Bill to Tell ACS Staff Of Client Rap Sheets Goes to Governor

By MICHELLE FRIEDMAN

The State Assembly passed a bill June 24 allowing Administration for Children's Services caseworkers to have access to the criminal records of adults residing in households where abuse, neglect or maltreatment have been reported. Previously, ACS employees had no prior warning when responding to complaints.

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: Gives staff an essential tool.

The bill was sponsored by Assemblywoman Nettie Mayersohn, and a joint Assembly/Senate version will go to Governor Paterson for final approval.

Mayor Bloomberg commended the efforts of state legislators. "This is something that our administration has been strongly advocating for years," he said.

'Hand Tied Behind Their Backs'

"As I have said before, no one would ever ask a police officer to investigate a crime without being able to see a suspect's history - yet we ask our ACS child protective workers to investigate abuse and neglect without knowing the subject's criminal history or the history of other adults in the home," the Mayor continued. "They're out there with one hand tied behind their backs because, until now, they lacked the ability to run rap sheets on any adult in the house where an allegation had been made. Making a determination about a child's safety is hard enough - but making it without the best and fullest information is just plain dangerous."

ACS spokeswoman Sheila Stainback remarked, "Giving child protective investigators access to criminal record history is a huge achievement, as the information is essential to determining the safety of a child. It will allow caseworkers to make better safety assessments of the household to better protect children and also to protect our own workers."

"Criminal history is an important piece of information to help child protective investigators determine what interventions can be put in place, or when the only intervention that will keep a child safe is removal from the home," she continued. "We cannot help a family and assist them in developing solutions, if we do not know the full range of issues that they are facing."

She also noted that ACS does not indicate a report based solely on criminal history, rather, these decisions are based on a comprehensive assessment of many factors.

The State Senate passed the legislation earlier in the session.