379 Child-Protective Staff Complete ACS Training; An Accent on Prevention

The Administration for Children's Services Oct. 10 graduated 340 new Child Protective Specialists and 39 Investigative Consultants, the first new wave of social workers since it launched a sweeping recruitment drive in March.

JOHN B. MATTINGLY: Encouraging words for recruits.

"In the coming months you will be faced with complex and difficult situations," said ACS Commissioner John B. Mattingly at the ceremony, which took place at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. "I feel confident that with the training you have received, the supports that are in place and with your extraordinary commitment to the children and families you will come in contact with, you will be strong enough, brave enough, cool enough and more than equal to the task."

A Challenging Appeal

Mr. Mattingly's speech echoed the language of the ACS's ongoing advertising campaign, which aggressively seeks dynamic recruits to undergo a rigorous six-week training program at ACS's James Satterwhite Academy in Jamaica, Queens. The candidates are trained in prevention of abuse and neglect of children via comprehensive investigatory work and child welfare assessment. The Investigative Consultants are the second wave of former NYPD personnel who have been brought into the agency to improve its flagging of abuse cases.

"We are thrilled welcoming yet another group of professionals who are committed to working every day to make sure that we do everything in our power to keep children and family safe," said Jay Flory, Deputy Commissioner for the ACS Division of Child Protection.

"In college I changed my major from pre-med after seeing the effects of violence and abuse on bodies that I had to study," said new CPS worker Tamoya Buckley at the ceremony. "I knew that I wanted to work with children and families who experience abuse while they are still alive. I am very dedicated to this work and I plan to retire from ACS."

Involvement At 'Right End'

Thoywell "J.R." Thompson, a 20-year veteran of the NYPD, who was a Detective for 15 years, addressed his fellow graduates. "Before coming to ACS, my involvement with child abuse was very limited," he said. "It was mostly during my time in Crime Scene and it was at the wrong end, where there was already serious physical injuries, or worse, a fatality. My thoughts in taking this job were that I could get on the other end and help to prevent these injuries or stop the abuse from getting worse for a child."

A statement by the ACS noted that the CPS graduating body was predominantly female and heavily diverse, including graduates with roots in the Caribbean, Africa, Central and South America, and Europe, with a wide age range, including many recent college graduates. The IC graduates are all retired law-enforcement workers with 20-plus years of experience each under their belts.

The CPS workers and ICs will be deployed to ACS's 14 field offices in the city, their placements determined by staffing levels and caseloads in each office. CPS workers will begin by taking on one case per week, under close supervision, before increasing their caseloads as they gain experience.

So far this year, CPS workers have investigated 43,338 reports of abuse and neglect, a slight increase over last year. There are currently 1,300 CPS workers in the ACS, and 60 ICs.