|
Speeches
Testimony at City Council General Welfare Committee Hearing - Shelter Fatalities, November 8, 2004
Thank you, Chairman de Blasio.
One of the main issues I have focused on as Public Advocate is the welfare of children in City homeless shelters.
My office has the solemn responsibility of analyzing fatalities among children known to ACS .
In fulfilling this responsibility, I have identified and highlighted the failure of City agencies to protect the lives of children.
Since the beginning of my term, I have expressed concern over the lack of coordination among City agencies that deal with child welfare.
In June 2004, I issued a report on shelter deaths, which identified the lack of coordination among City agencies as a significant factor in several child fatalities. I also identified this problem in two earlier annual reports on child fatalities.
My recommendations for improvements were ignored by the administration and ACS .
Instead they shamelessly attempted to cover up the facts by casting doubt on the number of children who had died the previous year.
Numbers are not important, when the City is not doing all it can to prevent children from dying.
I found that the grossest negligence occurred because of a lack of communication between ACS and DHS.
In one case, DHS did not inform ACS that a mother and child who were victims of domestic violence had left the shelter. They returned to live with the abuser and the child died.
Nine children under the watch of DHS and ACS died that year. Thirty-three have died since 2000. But it wasn't until Colesvinton Florestal landed on the front pages of our newspapers that the agencies reacted.
On July 30th, they announced that they would begin to work together, and last month Commissioner Mattingly announced that all measures for collaboration have been implemented.
But since this grand pronouncement, 18-month-old Zaire Anderson died in a Brownsville , Brooklyn shelter.
While it is unclear whether DHS or ACS could have prevented this death, what it is clear is that ACS and DHS are NOT collaborating as promised.
Shelter providers across the city have told me as recently as last week that DHS and ACS are still not giving them needed information about parents suspected of abusing their children, even when they contact the agencies and ask for it directly.
We know what happens when providers are left in the dark. In the case of Colesvinton Florestal, shelter providers didn’t know her family had been investigated nine times by ACS for child abuse.
How many more Colesvinton Florestal and Zaire Andersons will we read about before ACS and DHS actually do what they have promised?
Late yesterday, the Administration released their plan to give shelter providers information about more of the children in their care – children who have either open or closed cases. But will they follow-through before another child dies?
Unfortunately, I have come to expect nothing more than denial and half-hearted attempts at reform from this administration.
I am going to continue to monitor every failure to protect our children on the part of ACS , DHS and every other city agency.
And I will continue to do everything I can to help improve our ability to protect children and prevent avoidable fatalities.
Today, there will be discussion of a bill I have introduced into the City Council to help protect children.
Thank you chairman de Blasio, for giving this matter the attention it deserves
My bill will force shelters to do a better job reporting suspected abuse and will provide parents and shelter staff with life-saving information. It is a first step.
I hope that ACS and DHS will begin to take steps of their own.
|
