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Spoken Like a Bureaucrat

To the Editor:

David Sims reports in the Sept. 26 issue about Administration for Children's Services (ACS) Commissioner John B. Mattingly's participation in a Sept. 16 panel discussion at The New School ("Mattingly: Long Way to Go in Fixing What Ails ACS"). The topic was foster care, and some of the Commissioner's remarks actually illuminated the need to place ACS, itself, in the care of a foster commissioner.

Writes Mr. Sims, Commissioner Mattingly said " ... there was a 'long way to go' in reforming [ACS] and that there was 'no quick fix to a huge system of child welfare ... this is a 10-year effort, minimum.'"

Sadly, ACS has been in continuous reform mode since Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani consolidated and rejiggered several city offices to create the agency nearly 13 years ago. Perhaps Commissioner Mattingly figures that perpetual reform is a good tool for cloaking clumsy leadership? This way, when something hurtful, if not lethal, befalls a family or child under the watch of ACS, the convenient assertion of the agency's active pursuit of change and reform can be used to deflect accountability and liability.

While it is not clear from the context of the story just where on the calendar Commissioner Mattingly's "10-year effort, minimum" begins, even if we credit the Commissioner's four years at the helm of ACS, it appears there will still remain at least six more years of reform before ACS can emerge as a fully responsible and accountable government agency. What a disservice to families and children!

Mr. Sims writes on: "[Commissioner Mattingly] said that the practical side of social work and foster care was where ACS was lacking, and that a reduction in bureaucracy and an increased focus on field work would improve the administration immensely. 'It's all about practice — that is the single lesson I have learned in my four years the most,' he said. 'We haven't paid enough attention to practice.'"

Has this Commissioner learned nothing of fundamental professional importance during his career? Has he only managed to master the mendacity to hide what he does know, and has known, but does not have the aptitude to apply on the job? Commissioner Mattingly adores his ACS bureaucracy: it is his pastime to e-mail agency staff the details of managerial appointments and bureaucratic shuffles, but he rarely, if ever, communicates details about the people who come to ACS to practice — to perform the real work of casework, social work, child protective work, etc.

Moreover, I note Commissioner Mattingly's observation, "I've never seen a more hierarchical system than what we've got here ... the lack of communication up the ladder is startling."

Again, the Commissioner is probably satisfied with the bureaucratic muddle he manages. If it has really taken him four years on the throne at ACS to figure out that there is a "lack of communication up the ladder [that] is startling," or to admit that after four years he does not know what to do about it, then Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg should take about four minutes to call him and tell him to clean out his desk.

MARK S. TRAVITSKY, Administrative Staff Analyst (Retired)