Diane Savino

In 2013, a volunteer for an upstate New York legal aid office met with a couple  planning to take in two girls — the daughters of the wife’s sister, who was struggling with drug addiction.

The Chronicle of Social Change recently sat down with New York State Senator Diane Savino, an outspoken, influential Staten Island Democrat. We mostly discussed pending legislation, but the conversation took a brief detour toward an even more outspoken, infamous New Yorker: Judge Judith Sheindlin AKA Judge Judy from TV.

Diane Savino is the rare kind of politician: she’s known for her impassioned, sometimes salty candor, and for her granular knowledge of the foster care system. The Democratic New York State Senator for Staten Island spent five years in the early 1990s working for the city, knocking on the doors of parents accused of abusing or neglecting their children.

New York State lawmakers approved legislation this week that would allow judges to order contact between parents and children, after the court severs the parent’s rights due to child abuse or neglect.

Under New York state law, adoptive parents have the opportunity to apply for and receive support called an “adoption subsidy.” The subsidy is a monthly payment adoptive parents receive until the child turns 21 for basic necessities, like food, clothing, housing and medical expenses.