Some child protection workers say the system is racist

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Hello. It’s Monday. Well look at a report that asked if the city’s child welfare system is racist and found that some of its own workers said it was. Also, check out a 358-page volume that is perhaps the most important book pedestrians and motorists in the city will ever read.

The city’s administration for children’s services is supposed to protect children without supervising families. A draft report commissioned by the agency revealed that it often fails.

The draft report that the agency did not release was based on a 2020 research project. Participants included more than 50 black and Hispanic social workers and agency managers in Brooklyn and the Bronx, as well as many parents and advocates.

I asked my colleague Andy Newman, who writes about social services and poverty in New York, about the deep-rooted problems described in the report. It became public through a freedom of information request from the Bronx Defenders, a nonprofit that represents parents in family court.

What was surprising was that agency workers said race worked as an indicator of risk. How?

ACS workers said in the survey that black and Latino families face more scrutiny than white parents, and most ACS social workers are black and Latino themselves.

Survey participants described how white parents are presumed innocent and repeatedly presented with opportunities to fail and try again, while black and brown parents are treated at all times as if they were not competent parents capable of providing acceptable care for their children.

The survey report says that when ACS workers were asked why white families received preferential treatment, many simply pointed to the pervasive racism and anti-black stereotypes about black parenting abilities and browns to take care of their children.

Families interviewed said child protection investigations were humiliating and traumatic, and social workers said they felt compelled to force their way into people’s homes. Why is the process so intrusive?

By state law, ACS must initiate an investigation within 24 hours of receiving a report of child abuse or neglect and must assess the safety of all children in the home. Sometimes the process can get adversarial, which is understandable, people often don’t appreciate an unexpected visitor knocking on the door and telling them they have to ask your kids to strip down to their underwear to be inspected for bruises. They also don’t like a social worker looking around the apartment for signs of bad parenting. But that’s what a job as a social worker is.

The survey revealed that social workers feel compelled to meet target metrics, such as a number of interactions with families. This encourages them to be pushy and not tell parents their rights, and focuses neither on their ability to fully investigate nor on their ability to fully understand and support the family’s needs, the report said.

A veteran ACS worker told me that social workers often try to make it look like they are legally mandated to enter the apartment, even though they usually aren’t. He said ACS would treat all families this way if it could, not just Black and Latino families, and that the differences in treatment often come down to the degree of pushback a family offers.

The inquiry recommended a Miranda warning law so that parents are informed that they have the right not to speak to social workers or let them in without a court order and that they also have the right to consult a lawyer. What was the agency’s reaction?

When the city council was considering a bill requiring such a warning last year, ACS opposed it, arguing that it would make it harder for social workers to immediately assess whether children at home are safe. The agency said it was already doing enough by informing parents of their rights after a social worker carried out their initial inspection. They didn’t like the bill, former city councilor Stephen Levin, who headed the committee that reviewed the bill, told me recently.

ACS was particularly troubled by the prospect of the parents immediately hiring a lawyer. In 2019, during a hearing on a similar bill, then-commissioner David Hansell said a lawyer who, early in an investigation, advised a parent not to allow the ‘ACS to enter the house or see the child could create serious security issues by slowing down the investigation process.

The union that represents ACS social workers also opposed the Miranda bill.

Family rights advocate and outspoken ACS critic Joyce McMillan said last year, regarding parental rights, We’re not asking to extend them. We are not asking to negotiate them. We ask that we be informed of what they are.

Time

Expect a mostly sunny day around the 50s. The evening is usually clear, with gusty winds and temperatures around the mid-30s.

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A book for those on the move

It’s safe to say that an invite-only book party tonight will be different.

The book was not expected to hit the bestseller list. Only 500 copies were printed, and these are in loose-leaf bindings, not hardcover or paperback.

No individual author is named on the title page. At $50 a copy, that’s $31 more than the retail price of Michael Connelly’s Desert Star, which was No. 1 hardcover on The New York Times bestseller list for November 27.

Party planners say it’s the most important book pedestrians and drivers in New York City will likely ever read. (And the PDF is free.)

It’s the Street Design Manual, 318 pages about the city’s likes and dislikes in pavements, sidewalks, bike paths and street furniture. He says, for example, that there should be a priority on non-automotive modes of travel. Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez called it a living document with deeper impact as a searchable online resource for those working on our city’s rapidly changing streets.

The handbook follows versions published in 2009 and 2015. Much of the 2009 edition was ambitious: new ideas for New York with photos showing techniques used in other cities, Polly Trottenberg, transport commissioner under the Mayor Bill de Blasio writes in the introduction to the new volume. Neil Gagliardi, director of urban design for the Department of Transportation, said the new volume shows how many ideas from 2009 have been imported and applied to New York, from redesigned intersections and street corridors to bike lanes.

The book party will take place at the Ildiko Butler Gallery on Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus, where an exhibit on the textbook has been curated by Fordham professor Abby Goldstein. She said the idea for the exhibit came while on a bike ride with her friend Wendy Feuer, who recently retired as assistant transportation commissioner for urban design, art and orientation.

Going around with it, you get a glimpse of the different colored asphalts, different types of concrete, different types of lights, how the roundabout changed the flow around Prospect Park, he said. she stated. I also thought Fordham, their slogan is, New York is our campus, so why not bring New York to our campus?

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West Side Tower

Dear Diary:

We hailed a taxi after a Sunday morning game of tennis and settled into the back seat with our racquets.

The ride from Western 20s to Western 90s was uneventful. It was a beautiful day and the windows were open. We felt relaxed and warm as we reviewed the highlights of our doubles match (his big serves; my volleys).

Arrived at our destination, we thanked the driver and paid for our fare.

He surprised us by asking us not to go out.

You guys are the nicest couple I’ve had in my cab in 31 years of driving, he said. He added, I have to open the doors for you.

He jumped up and ceremoniously opened the back door first to one side and then the other.

A passerby stopped.

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