A time for reforms, not study

The Administration for Children’s Services is mismanaged and it is costing lives like that of Zymere Perkins. Sadly, deaths like Zymere’s are all too common.

Zymere was a child with substantiated cases of physical abuse and neglect — and he was not registered for school this fall. This was a red flag that should have resulted in ACS action.

Last month, my office issued a scathing report on similar child fatalities. In this report, we found a pattern of ACS missing warning signs like missed school.

Zymere’s death is a grotesque example of the need to reform ACS. Too many innocent children are dying under the “protection” of a failing agency. We must prevent more lives like Zymere’s from ending too soon.

I respect Mayor de Blasio, but I disagree with him when he says we need to diagnose what’s wrong with the system. We already know what’s wrong. In fact, my office has repeatedly pushed specific policy solutions to fundamentally fix ACS.

ACS can improve with three important fixes:

First, the agency must exercise more rigorous oversight over its contract agencies and adequately train and supervise caseworkers.

Secondly, ACS must provide deeper ongoing support to children exiting foster care or child preventive services to ensure these children aren’t being reabused or neglected. Support should also be provided to families who are being reunited with their children.

Lastly, ACS must ensure that the health care needs of at-risk and ill children are being met. Half of the reported fatalities in my report resulted from families not seeking timely medical attention for the children and from ACS not conducting the appropriate number of medical visits with sick children. In these cases, deaths could have been avoided had ACS provided the proper oversight.