Foster agency ‘abuse’
ACS ‘ignored’ it: DOI
The city’s child-welfare agency ignored evidence that foster-care contractors weren’t safeguarding kids — despite more than 1,000 cases of neglect and abuse over the past two years, according to a report released on Friday.
The Department of Investigation said the Administration for Children’s Services left kids in the hands of private contractors with a history of poor ratings and didn’t follow its own scoring system to hold them accountable.
“ACS is responsible for the safety of nearly 8,500 New York City children in foster care — it has to get this process right,” said DOI Commissioner Mark Peters.
Investigators identified 479 cases of maltreatment for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2016, and 599 the following year.
Although about 80 percent of the incidents occurred when kids visited their parents — rather than in foster homes — investigators pointed out that the children were still in the city’s custody.
ACS contracts with private nonprofit organizations to place more than 75 percent of the foster-care children in kinship-care arrangements.
The Post reviewed the same internal ACS “scorecards” examined by DOI and found numerous red flags.
In fiscal 2017, eight of 22 contractors scored below 65 out of 100 in “maltreatment” — a subcategory that measures the rate of abuse for children in care.
In a different subcategory, of repeated maltreatment within a year, seven of the 22 providers also scored below 65.
Sheltering Arms Children’s and Family Services of Manhattan pulled in the worst numbers in overall safety, scoring a 55 in fiscal 2017, compared to a 66 the previous year.
The poor grades led to “heightened monitoring.”
But ACS removed that specialized designation in August after the firm boosted employee training and “improved performance,” according to CEO Elizabeth McCarthy.
She blamed the troubling scores on a high rate of employee turnover caused by the low rates paid by the city.
“It’s hard to keep good people with bachelor’s degrees when you can only offer them a starting salary of $35,000,” said McCarthy.
ACS officials said the DOI findings are outdated and that four of six providers cited in the report are now near the top in terms of safety.
But ACS Commissioner David Hansell told The Post he believes the foster-care system needs an overhaul.
He said existing fostercare contracts expire in June 2020 “and must be replaced” and that his agency would begin that process next year.
“As commissioner, I intend to seize this as an opportunity to strengthen the foster-care system across the board and continue to enhance safety for all youth in care,” said Hansell, who took over the embattled agency in February 2017.