Guardian bill gives comfort to immigs

ALBANY — Undocumented immigrant parents facing possible deportation from New York would be able to choose a guardian to care for their kids under a bill that won final approval in the Legislature last week.

The bill would expand the standby guardianship law created in the 1980s during the AIDS crisis that has mainly been used by parents diagnosed with a terminal illness to transfer guardianship of their kids to someone they know and trust.

If the bill is signed into law by Gov. Cuomo, the guardianship law will expand to cover people facing “administrative separations” such as arrest, detention, incarceration and deportation, but whose kids will remain in the U.S.

It would allow undocumented immigrants in New York to designate a “standby guardian” for their kids by filling out a form that is signed by a witness.

Once a separation occurs, the standby guardian would file paperwork with the family court.

Bill sponsors Assemblywoman Nily Rozic (D-Queens) and Sen. Diane Savino (DStaten Island) said the idea is to try and keep the kids out of foster care, detention centers or social services by placing them with someone their parents trust.

Rozic said that “given the uncertainty and constant fear facing many New York families,” expanding the use of standby guardianship “is an unfortunately necessary tool to allow parents to ensure their children's care and safety in their absence.”

“Even if this impacts just one family, we've done what we need to do,” Rozic said.

Savino said allowing the appointment of a guardian who can be trusted is psychologically better for parents being deported and their children saying in the country.

“If Washington does not want to act, then it is up to New York and other states to lead the way and ensure that children are protected,” she said.

Saving called on the governor to sign the bill “as soon as he can get his hands on it.”

The bill, which passed the Assembly unanimously in March and the Senate on Wednesday, would not impact those who are taken into custody along the Mexican border and whose kids are then sent to New York.

A Cuomo spokesman said the governor's office will review the bill.

GETTY Workers and children separated from their families (above) line up at a tent encampment recently built near the Tornillo Port in Tornillo, Texas. A protester (below) holds a sign outside a closed gate of a camp.

AP