N.Y. Social Services Law § 374 (2026)

§ 374. Authority to place out or board out children. 1. An authorized
agency is hereby empowered and permitted to place out and board out
children.
  1-a. In any agreement between an authorized agency and foster parents
with whom a child or children are to be placed or boarded, there shall
be contained therein the following language: "It is duly acknowledged by
the parties hereto that pursuant to the law of the state of New York, a
foster parent shall have preference in any proceedings to adopt the
child subject to this agreement upon such child having been in the
custody of such foster parent for a period in excess of twelve months".
  2. No person, agency, association, corporation, institution, society
or other organization except an authorized agency shall place out or
board out any child but the provisions of this section shall not
restrict or limit the right of a parent, legal guardian or relative
within the second degree to place out or board out a child.
  3. Except as hereinafter provided no court, public board, commission
or official shall place out or board out a child in a family not
residing within this state.
  (a) A commissioner of public welfare or a city public welfare officer
authorized, pursuant to the provisions of section three hundred
ninety-eight of the social welfare law, to accept the surrender of a
child, may place out a child for the purpose of adoption in a family not
residing within this state. No placement of a child in a family not
residing within this state shall be made unless an agreement for such
placement shall have been reached between the public welfare official
making such placement and the appropriate welfare or other public
official on a state or local level in the state where the family resides
who is authorized by law to supervise children in institutional or
foster care homes. Such agreement shall include provision for the
supervision of the family and the child during the period preceding a
final adoption.
  (b) A commissioner of public welfare or a city public welfare officer
authorized, pursuant to the provisions of section three hundred
ninety-eight of the social welfare law, to place children in family
homes, may board out a child in a family not residing within this state.
No child may be boarded out in a family not residing within this state
unless an agreement for such placement shall have been reached between
the public welfare official making such placement and the appropriate
welfare or other public official on a state or local level in the state
where the family resides who is authorized by law to supervise children
in institutional or foster care homes. Such agreement shall include
provision for the supervision of the family and the child during the
period while the child is boarded out.
  4. (a) No hospital or lying-in asylum whether incorporated or
unincorporated where women or girls may be received, cared for or
treated during pregnancy or during or after delivery except as
hereinafter provided and no person licensed to carry on like work under
the provisions of article twenty-eight of the public health law shall be
an authorized agency for placing out or boarding out children or place
out any child in a foster home whether for adoption or otherwise either
directly or indirectly or as agent or representative of the mother or
parents of such child.
  (b) Every such hospital and licensed person shall forthwith report to
the county or city officer or board charged by law with the care of
destitute children away from their homes where such hospital is located
or where such child is cared for by such licensed person any child
abandoned or left in the care or custody of such hospital or licensed
person provided, however, that no such report except as provided in
section three hundred seventy-two shall be required to be made by a
hospital which is also an authorized agency.
  (c) Such officer or board shall receive and care for such child as a
destitute or abandoned child and may bring the case of such child before
the family court in the county or city for adjudication.
  (d) The expense of caring for such child as a public charge shall be
paid as provided by this chapter.
  5. Nothing contained in this section shall deprive any hospital of any
right or power conferred upon it by its charter or act of incorporation
or specified in its certificate of incorporation.
  6. An authorized agency, as defined in paragraphs (a) and (c) of
subdivision ten of section three hundred seventy-one of this title, may
charge or accept a fee or other compensation to or from a person or
persons with whom it has placed out a child, for the reasonable and
necessary expenses of such placement; and no agency, association,
corporation, institution, society or organization, except such an
authorized agency, and no person may or shall request, accept or receive
any compensation or thing of value, directly or indirectly, in
connection with the placing out or adoption of a child or for assisting
a birth parent, relative or guardian of a child in arranging for the
placement of the child for the purpose of adoption; and no person may or
shall pay or give to any person or to any agency, association,
corporation, institution, society or organization, except such an
authorized agency, any compensation or thing of value in connection with
the placing out or adoption of a child or for assisting a birth parent,
relative or guardian of a child in arranging for the placement of the
child for the purpose of adoption. The prohibition set forth in this
section applies to any adoptive placement activity involving a child
born in New York state or brought into this state or involving a New
York resident seeking to bring a child into New York state for the
purpose of adoption.
  This subdivision shall not be construed to prevent the payment of
salaries or other compensation by an authorized agency to the officers
or employees thereof; nor shall it be construed to prevent the payment
by a person with whom a child has been placed out of reasonable and
actual medical fees or hospital charges for services rendered in
connection with the birth of such child or of other necessary expenses
incurred by the birth mother in connection with or as a result of her
pregnancy or the birth of the child, or of reasonable and actual
nursing, medical or hospital fees for the care of such child, if such
payment is made to the physician, nurse or hospital who or which
rendered the services or to the birth mother of the child, or to prevent
the receipt of such payment by such physician, nurse, hospital or birth
mother. This subdivision shall not be construed to prevent the payment
by an adoptive parent, as defined in section one hundred nine of the
domestic relations law, of the birth mother's reasonable and actual
expenses for housing, maternity clothing, clothing for the child and
transportation for a reasonable period not to exceed sixty days prior to
the birth and the later of thirty days after the birth or thirty days
after the parental consent to the adoption, unless a court determines,
in writing, that exceptional circumstances exist which require the
payment of the birth mother's expenses beyond the time periods stated in
this sentence. This subdivision shall not be construed to prevent the
payment by an adoptive parent, as defined in section one hundred nine of
the domestic relations law, of reasonable and actual legal fees charged
for consultation and legal advice, preparation of papers and
representation and other legal services rendered in connection with an
adoption proceeding or of necessary disbursements incurred for or in an
adoption proceeding. No attorney or law firm shall serve as the attorney
for, or provide any legal services to both the birth parent and adoptive
parent in regard to the placing out of a child for adoption or in an
adoption proceeding. No attorney or law firm shall serve as the attorney
for, or provide any legal services to, both an authorized agency and
adoptive parent or both an authorized agency and birth parent where the
authorized agency provides adoption services to such birth parent or
adoptive parent, where the authorized agency provides foster care for
the child, or where the authorized agency is directly or indirectly
involved in the placing out of such child for adoption.
  7. After receipt of notice from the state commissioner of health or
the department of health of the city of New York, as the case may be,
that an application has been received by such commissioner or department
for a license or for the renewal of a license to conduct a maternity
hospital or lying-in asylum, pursuant to the provisions of article
twenty-eight of the public health law, the department shall, after
notice to the applicant and opportunity for him to be heard, certify in
writing to such commissioner or city department that the department has
reasonable cause to believe that the applicant is violating or has
violated the provisions of this section, if such be the case. The
department shall so certify within thirty days of the date it received
notice, or within such additional period, not to exceed thirty days, as
the department may request in writing addressed to the commissioner or
administration giving notice.