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Kidjacked | Jacked Up
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According to a DHHS study of 44 states in 1990, 2.7 million children were reported abused and neglected. Two-thirds of these reports unsubstantiated. New York CPS News Archive
New York News Coverage
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Franklin County foster-care caseload shrinks
by Denise A. Raymo
MALONE -- Preventive services that target children's problems slashed Franklin County's foster-care cases in half in 2008 and saved $500,000.
"It's phenomenal, isn't it?" said Department of Social Services Commissioner Lesley Lyon. "We have cut the average number of cases from 144 two years ago to between 75 and 85 now."
The Press Republican
January 30, 2009
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Boy, 7, taken away because she left him alone to go to work
by Dorian Block
Juan was taken away by the city's Administration for Children's Services in mid-December. Her story is one of a well-intentioned but desperate mother who left her son home alone while trying to keep in good standing for a job promotion.
He was placed with a single man who has two other foster children. Juan did not celebrate Christmas, since the man did not have money for a tree or gifts, said Lucas-Dixon, who has a pile of gifts waiting for him. Her court-appointed attorney, said the judge has said Juan should be returned home once ACS helps find child care. But so far, it hasn't happened...
New York Daily News
January 18, 2009
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Mother charged with beating obese son to death: I homeschooled to spare boy fat taunts
by Jose Martinez and Alison Gendar
A mother accused of beating her obese 10-year-old son to death told officials she homeschooled the boy to protect him from teasing and abuse, sources said.
Melissa Sekulski had filled out the necessary paperwork, right down to curriculum outlines, so she could teach her son, Jaquan Porter, at their filthy Staten Island apartment, rather than send the 250-pound child to elementary school to be taunted.
nydailynews.com
December 29, 2008
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Regrets Only?
In Central New York, 2008 was scarred by the horrific deaths of two children.
Erin Maxwell, an 11-year-old authorities said lived in filth and squalor, died of asphyxia and sexual trauma Aug. 30. Twenty-month-old Imani Jennings endured such stomach-turning injuries that Syracuse Police Chief Gary Miguel thought the officers who investigated her death Nov. 21 would need counseling.
syracuse.com
December 28, 2008
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A crusade for NYC's foster kids
by Matt Hampton
After spending 21 years in New York City's child welfare system, one young man has decided to stand up and fight for a cause he believes has fallen by the wayside during the last two decades in New York City.
Among the changes that Robinson wants to make are the appointment of an independent advisory committee, a tracking system whereby citizens who have aged out can be monitored, and life skills workshops. Robinson also believes that foster parents need to undergo more thorough background checks.
Queens Chronicle
October 9, 2008
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Disgusted with the system: New York City Family Court is over burderned
After 7-year-old Nixzmary Brown was discovered emaciated and beaten to death despite warning signs of her abuse, sweeping reforms were made to New York's child welfare agency.
Millions were invested, caseworkers were added and police presence beefed up. But the legal system that deals with troubled families remains stagnant in the two years since Nixzmary's death, choked with a backlog of hundreds of cases that forces children around the state to languish in foster care.
Disgusted with the System
October 4, 2008
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Don't Overreact
by Richard Wexler
Why even try to help parents living in indescribable squalor? Why not just take away the child and be done with it? The answer has nothing to do with the rights of parents and everything to do with the needs of children.
For starters, filthy conditions may tell you that parents are clueless or mentally ill. It does not tell you they are evil or that someone may rape and murder a child. Indeed, all over the country, children have been victims of "fatal neatness" - they die in cases where child protective services was warned, but suspected nothing precisely because the home was spotless.
Syracuse
September 25, 2008
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Father of 4-month-old charged with attempted murder
TROY, N.Y. -- A Troy man is charged with attempted murder after his 4-month-old son suffered life-threatening head injuries.
Rensselaer County Child Protective Services contacted Troy police on Sunday regarding 4-month-old Matthew Thomas who was being treated at Albany Medical Center for significant brain damage caused by trauma to the head.
Capital News 9
September 23, 2008
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New York City Wants Cuts by Agencies Across Board
by Michael Barbaro and Fernanda Santos
With an eye on Wall Street's turmoil and the city's fragile economy, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg ordered city agencies to cut spending by about $500 million this year and $1 billion next year.
