust Fund has provided close to $7 million dollars to 39 programs to support innovative prevention programs to combat child abuse and to offer support services to victims of domestic violence.