New York State's
Separated Siblings 2000-2002

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Keeping siblings together in foster care and adoption is a goal shared by child welfare and mental health professionals, policy makers, and advocates alike. New York State law and regulations make clear that placement together with siblings is presumptively in a child's best interests. However, no accountability standards are defined, and little publicly accessible information exists on how well the goal of keeping siblings together is being met.

This informal study is the result of the NYS Citizens' Coalition for Children's continued advocacy begun in 1997 on behalf of children who are separated from their brothers and sisters. The first report was published in 1999, followed by an update in 2000. This study, completed in July 2003, builds on the earlier work and is intended to accomplish the following purposes:

• To document and describe agency practice and relative success in keeping together siblings who are legally free for adoption.
• To call the public's attention to the plight of the children who are being separated from their brothers and sisters.
• To advocate for changes which can result in an increase in the number of children who are planned for together with their siblings:

The study draws on information available in the New York State Adoption Album, published by the NYS Office of Children & Family Services. The Adoption Album consists of bimonthly photolistings of children who are legally freed for adoption and are in need of an adoptive family. For this study, all new and updated photolistings issued during the years 2000, 2001, and 2002 were monitored for the mention of siblings who would not be placed together with the photolisted child. A report for each year and a report of overall trends resulted.

The reports consistently show that more children in Upstate New York are being separated from their siblings than in New York City, even though New York City has vastly more children in foster care (22,662 NYC/11,799 rest of state*), children with the goal of adoption (8,987 NYC/2,749 rest of state*), and children legally freed for adoption (5057 NYC/2577 rest of state*) than all of the other 51 counties combined.

The more positive outcomes in New York City are the result of stricter monitoring and accountability demands, resulting from the settlement of a lawsuit brought by the Legal Aid Society. The Coalition believes that Upstate siblings are entitled to the same protections as their counterparts in New York City.

We call upon the NYS Office of Children and Family Services to initiate the following changes to benefit all of New York State's children in foster care:

1) Investigate the status and decision-making process of all separated children documented in the study, to assess the necessity for separation.

2) Monitor and publicly report the sibling status of all children in foster care, including all children awaiting adoption.

3) Institute procedures to review every agency decision to separate siblings

* NYS Office of Children and Family Services Quarterly Summary of Characteristics of Children in Foster Care District Report 3/31/03. Population differences between New York City and total for rest of state are relatilvely consistent through the years. 1