Even Mayor de Blasio’s allies admit that ACS is in disrepair.
The head of the City Council committee that oversees the agency said Friday it needs a sweeping, independent review because it’s not protecting New York’s neediest children.
“The system exists to protect the most vulnerable children in our city, and the system is failing them,” Councilman Stephen Levin (D-Brooklyn) — a big supporter of Hizzoner — told The Post.
He said an entity outside city government that specializes in child welfare should conduct a “large-scale review” of policies, procedures, and staffing throughout the ACS system.
“It needs to be aggressive — and it needs to be wide-scale,” said Levin, who chairs the Council’s Committee on General Welfare.
“We need recommendations [on how to fix ACS] coming from the actual experts. What we are finding is that with each of these failed cases by ACS we are unearthing more and more problems throughout the agency.”
On Thursday, the city’s Department of Investigation issued a scathing report, saying an investigation into the death of 3-year-old Jaden Jordan uncovered systemic issues within the unit that handles cases that come up outside the normal work week.
He issued a separate statement late Thursday saying that while he appreciates Hizzoner’s “consistent attention to reforms, identifying and addressing the system’s failures has to be his highest priority.”
“A heartbreaking pattern of child deaths has emerged over the last four months,” he said.
“The constant in each is involvement with ACS that failed to save their lives.”
The councilman also said it is “unacceptable” that Gov. Cuomo’s latest spending plan for the state proposes cutbacks in child welfare and foster care services.