A new lawsuit, brought by Proskauer on behalf of The Legal Aid Society, Lawyers for Children, and the Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo, seeks to end New York State’s Host Homes program, which has created a shadow, unregulated system of foster care.

The complaint asserts that regulations set by the Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) allow children to be placed with strangers in “Host Homes,” without essential protections afforded to children and families in the foster system.

Unlike the statutorily established system for voluntary placement of children into foster care, the Host Homes program does not require children separated from their parents to be appointed independent legal counsel; does not provide for any judicial oversight of the placement, and does not prioritize placement of children with kin nor restrict out-of-state placements. Further, the Host Homes Program does not require the provision of supportive or preventive services to parents to avoid placing children outside their homes or other efforts to reunify families.

“The Host Homes Program purports to authorize the placement of children with strangers without necessary legal representation, supports, or oversight,” said Dawne Mitchell, Attorney-In-Charge of the Juvenile Rights Practice at The Legal Aid Society. “Instead of creating a shadow foster care system that places children at an undue risk of harm OCFS should provide and fund brief respite services and other primary preventive services.”