ACS staffers get too many cases: report
AN INDEPENDENT report found hundreds of the city’s child abuse investigators were either overloaded with work or desperately lacking in on-thejob experience.
More than 170 Administration for Children’s Services employees carried caseloads of 15 or more this past June — above the agency’s target of 12, the New York City Independent Budget Office reported.
The 14.2% of caseworkers handling extra probes was the highest since 2006, the year after 7-year-old Nixzmary Brown’s beating death by her stepfather prompted a massive shakeup at ACS.
The report, issued Thursday, noted that workers handling fewer investigations typically produced better results.
“Lower caseloads allow caseworkers to engage more deeply with each investigation and thus are associated with higher quality investigations and higher worker satisfaction,” the report concluded.
ACS came under intense scrutiny again last month after the horrific Harlem beating death of 6-year-old Zymere Perkins (above), allegedly by his mom’s hulking boyfriend.
Mayor de Blasio announced a probe of the oft-embattled agency after the Daily News reported that ACS investigated Zymere’s mother five times before her live-in love allegedly beat the little boy with a broomstick.
The mayor had vowed two years earlier to reform ACS. And Zymere’s death came four months after a troubling critique of the agency by the city Department of Investigation.
The child welfare agency, in a statement responding to the report, said just 3% of its caseworkers are currently carrying more than 15 investigations. And the current average caseload of 9.2 per worker is among the lowest in the state, the statement added.
“ACS continues to invest in hiring frontline staff,” the statement said. “This year alone, we hired 473 new child protective specialists, and another 57 are in process to start in November 2016.”
But the IBO report also noted nearly 25% of ACS’s roughly 1,200 caseworkers in 2015 had less than one year of experience as many co-workers left the agency. The typical investigator moved on after 5½ years, compared to six years in 2014.