Child Deaths Concern
Council Asks ACS For Monthly Data

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

City Councilman Bill de Blasio Aug. 20 announced that the Council's General Welfare Committee will hold a hearing Sept. 20 to get more information on child protective investigations in the wake of two brutal child deaths in August.

JOHN MATTINGLY: Questions Council's motives.

Mr. de Blasio wants monthly reports of investigative practices and Caseworker performance in order to identify gaps in the system and establish whether more resources are needed. Administration for Children's Services officials asserted that they already make available information-packed reports every three months to the Council. They said they were concerned that Mr. de Blasio's requests would "politicize" ACS management procedures.

Union officials said they had no problem with increased oversight by Mr. de Blasio's committee.

'Still Losing Kids'

"It's clear we need a different level of information flowing from ACS," said Mr. de Blasio at an Aug. 20 press conference. "No one can rest on their laurels, because we are still losing kids."

The Chief-Leader/Michel Friang SHARE THE INFORMATION: City Council General Welfare Committee Chairman Bill de Blasio will hold a hearing Sept. 20 to try to convince the Administration for Children's Services to issue monthly reports on investigative practices and Caseworker performance. 'No one can rest on their laurels, because we are still losing kids,' he said.

The Councilman praised recent ACS reforms, such as the data collection system known as ChildStat, and described Commissioner John B. Mattingly as "part of the solution." But he asserted that the Council needed more up-to-date information and specifics from ChildStat to assess whether case practice has improved in the last 18 months.

A report issued by the Department of Investigation in early August found "serious deficiencies" in how ACS handled cases that led to 11 child fatalities and one near-death between October 2005 and July 2006. The data, however, was more than a year old, and while ACS officials accepted the report's recommendations, they also claimed substantial improvement in recent months.

Union officials said that Mr. de Blasio's committee could play a positive role. "Bill de Blasio has demonstrated his commitment to the quality of child welfare services," said Local 371 President Charles Ensley, who represents ACS Caseworkers. "We don't see him as a partisan. The Council does have oversight powers, and we've never shied away from that oversight."

ACS: Won't Politicize It

ACS officials said they would attend the hearing and answer relevant questions, but that case reviews using ChildStat were for improving internal management practices. They noted that the process depended upon the ability of ACS managers to speak openly about decisions made in investigations of child protective cases. "We are not currently using the relatively small sample of ChildStat cases to track down worker-specific information, as requested by Councilman Bill De Blasio," ACS officials wrote in a statement. "We do not intend to allow it to be politicized."

ACS officials added that they monitored field offices to ensure that investigative mistakes that occurred in the past were not repeated. Commissioner Mattingly announced after the DOI report was released that the agency would hire 100 new investigative consultants, which was recommended by the DOI report.

ACS officials noted that the Council already receives a host of information from the agency's quarterly reports, including the average caseloads of front-line workers, how many have caseloads over 15, staffing numbers, how many Instant Response Team investigations were launched, how many child protection orders were sought and obtained, and foster-care placements.

Wants to Know Methods

But Mr. de Blasio was looking for more information on investigative procedures, especially those that were targeted as deficient by the DOI report. Those practices included whether Caseworkers were contacting the appropriate people before closing cases, whether Caseworkers were taking parents' word at face value, whether Caseworkers were collecting appropriate information, such as school records, and whether they were closing cases prematurely. The Council is not seeking the identities of the Caseworkers, the children or their parents. Part of the purpose of the hearing will be to determine whether Caseworkers have the access to the resources they need to perform their jobs properly, especially in light of high staff turnover rates. "If a Caseworker feels that some of the tools aren't there, or the deck is stacked against them, not everyone is strong enough to stay," said Mr. de Blasio. "It's not clear to me that we are taking the steps we need to improve morale."

He also noted that it appeared that two recent child deaths occurred while public agencies were in contact with the families. On Aug. 13, 21-month-old Hailey Gonzalez died after allegedly being beaten by her mother's boyfriend in Staten Island; both adults had previously been to Family Court. The suspicious death of 2-month-old London Rogers, after he was allegedly shaken by his mother, occurred in a city-run Brooklyn homeless shelter.

"We need a clear action agenda," the Brooklyn Councilman said, "because some of the deaths are clearly avoidable."