ACS desk duty in kid’s death
THE CITY HAS reassigned to desk duty five child welfare workers who handled investigations into the troubled family of 6-yearold Zymere Perkins, the Daily News has learned.
Two caseworkers, two supervisors and a manager in the city Administration for Children’s Services were barred from handling cases and placed on administrative duty, Deputy Mayor Dr. Herminia Palacio said Friday.
The workers were all involved in the investigation of five prior allegations of abuse leveled against the boy’s mother, Geraldine Perkins, and her live-in boyfriend, Rysheim Smith.
The mother brought the boy’s lifeless body to a hospital Monday, and she and Smith were soon charged with endangering the welfare of a child. Murder charges are possible pending the outcome of the medical examiner’s findings.
At issue is whether ACS dropped the ball by not adequately investigating the prior complaints before Zymere died.
Palacio said Friday ACS has been asked by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. to hold off on its internal probe while the criminal investigation unfolds.
She wouldn’t reveal the names of the employees or detail their roles in the case.
One issue that’s surfaced is the agency’s controversial policy of allowing the same caseworker to handle the same family.
In a May report, DOI said the protocol of assigning the same caseworker to repeatedly investigate a family creates a conflict of interest that puts the worker in the position of vetting themselves.
They suggested sending a fresh pair of eyes would increase the credibility of the examinations, and ACS agreed to change this policy. Nothing has changed.
The fact that two caseworkers were suspended indicates one or both were repeatedly assigned to vet the abuse allegations regarding Zymere.
“We are moving forward. We’re taking this very seriously,” said Palacio. “This is a death that really stops us all in our tracks. The tragic death of any child is something that we never want to see.”