While working together, we shared our efforts with one another, brainstormed ideas for achieving our goal, and came up with a logo and mission statement. By the end of the meeting, the umbrella organization of individuals and groups having the same goal was founded and named the PINS Reform And Family Advocacy Coalition, or PRAFAC for short.

There were 15 families represented at the meeting, either attending or sending input from Erie County, Jefferson County, Lewis County, Monroe County, Onondaga County, Ontario County, Orleans County, Oswego County, Rensselaer County, Wayne County, and Staten Island. As time went on, other parents and professionals from around the state heard of our efforts and joined PRAFAC.

MORE ABOUT WHO WE ARE

A mother in the Albany area, who runs a ToughLove parent support group, began working to raise the age to 18 about 5 years ago. She was put in touch with Senator Mary Lou Rath, who had sponsored a bill to do just that, a bill she inherited from a retiring Senator some years earlier. A number of affiliated groups around NYS became aware of this Albany mother’s efforts and joined in. In 1997 and 1998, a Syracuse-area ToughLove parent support group had a booth at the NYS Fair, at which they gained thousands of signatures on petitions to change the law. As time went on, other individuals and groups began working on this as well. A Jefferson County family founded an organization called Parents Awareness Support System (P.A.S.S.) that grew to include affiliates in other counties around the state whose focus was to change the law. While all were unaware of the others’ involvement, they all had the same goal of raising the age of PINS and runaway return. 

P.A.S.S. found Assemblyman Kaufman, who had a bill to do that. In the early 1990’s Assemblyman Kaufman inherited the bill (the one we ultimately all worked on getting passed) from a retiring Assemblyman and had at that time asked Senator Rath to sponsor the bill in the Senate, at which time she took up that retiring Senator’s bill. There were a number of other legislators who had other bills to raise the age. Assemblyman Robach of the Rochester area was among them, having sponsored a similar bill for several years. In 1999, he decided to join forces with Assemblyman Kaufman, dropping his own bill and signing on as co-sponsor of his colleague’s bill to focus the effort and increase the chance of success.

Assemblyman Robach also worked with PINS reform advocates for a period, during which time a Rochester-area member produced a demonstration showing that about $36 million dollars per year will be saved by this reform. In addition to the immense benefit it will bring to troubled and misguided adolescents and their families, this analysis showed the cost and benefit to the community as a whole to be in favor of this reform.