NCCPR news and commentary round-up, week ending March 24, 2026

We start this week with three items from New York City, and my usual reminder: New York has one of the least bad systems in the country; wherever you are, it’s probably worse.

● You know how family police agencies love to say, “We can’t remove children – only a judge can do that!” It is, of course, a lie. And here, first from Gothamist and then the New York Post, is the latest example: 

A lawsuit alleges that an 11-month-old was torn from the arms of her mother and taken away, screaming “mama” – cries that could be heard a block away -- after the city family police agency, the Administration for Children’s Services, decided there was no safety threat in the home. The mother was never so much as accused of abuse or neglect. Nobody asked a judge first. When a judge did get to hear the case, five days after the removal, the judge ordered the child returned, but still placed the mother under months of onerous surveillance. This kind of never-mind-the-judge-just-take-the-child-and-run removal happens in half of all entries into foster care in New York City. 

● A new commissioner for ACS could change that. In the Daily News, Sandy Santana, executive director of Children’s Rights, writes about the kind of leader Mayor Zohran Mamdani should be looking for: 

The next commissioner must be willing to acknowledge past failures, center the voices of youth and families who have experienced the system’s harm, and prioritize racial justice in every decision. They must understand that supporting families and protecting children are aligned, not competing priorities. Without this type of bold leadership, the results are predictable: families investigated for material hardship and over-burdened systems that miss opportunities to keep children safe. 

● The federal Family First Act reimburses only a small group of “preventive services,” – and that small group does not include what most families need most: concrete help. But, the New York City Family Policy Project and Action Research point out, once the federal reimbursement comes in, those funds can be used for all the good stuff Family First itself won’t fund. The amounts are small, and not every state is even participating, but it’s a small opportunity that shouldn’t go to waste. Though the data are specific to New York, the principle applies in any state. 

In other news: 

● Maryland is going to spend more than $1 billion over five years to fund 637 beds for foster children. At that price, we’re not talking family foster homes, we’re talking institutionalization. You can guess who will be disproportionately institutionalized. I thought of that when I read this column in The Imprint from two former top officials of the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services. It shows how this kind of horror goes back centuries. 

● Former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin has been held in contempt for failing to provide financial records to a court hearing a case brought by his estranged Ethiopian adopted son. As the Kentucky Lantern reports, Jonah Bevin “alleges his affluent parents abandoned him at age 17 in a brutally abusive youth facility in Jamaica.” Jonah is now seeking financial support. 

And, the Kentucky Lantern reports, there’s also this: 

Three Republican lawmakers have filed a bill that would bar children from intervening in a parent’s divorce case and limit their ability to obtain child support. … While the proposed bill doesn’t mention the parents’ divorce pending in Jefferson Family Court, the legislation tracks developments in the case in which Jonah Bevin, now 19, has intervened and is seeking support. 

Two of the bill’s three sponsors, Rep. Steven Doan, R-Erlanger, and Rep. John Hodgson, R-Fisherville, worked in the Bevin administration …