Opinion: A better way of keeping kids safe

If asked, families would tell you that they need better. Better housing, jobs, schools. They would tell you that they need more. More money, support, help. Instead, the government spends billions of dollars a year on the child welfare system, or more appropriately known as the family regulation system, that fails to meet the most basic needs and care that children and parents deserve. 

Although agencies like the New York City Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) purport to keep children safe, experiences and outcomes for foster youth and parents who endure separation are well-documented and troubling. Children, overwhelmingly Black, brown, and from low-income communities, are not kept safe by ACS. Because when the government says safety, it means surveillance and prosecution. It means policing. 

Instead of keeping communities safe, ACS’s annual budget of $2.65 billion is used to investigate and separate families often based on overwhelmingly false or biased allegations from service providers acting as “mandated reporters” and anonymous callers. Low-income communities are saturated with mandated reporters who are obligated to report any inkling of child maltreatment. That means that if a parent is thinking of asking for help, such as HeadStart child care, emergency housing, domestic violence support, substance abuse counseling, or Applied Behavior Analysis therapy funded by the state, they should be prepared to deal with ACS. 

When ACS is involved, families find themselves in a no-win situation. Failure to engage in ‘optional’ services or comply with ACS’ mandates, even when they are harmful to children and family, can result in court involvement and family separation. But even when parents do cooperate with ACS and try to communicate the special needs of their children or particularities of their situation, ACS frequently does not listen and just proceeds with the same cookie-cutter approach. 

This form of trickle-down social spending requires families to jump through hoops to access ill-tailored programs that expose them to mandated reporters and government intrusion. When these services are offered to parents with inflexible, low-wage jobs, limited transportation, and childcare options, this can be more of a burden on parents than a lifeline. This approach often makes a difficult situation worse, instead of providing what we know marginalized families really need — better access to affordable rent, food, education, employment, health care, housing and child care.

What you won’t find in the ACS budget is a basic income for parents struggling to make ends meet. Families face the greatest risk of involvement with ACS and the family regulation system because of the hardships that inevitably accompany poverty — utility shut-offs, homelessness, and food insecurity. It should come as no surprise that families living below the poverty line are 22 times more likely to be involved with the family regulation system, according to law professors Martin Guggenheim and Vivek Sankaran. 

In 2020, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of reports to ACS declined by more than 40%, as children were less exposed to mandated reporters in settings like public schools, and 46% fewer children were placed in the foster system. The ACS Commissioner recently admitted at a New York City Council hearing that, despite this precipitous decline in family involvement with the system, there was no corresponding increase in child maltreatment. This inadvertent case study reveals just how divorced the family regulation system is from its purported goals.

We need to stop equating safety with surveillance. Instead, we need to unlearn the notion that the government knows best. Families need real support from trustworthy service providers within their communities. But even more, families need cash. Financial assistance, through concrete support with bills, increased minimum wage, increased EITC benefits, and stable housing or shelter, has been shown to reduce investigations and findings of maltreatment. The most effective way to support children’s wellbeing is to support their parents, and in doing so, we have a chance to make punitive institutions like ACS obsolete.

When all roads lead to ACS, it is impossible for families to confidently seek out help. Communities need pathways to assistance that are not funded by and don’t lead directly to the family regulation system. It is time to acknowledge what works and what doesn’t. It is time to divert funding away from the punitive practices of the family regulation system. It is time to listen to and invest in families and communities, knowing that keeping children safe is their priority too.

Michelle Sanchez, Desseray Wright, and Shalonda Curtis-Hackett are parents impacted by the family regulation system and members of the Parent Legislative Action Network (PLAN).