| Releases & Statements
Contact: Frank Sobrino
O: (212) 669-4193
Thank you, Chair de
Blasio and Chair Jackson for calling this important hearing.
I want to thank Mayor
Bloomberg, Deputy Mayor Gibbs, and Commissioner Mattingly for
responding quickly to the concerns raised by my office, the City
Council, and others following the death of Nixmary Brown.
In particular, I am
pleased to see the administration adopting measures to address
the critical issue of interagency communication. The new protocols
for communication and coordination between ACS, the Department
of Education, and the NYPD are a step in the right direction.
It is of vital importance, however, that more agencies be included
in the reform process.
The DOE and the NYPD
are not the only agencies with which ACS has failed to communicate
effectively. In the case of Dahquay Gillians, for example, the
Department of Probation had pertinent information about the ongoing
drug use of Dahquay’s mother and conveyed that information
to ACS, but ACS did not conduct adequate follow-up.
The administration should
not wait for another senseless death before turning its attention
to the other agencies that play a role in child welfare. The task
force headed by Deputy Mayor Gibbs should develop protocols for
communication and coordination between ACS and all relevant agencies—including
the Department of Probations, the Department of Homeless Services,
the Human Resources Administration, the Department of Juvenile
Justice, the Department of Youth and Community Development—so
all information pertinent to the protection of children is both
conveyed and acted upon.
While the importance of such measures
can hardly be over-stated, big-picture reforms can only be effective
if they are implemented consistently. The devil is in the details,
and Mayor Bloomberg, Deputy Mayor Gibbs, and Commissioner Mattingly
must ensure that front-line workers are making proper decisions
and taking appropriate action in every case.
To this end, the administration
should expand efforts to address the critical issue of caseworker
turnover. High turnover means that child welfare cases are often
passed from one caseworker to another with little continuity of
care, and the ones who suffer are the children who get lost in
the shuffle. The same problem applies to family court attorneys
who handle the legal side of child welfare cases.
I am encouraged by the
announcement that ACS will hire 325 more child protective service
workers and 32 more attorneys in order to decrease caseloads.
Overloaded and under-prepared caseworkers and attorneys cannot
always make the acute and timely judgments necessary to protect
the life of an abused child.
A high caseload, however, is likely
not the only factor contributing to low morale. The fact is, this
is one of the most difficult jobs in the city. I applaud ACS for
announcing new measures to increase training and supervision,
but I recommend that it take further steps to determine what can
be done to decrease burnout, reduce turnover, and ultimately ensure
that reforms are effectively carried out.
These steps, along with
the measures the task force has already announced, will help ensure
that ACS is able to fulfill its mission of protecting our most
vulnerable children.
###
|
