By Tony Richards
Editor in Chief

Acknowledging considerable skepticism of his organization within the Highbridge community, Adminstration for Children Services (ACS) Commissioner John B. Mattingly promised to reach out to neighborhood residents and enlist the help of local child welfare advocates during a community forum held at P.S. 126 on September 19.

“Too frequently,” Mattingly told an audience of roughly 75 to 100 people, “we have come from outside with staff who know very little about the community.”

Mattingly announced that as part of the Community Partnership Initiative, the ACS would allocate $150,000 each to selected coalitions comprised of foster-care agencies, Head Start programs, ACS workers, and community organizations. The coalitions will be charged with tasks including working to ensure child safety, recruiting caregivers, and providing families with the necessary services needed to prevent children from being placed in foster care. Initial proposals are due to the ACS by October 20.

Within the last year, the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) has come under intense media scrutiny and public criticism for a perceived failure to protect children in high-profile cases of child abuse. Perhaps most infamously, Nixzmary Brown, a 7-year-old child in Brooklyn, was beaten to death last January by her stepfather shortly after ACS caseworkers deemed reports of abuse in the home unfounded.

However, in the weeks leading up to the September 19 forum, Highbridge family advocates- while sharing ACS’ desire to avoid a repeat of such a horror-said ACS officials were often over-eager to remove children from their families, and discussed ways the ACS be more sensitive to the needs of local families.

Last March, the most recent month for which data is available on the ACS Web site, 39 children were placed in foster care in community district 4, which encompasses Highbridge and Concourse Village, more than in any other district in the Bronx and second only to Central Harlem (44) citywide.
And cumulatively, for the months of January through March 2006, 90 children were placed in foster care in CD 4, the second-highest total in the Bronx after district 1, which includes Mott Haven, Melrose, and Port Morris (105).

Jean Zapata, a member of the Child Welfare Organizing Project (CWOP), which advocates for parents rights and greater parental involvement in monitoring child safety, was candid in addressing ACS Communications Director Sharman Stein during a September 11 meeting between Highbridge family advocates and the organization.

“Parent’s don’t trust ACS,” Zapata said. “You see those three letters, and it’s like a terminal illness.”

Zapata and fellow CWOP advocates said that ACS workers sometimes mistake what are actually symptoms of poverty for signs of neglect. For instance, they said, Highbridge parents who work several jobs might have limited time to monitor their child’s behavior.

Similarly, while children who dress in warmer clothes during warmer months are often viewed as potentially hiding bruises or other signs of abuse, Zapata suggested that many parents simply dress their kids this way to save money.

Many community advocates also suggested that Highbridge residents often call ACS on neighbors with whom they have disputes; even if ACS detects the malicious motive and keeps children in the home, the mere visit of a worker can have a negative impact on families, they said.

Stein of ACS asked for the community’s help in spreading the message that her organization intends to help families, not harm them. Local advocates suggested an advertising campaign that shocked residents by reminding them of instances where the ACS wasn’t notified of an endangered child until it was too late while also shining the spotlight on positive “success stories” of real-life families that ACS had assisted.

During his September 19 visit, Mattingly was thanked by several community leaders and audience members who said they appreciated his emphasis on connecting ACS staff members with the communities where they worked. Still, both Mattingly and local residents said it would take time to establish whether or not the Community Partnershp Initiative is an effective strategy for improving child welfare and relations between the organization and the Highbridge Community. Several community leaders said Mattingly was not the first ACS commissioner to promise greater community involvement in child welfare.

Mattingly acknowledged the initial grant of $150,000 to coalitions was a relatively low figure and suggested more funding would be given to these coalitions in the future if they proved their ability, over the next three and a half years, to significantly reduce numbers of child abuse reports and foster care placements in their community.