| Releases
& Statements
Contact: Frank Sobrino
O: (212) 669-4193
Statement
of Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum
for
City Council Hearing on
Reporting of Child Abuse and Neglect, 10/26/06
Thank you Chair De Blasio and Chair
Rivera for holding this important hearing.
The original purpose of this hearing
was to discuss the role of mandated reporters in protecting our
most vulnerable children.
I intended to talk about the horrific death of two-year-old Sharllene
Morillo this past July and to renew my call for an awareness campaign
and increased training so that all members of the community know
that when they see something, they must say something.
Better training for mandated reporters
is just as important as it was at the beginning of this week.
The death of Sharllene Morillo is certainly just as tragic and
upsetting as it was at the beginning of this week.
But this week, we learned the history
leading up to the serious and potentially fatal injury of 4-month-old
Preston Hertzog, and so the nature of this hearing has changed.
We learned that Preston’s parents
were investigated six years ago for the murder of their 2-month-old
daughter Leah. The NYPD considered the father to be the primary
suspect but didn’t have enough evidence to make a case.
We learned that Leah’s siblings
told investigators their father had beaten them with a belt. We
learned that they were placed in foster care but subsequently
returned to the family.
We learned that the couple has another
daughter in foster care and that she suffered from cerebral palsy.
We learned that she returned from a visit with her parents showing
signs of sexual abuse.
Many facts and details come to light
when a child is killed, and yet ultimately, we don’t seem
to learn the lessons that could help us prevent the next tragedy.
ACS, the foster care system, family
court—all at one point or another knew that Antonio Patterson
and Tamirra Hertzog were a danger to their children.
And yet their children were returned
to them. And when Preston Hertzog was born, he was left with them
to be shaken to the edge of death.
It is now ten months since the death
of seven-year-old Nixzmary Brown in response to which the city
announced a major reform of the child welfare system.
It is clear to me that we are running
in place. ACS is a failed agency, it is part of a failed child
welfare system, and simply changing the names at the top is not
enough to rescue it.
The time has come for an independent,
public review of the way ACS operates and, more importantly, of
every single case in the child welfare system.
We can’t let another ten months
go by without any signs of progress. We can’t wait for another
child to die before we turn our anger into action.
Enough is enough. The time for real
reform is now.
Thank you.
###
|
