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| ACS Commissioner David Hansell |
Though the numbers he cites aren’t wrong (which
is refreshing), the problem is the numbers that are left out. Also left out: The fact that all the good
news reflects the work of Hansell’s predecessors – not Hansell.
Hansell is, in effect, claiming credit for some genuine, long term success. The time periods he cites vary but they all
end on June 30, 2017. Hansell wasn’t
even named to the job until March, 2017.
So while the number of children trapped in foster care on any given day
has indeed plummeted – over the course of 25 years – and that is a major
success story, Hansell had nothing to do with it. It’s the work of better commissioners
who used to run ACS and the efforts of family advocacy groups and family
defenders.
The numbers Hansell didn’t talk about
One number in particular is conspicuously absent. That
number represents the glaring failing of Hansell’s own leadership – the foster-care
panic that has led to a sharp increase
in the number of children taken from their parents over the course of a year. In FY2017, entries
increased by 13 percent – the first increase in children removed from their
homes since 2009.
This actually understates the impact of the panic, because
the time period in question, July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2017 – includes about
three months before the tragic death of Zymere Perkins, which set off the
panic.
That number, how many children a child welfare agency takes
away over the course of a year - known as “entries into care” - is the real
measure of whether an agency is committed to the better, more humane and
safer option for the overwhelming
majority of children – keeping families together.
Hansell didn’t start the foster-care panic. Zymere Perkins
died toward the end of the tenure of his predecessor, Gladys Carrion (or,
rather, it brought her tenure to an end), undermining significant progress made
under her leadership. But Hansell was,
and is, in the best position to stop it.
He hasn’t.
The number of children re-entering foster care after being reunified with family or placed with kin has also decreased, from 9.1% in fiscal 2015 to 6.3% in 2017.
What the story leaves out is fiscal 2016. That year, this figure
was 7.8 percent. In other words, during Carrion’s tenure, there was a slow,
steady improvement in this safety outcome, even as entries into care were
decreasing.
The other key safety measure is ignored entirely: reabuse of
children known to the system. That number declined
during most of Carrion’s tenure – but it went up in FY17, even as the number of
children taken from their homes increased.
Compounding the problem: For months ACS wouldn’t even give
straight answers about the entry-into-care numbers. Recall all the dissembling
and conflicting stories from ACS about the increase in entries, including
Hansell’s erroneous claim that there was no increase.
A cascade of other problems
The panic that has been, at a minimum, tolerated by Hansell
also has caused a cascade of other problems such as a huge increase in court
supervision cases.
As the Center for New York City Affairs explains in this report, this clogs
up the entire child welfare system. Court hearings are delayed, and it takes
longer to actually set up the hoops through which the families must jump. Where
families really do need help, the help is delayed, so family problems can
worsen.
The court delays, as well as new CYA bureaucratic procedures
also are delaying when children are allowed to leave foster care and return
home. That, rather than the excuse
Hansell gave the Daily News, is the
more likely reason for a sharp decline in reunifications in FY 2017.
And, of course, caseloads for investigators are increasing,
giving them less time to find children in real danger.
The bottom line is
this: Even as Hansell brags about past success, his own
approach to child welfare is undermining that success.
If he ever stops the foster care panic, then David Hansell will have something to brag about.