The cuts are to be made across the board, affecting agencies including the Police Department, which must cut costs by $95 million this year, and the school system, which needs to trim $185 million. Over all, the reductions represent 2.5 percent of the agencies' budgets this year and 5 percent next year.
The New York Times
September 23, 2008
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Northeast Parent & Child hires new chief operating officer
The Northeast Parent & Child Society, a Schenectady nonprofit, named Hector Luis Ramirez chief operating officer and executive vice president of programs and services.
In his new position, Ramirez is responsible for Northeast's educational, residential, career development, community-based prevention, mental health and foster care programs.
The Business Review (Albany)
September 18, 2008
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New York Tests Mobile Technologies for Child Protective Services
by Meghan Cook
In 2006, the New York Legislature began funding the deployment and testing of mobile technologies to help child protective services (CPS) caseworkers deal with their caseloads.
Over the course of the two-year study, 600 CPS caseworkers from 27 local social service departments participated. Approximately 500 caseworkers responded to online surveys, while 186 caseworkers and supervisors participated in 24 small workshops and interviews. In addition, data analysis was performed on approximately 180,000 progress note records for 18,000 open cases.
Government Technology
September 9, 2008
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Misguided shield for abusive parents - The Boston Globe
by Darin Strauss
Recently, a child in Seattle made repeated trips to the hospital for vomiting. His doctor found traces of a toxic chemical in the child's urine. The doctor alerted Child Protective Services, and police visited the child's home.
They found the chemical in the family's medicine cabinet. Child Protective Services then accused the mother of repeatedly poisoning her child. This was allegedly Munchausen by Proxy. CPS removed the child from his home. But then a local newspaper called the doctor overzealous.
The Boston Globe
July 26, 2008
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Battered Twice?: Victims Offer Critique of Courts
by Bosede Adenekan
Convinced that Family Court proceedings do not adequately protect battered mothers and their children, a grassroots survivors' group is working to alter the court's ways - and has a new report to back up its call for change.
Members of the Brooklyn-based group Voices of Women Organizing Project (VOW) met with Family Court Administrative Judge Joseph Lauria recently to discuss their report, "Justice Denied: How Family Courts in NYC Endanger Battered Women and Children."
City Limits (NY)
June 14, 2008
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Child Death Leads to Examination of Custody Rules
by Cindy Rodriguez
The beating death of 3 year old Kyle Smith has lead to an examination of how adults are vetted in custody cases.
Kyle Smith died last Friday. His godmother, Nymeen Cheatham and her boyfriend are accused of killing him. It was Kyle's biological parents who chose Cheatham to take care of their son after deciding they could not.
WNYC News
June 13, 2008
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How US state goverments harm children they seek to protect
by Dan Weaver
On October 8, 2004, Montgomery County took my daughter away from me, and I entered the surreal and hitherto unknown world of Family Court, Social Services, lawyers, foster care, Child Preventive Services and Child Protective Services (CPS).
I got my daughter back eight months later and have spent the last year trying to undo the damage that was done to her while in the county's care. While at Northeast Parent & Child Society's Children's Home in Schenectady, New York, where the county placed her, she learned to smoke marijuana and steal cold medicine to get high, among other things.
Helium
June 5, 2008
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Mom blames NYC for girl's death
by Tom Murse
Lancaster woman seeks $50M after child, 6, dies in foster care. Michelle Gochenaur was fighting to bring her 6-year-old daughter home to Lancaster.
The 28-year-old says she cleaned up her life since losing Taylor Webster to a foster family while serving a two-month prison term in 2002. But just days before her open-adoption case was to be heard in New York last week, Gochenaur got the phone call she never expected. Her little girl was dead.
Lancaster Intelligencer Journal
May 27, 2008
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Could boy's death have been prevented?
by Dana Hendrickson
Union -- Broome County Sheriff's Deputies said Peter Munck, 12, died last Wednesday after his older brother, Shawn, exerted extreme pressure on his stomach.
