Bills aimed to protect incarcerated birth parents and their children
The State of New York maintains “[a] nursery program for eligible incarcerated women who give birth in prison, enabling them to maintain custody of their child in the nursery for up to one year.” In 2024, the state legislature introduced three bills aiming to provide due process protections for such incarcerated birth parents and their children. The bills would have provided a right to counsel to the parent and the child in the event that the child is removed from the parent’s care due to concerns about the child’s welfare. In addition, the legislation provided as to removals:
No child shall be removed from the nursery without the express oral and written consent of the birthing parent or a finding, by clear and convincing evidence, that such person poses an imminent risk to the health and safety of the child and that this risk cannot be mitigated through reasonable efforts on behalf of the institution or local correctional facility…
See AB 3483, AB 7630, and SB 7132. As to AB 3483, the right to counsel provision was removed by the Assembly Correction Committee. Though SB 7132 passed in the Senate, it died in the Assembly Codes Committee, as did AB 7360.
