507-A - Placement and commitment; procedures.
§ 507-a. Placement and commitment; procedures. 1. Youth may be placed in or committed to the custody of the division: (a) for placement, as a juvenile delinquent pursuant to the family court act; or (b) for commitment pursuant to the penal law. 2. (a) Consistent with other provisions of law, only those youth who have reached the age of seven but who have not reached the age of twenty-one may be placed in, committed to or remain in the division's custody. Whenever it shall appear to the satisfaction of the division that any youth placed therewith is not of proper age to be so placed or is not properly placed, or is mentally or physically incapable of being materially benefited by the program of the division, the division shall cause the return of such youth to the county from which placement was made. (b) The division shall deliver such youth to the custody of the placing court, along with the records provided to the division pursuant to section five hundred seven-b of this article, there to be dealt with by the court in all respects as though no placement had been made. (c) The cost and expense of the care and return of such youth incurred by the division shall be reimbursed to the state by the social services district from which such youth was placed in the manner provided by section five hundred twenty-nine of this article. 3. The division may photograph any youth in its custody. Such photograph may be used only for the purpose of assisting in the return of conditionally released children and runaways pursuant to section five hundred ten-b of this article. Such photograph shall be destroyed immediately upon the discharge of the youth from division custody. 4. (a) A youth placed with or committed to the division may, immediately following placement or commitment, be remanded to an appropriate detention facility. (b) The division shall admit a child placed with the division to a facility of the division within fifteen days of the date of the order of placement with the division and shall admit a juvenile offender committed to the division to a facility of the division within ten days of the date of the order of commitment to the division, except as provided in section five hundred seven-b of this article. 5. Consistent with other provisions of law, in the discretion of the director, youth who attain the age of eighteen while in division custody may reside in a non-secure facility until the age of twenty-one, provided that such youth attend a full-time vocational or educational program and are likely to benefit from such program.