Jan 25, 2006 6:53 am US/Eastern
Mayor Overhauls Child-Protection Agency
Restructuring calls for more case workers and funding
by Marcia Kramer
NEW YORK (AP) ―
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The changes were prompted by the death of Nixzmary Brown
AP
The death of Nixzmary Brown on January 11 brought great criticism of the way the city handles such cases. Now, Mayor Bloomberg says he's taking major steps to revamp the system.
"We are not interested in superficial changes," said Bloomberg. "We are determined to find out exactly where the system broke down."
The first step is for the mayor to appoint a family services coordinator to monitor the performance of eight city agencies that will now play some role in child abuse cases. The mayor said the coordinator will insure, "That any child's cry for help is heard."
The plan also calls for:
*Spending $11 million dollars to hire an additional 250 child protection workers;
*Hiring 20 seasoned law enforcement professions to augment the investigative practices of the City's Administration for Children's Services;
*Hiring 35 senior child protections managers so that a supervisors caseload will be reduced from 240 to 165; and
*Hiring 32 additional attorneys to handle abuse cases in court.
"It's a very serious effort on our part in the city of New York to address as many shortcomings as we can find in our reviews about how things have been," explained ACS Commissioner John Mattingly.
Child advocates say they're impressed with the mayor's efforts.
"I think this mayor and this commissioner have gone as deep as I think I've heard anyone go in trying to look at this system and say lets fix it," said Geoffrey Canada, of the Harlem Children's Zone. "They didn't do a surface job they put some real money in it and if there's anything that's going to protect children this is it."
The mayor also ordered the police department and the Department of Education to come up with new protocols for reporting neglect to ACS. He gave them 45 days to come up with the plans.
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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