Newsletter
April 2024
April 20, 2024
An Anti-Racist Approach to Shrinking New York City’s Child Welfare System and Promoting Black Child, Family, and Community Wellbeing
Welcome to the Narrowing the Front Door newsletter! Here you’ll hear about events, resources, and information.
IMPACTS: Driving Systems Change
City Progress on Rights Falls Short of Family Miranda
New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) recently announced that all families under investigation will soon receive written notice of their rights at the front door. The notice informs families that ACS has a legal requirement to assess the safety of the child but that parents are not required to let ACS into their homes and can seek the assistance of an attorney. The planned citywide expansion follows a pilot project in selected neighborhoods that ACS deemed successful. Read the City’s press release here.
Members of NTFD worked with ACS to strengthen the language in the written notice. An early version of the notice maintained that the City had a legal obligation to see the home and did not specifically say that parents had the right not to allow entry. According to the agency’s press release, the notice includes the following language: “ACS has a legal obligation to assess the safety of your child(ren) to complete an assessment of the concerns. We are requesting your permission to enter your home to have a conversation with you about the alleged concerns and to explain the process. We want you to know that you have a right to not let ACS into your home…”
Advocates, including NTFD, and sponsors of a State “Family Miranda Rights” bill continue to press for legislation that would ensure that families are fully informed of their rights and have a right to counsel. Advocates are educating the public and other legislators about the need for the bill, including holding press conferences, legislative educational sessions, and public events. Angela O. Burton, co-chair of Narrowing the Front Door Workgroup, a lawyer and former New York State Office of Court Administration (OCA) official, recently spoke on Albany Spectrum News 1’s “Capital Tonight” program to discuss advancing Family Miranda Rights legislation.
Family Miranda bills are pending in the New York Assembly (a1980) and Senate (s901). In the Assembly, the bill was voted out of the Children and Families Committee and referred to the Codes Committee on January 3, 2024, where it currently sits awaiting referral to a floor vote.
In the Senate, S901, sits in the Children and Families Committee. Sponsor and Chair of the committee Sen. Jabari Brisport has put the bill on the committee’s meeting agenda numerous times for a vote to move it out of committee, most recently in March 2024. Each time, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, has pulled the bill from the committee’s agenda, effectively blocking the bill from moving forward.
The Majority Leader’s office has not provided a reason to Brisport or to the Parent Legislative Action Network, the advocacy group that drafted the legislation. See JMACforFamilies for more information about Family Miranda and to get involved.
The Family Justice Law Center’s Class-Action Lawsuit against the Administration for Children’s Services
A recent class action lawsuit brought against the Administration for Children Services claims that caseworkers routinely utilize coercive and invasive tactics in order to enter homes. The lawsuit charges that the tactics violate the 4th Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, traumatizes families and children, and causes family separation. The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday, February 20, 2024 in U.S. District Court.
Press coverage of the class-action lawsuit includes:
WNYC’s Brian Lehrer show interviewed David Shalleck-Klein, founder and executive director of the Family Justice Law Center at the Urban Justice Center, and Shalonda Curtis-Hackett, an impacted parent and plaintiff in the lawsuit.
Shalleck-Klein and Curtis-Hackett also joined “Inside City Hall” on NY1.
New Report and Recommendations from the NYS Senate Committee on Judiciary and NYS Senate Committee on Children and Families
A recent report from the New York State Senate Committee on Judiciary & Committee on Children and Families summarizes the findings from a November joint oversight hearing on Family Court, making several recommendations. The hearing explored the disproportionate targeting of Black and Latinx families and the harm to families from court proceedings that too often frame poverty as neglect.
Angela Burton, co-chair of Narrowing the Front Door Workgroup, emphasized the racial disparities within the system during her testimony. She argued for "narrowing the front door" by diverting cases away from Family Court and directing resources to the families, saying this would save money, reduce suffering, and allow officials to concentrate on more serious cases.
