Interagency Out-of-State Residential Placement Work Group 

There are approximately 1,400 children being served in residential facilities outside of New York State. These children have been placed out-of-state through Committees on Special Education (CSEs) in their Local Educational Agencies (LEA) and through their Local Departments of Social Services (LDSS). Placements through these agencies receive financial reimbursement and technical support from the State Education Department (SED) and the Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS), respectively, as well as federal funds and county tax dollars. In the five-and-a-half-year period, 1998 to 2004, the number of out-of-state placements:

• Increased from 490 to 1,007 for the educational system; and
  
  
• Increased from 222 to 355 from the social services system (this number speaks only to children in congregate residential programs and does not include children placed in foster or pre-adoptive homes out-of-state)

Since 2003, the number of children placed out of state by the New York City Administration for Children Services (ACS) has decreased from 92 to 38, due to various factors, including the concerted effort by ACS to provide placements in the child's community.

The concern over placing children in out-of-state residential facilities is not new. Over the past 25 years, efforts have been made to identify the scope of this issue and address trends of increasing out-of-state placements, as well as the larger issue of out-of- home placements in New York State. Some of these initiatives, such as the Coordinated Children's Services Initiative (CCSI) and Integrated County Planning are part of the ongoing efforts that are integral to the recommendations presented herein.

Excerpt