Improving public schools for every child in NYC
Series of events that examine the role child welfare agencies
Narrowing the Front Door is partnering with the Commission on Racial Equity (CORE) to support the course correction, and call for a community-run Accountability Council, to be established by law and funded by the City government. Its mandate is to develop a roadmap to narrow the front door to the existing system by reducing surveillance, reporting, and investigations and to make other recommendations on how NYC can improve the health and well-being of Black and Latinx children and families, including those currently in the foster system.
New York City residents play a vital role in ensuring transparency, integrity, and effectiveness in local government operations affecting the wellbeing of children, parents, families, and communities. The Commission on Racial Equity and the Narrowing the Front Door to New York City’s Child Welfare System Workgroup will create a 13-person, community-led Family Investigations, Separations, and Wellbeing Council to study, report on, and recommend, and monitor corrective actions to end the harms inflicted by CPS and related government agencies, redress past harms, prevent future harm, and facilitate access to necessary and beneficial resources and supports.
The wellbeing of children, their parents, and families is prioritized in government decisions. Children are able to live a life filled with joy, peace, and prosperity. Black and Latinx parents and families have necessary and beneficial resources and supports to ensure their children can thrive in NYC. Black and Latinx children, raised by their parents and within their families, receive the same opportunities as all other children in NYC to enjoy the city’s plentiful assets and contribute to the city’s vibrant life. Children live without fear, and without threat of harm throughout the course of their life.
We are also collaborating with CORE on a City Council Resolution that acknowledges the racism and harms caused by the child welfare system and other government systems in current practice and going back to chattel slavery. Council member Althea Stevens is sponsoring the resolution and introduced the measure to the Council on June 11. We are currently developing a strategy to share the resolution publicly on social media, so you’ll be able to read and engage with it directly. Also, a public hearing is expected to take place later this summer or early fall. This hearing will be an opportunity for individuals to share their testimony and make their voices heard. Stay tuned for more details.
Narrowing the Front Door is led by a diverse steering committee