This report summarizes the testimony heard at the joint hearing and includes the recommendations from various parties. Recommendations include:
1.“Narrowing the Front Door” to Family Court by helping families before they are in crisis. Help would include providing access to affordable housing, poverty-reduction measures, and extensive changes to the child protective services system by strengthening and expanding New York's social safety net.
2. Protecting the rights of litigants by advancing legislation to protect the rights of parents and children in the Family Court and child protective services systems. They include the Family Miranda Rights Act, the Anti-Harassment in Reporting Act, Informed Consent Act, the Promoting Pre-Trial Stability Act, and legislation to expedite straightforward cases and open courtrooms to the public and members of the media at judicial discretion.
3. Fully fund legal service providers by increasing pay for 18-B assigned counsel, fully fund it at the State level, and establish a long-term financial plan for regular cost-of-living adjustments. Funding should be increased for parental representation through Indigent Legal Services (ILS) and child representation through OCA, as well.
4. Invest in court personnel, programs and infrastructure by adding additional family court judges, especially in New York City and ending the practice of rotating judges without experience into family court. Adequate funding should be provided to increase court staff, keep judicial salaries competitive, help diversify the bench, provide supervised visitation, train court personnel, and repair courthouses.
5. Reform family court administration and procedures by improving procedural changes, video conferencing that would protect litigants from unnecessary court visits, providing greater oversight of judges and personnel, and opening courtrooms to the public.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Never Can Say Goodbye
Please join Narrowing the Front Door on April 16, 2024 at The New School for a screening of Never Can Say Goodbye written, produced, and directed by Chris Grant. The short film tells the story of an African American mother, convicted and on the verge of prison, who asks for one last chance to see her kids. Following the screening, there will be a Q&A with Joyce McMillan, executive director and founder of JMACforFamilies and filmmaker Chris Grant.
RSVP here.
The Reckoning Continues - Save the Date
Please join Narrowing the Front Door, Graham Windham, New York Foundling, and Good Shepard for a virtual convening of The Reckoning Part II: Transforming Systems to Achieve Family Justice and Integrity on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, from 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM. Registration information to come.
THANKS FOR JOINING OUR RECENT EVENTS
The Reckoning: Transforming Systems to Achieve Family Justice and Integrity
On March 14, 2024, Narrowing the Front Door, Graham Windham, Good Shepherd Services, and New York Foundling co-sponsored ”The Reckoning: Transforming Systems to Achieve Family Justice and Integrity” at the New School. It was a full-day conference dedicated to reflecting on the child welfare system and transforming perspectives within the field. The event delved into the history of the child welfare system, explored the consequences of government surveillance, separation, and harm, and discussed strategies to put an end to the challenges faced by Black and Latinx families and children impacted by the system. The event was supported by the Redlich Horwitz Foundation.
You can watch recordings of the event:
The Reckoning: Session 1 - The History of Child Welfare
The Reckoning: Session 3 - Community Approaches as Alternatives to Systems
Related work: Kym Watson describes the impetus for the event in an interview with the Center For New York City Affairs’ Urban Matters publication, “Why Child Welfare Needs A Reckoning and Transformation.”
Unhappy Anniversary: Repeal CAPTA—Lobby day in DC, January 31, 2024
The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), the federal law that enshrines the nation’s approach to child abuse and neglect, turned 50 on January 31, 2024. The Repeal CAPTA group held a rally and met with congressional staff to draw attention to decades of family policing and separations. During the Capitol Hill briefing, Angela Burton and Joyce McMillan of the Narrowing the Front Door Workgroup joined Cory Best, Jasmine Wali, and Dr. Jerry Milner to present their perspectives on funding families instead of systems.
The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), enacted in 1974, establishes national definitions regarding child abuse and neglect and assigns certain responsibilities to the federal government, particularly relating to data collection and technical assistance.
Listen to The Proximity Process with Matt Anderson, a succinct and insightful reflection on the January 31, 2024 Repeal CAPTA Day of Action Congressional Briefing.
WHAT TO READ:
Check out the Narrowing the Front Door website.
Join our mailing list.
Stay informed about our work to critically examine and reform New York City's child welfare system