The superintendent said that phone call was made to Child Protective Services on Tuesday, one day before Peter died. But the Broome County Sheriff's Office says a CPS investigator didn't visit the home until a second call was placed by the school on Friday.
News 10 Now (NY)
February 20, 2008
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5-year-old boy handcuffed in school, taken to hospital for misbehaving
by Carrie Melago
A 5-year-old boy was handcuffed and hauled off to a psych ward for misbehaving in kindergarten - but the tot's parents say NYPD school safety agents are the ones who need their heads examined.
"He's 5 years old. He was scared to death," Dennis Rivera's mother, Jasmina Vasquez, told the Daily News. "You cannot imagine what it's done to him." Rather than calling the boy's parents, a school safety agent cuffed the boy's small hands behind his back using metal restraints.
Daily News (NY)
January 25, 2008
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The Child Abuse Case That Shocked NYC
Stepfather Of Nixzmary Brown Faces Murder Trial; Girl's Death Spurred Child Welfare Reforms
Two years later, the horrific details of the 2006 child abuse murder of 7-year-old Nixzmary Brown will be revisited in the upcoming trial of her stepfather, Cesar Rodriguez.
CBS News
January 15, 2008
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Agency Closing, Reducing, or Merging Underutilized Residential Facilities
by Edward Borges
New York State Office of Children & Family Services Commissioner Gladys Carrion today announced the closing of six underutilized residential facilities as part of an ongoing restructuring to significantly improve services to troubled children.
The agency is closing the Adirondack Wilderness Challenge in Clinton County, Auburn Residential Center in Cayuga County, Brace Residential Center in Delaware County, Gloversville Group Home in Fulton County, Great Valley Residential Center in Cattaraugus County, and the Pyramid Reception Center in The Bronx.
New York State Office of Children & Family Services
January 11, 2008
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Federal Civil Rights Action for Parents - Syracuse
by John Murtari
Parents Civil Rights Action for a Meeting with Senator Hillary R. Clinton Hanley Federal Building, Syracuse, New York - Staring January 15th, 2008
Contact Senator Clinton's office, ask her to meet personally with parents who feel their Civil Right's have been violated. Please call/fax and let them know your concerns about reform.
A Kids Right (NY)
January 8, 2008
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Potent Pills: More foster kids getting mood-altering drugs
by Gary Craig
When Laticia Anderson's son entered foster care in 2005, a social worker described the 4-year-old as "an extremely smart little boy who loves school." Over the next six months, he was shuttled from an emergency foster-care placement to two foster homes.
The boy would explode in tantrums, gouge his own flesh, even consider killing himself. Social workers and pediatricians could not quell his outbursts. Frustrated, they resorted to Depakote, an anti-seizure medication intended for adults but occasionally given to children to alter their moods.
Democrat & Chronicle (NY)
December 9, 2007
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How changes in reporting child abuse affect you
by Sylvia Saunders
Mandated reporters of child abuse now must directly report their suspicions to the Statewide Central Register for Child Abuse and Maltreatment, rather than rely on the school principal or supervisor.
This change in Social Services state law, sponsored by Senate Education Committee Chairman Stephen Saland, clarifies murky requirements that had been subject to varying interpretations. The new law, which went into effect in October, also clarifies that "school officials" who are mandated reporters include teachers, guidance counselors, psychologists, social workers, school nurses, administrators and other school personnel required to hold a teaching or administrative license or certificate.
NYSUT
December 3, 2007
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Foster Children at Risk, and an Opportunity Lost
by Leslie Kaufman
Two decades ago, New York City embarked on an experiment aimed at better assisting and protecting its most vulnerable black and Latino children.
At its heart, the effort involved creating and supporting foster care agencies that would, at long last, be run by men and women of color. The city and state opened their wallets. Child welfare experts embraced the concept...
New York Times
November 8, 2007
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State Won't Snitch on Abused 'Illegals'
by Kenneth Lovett
ALBANY -- The Spitzer administration wants to make it easier for illegal aliens to receive government services protecting them from child or domestic abuse without the fear of deportation.
Under a regulation being developed, local social-service districts would no longer be required to contact federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement when an illegal alien is found to be receiving protective services.
New York Post (NY)
August 8, 2007
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