[Editor's note: This is the first in a four-part series on child abuse allegations, the city's Administration for Child Services and families that have had contact with the system.]
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- In the uncertain world of child care investigations, experts on all sides agree on two things: The current system is flawed, but a system of some kind is necessary to protect our most vulnerable residents.
As the new head of the city's Administration for Children's Services (ACS) begins to reform an agency under heavy scrutiny, former case workers, family court attorneys and parents who've been investigated spoke to the Advance in recent weeks about problems they've encountered firsthand, and ways to mend the gaps moving forward.
Each year, the agency conducts more than 55,000 investigations of suspected child abuse or neglect in New York City.
OVERWORKED, INEXPERIENCED CASEWORKERS
According to a former case supervisor for foster children on Staten Island, a couple of things were to be expected regarding new hires: A lack of experience and an unrealistic case load.
"A new person would come in and there would be 20 cases on their desk," said Jason Maniscalco. "It was like, 'OK, have fun.'"
He declined to reveal the agency he worked for, but confirmed it was one of multiple organizations ACS contracts with to provide foster care services, in addition to support for families deemed at risk of a crisis.
Each case worker was expected to complete a home visit and file a report for 20 clients within a month. So the turnover rate was high.
"In addition to home visits, there's court cases they have to go to, in addition to paperwork and court reports," said Maniscalco. "It's not realistic."
He said new case workers often were fresh out of college and lacked the proper experience to interview foster families, or to file a report that ultimately was read by a judge.
"There were half-written notes that someone thought they had finished but didn't," said Maniscalco. "If the note isn't written, it's like it didn't happen."
CULTURAL, COMMUNITY DIFFERENCES
Child abuse sometimes is in the eye of the beholder, according to experts of both the investigative and legal stages of custody cases in New York City.
Frustrations surrounding complaints filed by teachers, for instance, can escalate quickly, said family court attorney Eric Gansberg. Especially if the school is in a minority, lower-income area.
"If a kid comes in and has a bruise and they're from a minority area, the teachers are more likely to assume mommy or daddy smacked the kid too hard," he said. "If they come from a more affluent area, where kids are always in organized sports, they might assume it's from that."
It's the type of scenario that former case worker Adriane James has seen play out in real-time. She recalled a case in Queens a few years back, when she worked as a parent advocate.
Standing over an open stove, a four-foot-nine, 90-pound mother of four swatted her 5-year-old-son on the back with a slipper to "shoo him away," said James.
When the boy returned to the classroom, his teacher saw a mark on him and alerted a school administrator.
"Police ran into the home and arrested the mother in front of the neighborhood," said James.
A judge ordered the mother be removed from the home, at which point the father had to quit one of his three jobs to help care for the children, she said.
James said the case is an example of the cultural discourse that can happen with an investigation, when considering the family's Ecuadorian culture of hard working men, big families and mothers who sometimes swat their kids.
"She didn't want to hurt the boy ... but our society says you can't do that."
GETTING AROUND CASE WORKERS
Despite a case worker's best efforts during a home visit, there are ways around the system.
Exhibit A: The case of 1-year-old Bianca Abdul.
Leila Wade, the child's mother, had been under investigation by ACS and assigned to case workers in the past, amid a history of abusive relationships, Hurricane Sandy displacement and an allegation of drug abuse, she told the Advance.
Her relationship with Bianca's father allegedly became violent in 2016.
Joseph Abdul, 36, pleaded guilty to assault after authorities said he struck Wade in the head with a cable box while their infant was in the room. He snatched the baby on his way out the door, police said.
A judge issued an order of protection and allowed the children to remain in Wade's custody, however, when Abdul was released from jail, Wade said she allowed him to visit the home. Weeks later, he was charged again in a bloody encounter with a neighbor that Wade said occurred in front of her 12-year-old daughter.
Abdul was not living at the home in the months leading up to the death, police said.
Wade has said she fears it's possible the child ingested one of her painkillers -- prescribed as a result of prior domestic violence-related injuries.
The medical examiner's investigation into the cause of death remains ongoing.
CASE WORKER CHALLENGES
In some instances, the court system doesn't support what a case worker feels is best for a child. So by law, case workers are required to return a child the home.
A case worker can be called on at any time of the day or night for client emergencies that might involve violence, drug use, or death.
Wade described an instance when multiple case workers peered in to her house on Moreland Street sometime after midnight, after a complaint of drug use at the house.
There are different types of caseworkers, ranging from those who investigate allegations for ACS to foster care workers who follow a child through the system once they're removed from a home.
Applicants for the investigative job must have a bachelor's degree and 24 semester credits in any combination of social work, psychology, criminal justice and education. Once hired, they're trained for six months at one of the agency's two academies, then are accompanied by senior case workers for their first cases.
A recent employee review of the position on indeed.com read as follows:
"Clients can be confrontational ... the work environment at times is very dangerous as you sometimes don't know anything about the family's background.. .. The management team does assist if there's a conflict... "
FILLING THE GAPS
Two high-profile deaths of children in Brooklyn and Manhattan last year drew criticism of ACS from government officials.
In both cases, the boys died as a result of alleged abuse by their caretakers after complaints had been filed with ACS, according to a Daily News report.
Former ACS Commissioner Gladys Carrion resigned in December amid the scrutiny, while ACS suspended four top officials, citing "serious gaps" in communication regarding one of the cases.
Though one of the most heartbreaking cases in recent memory occurred three years prior to Carrion's tenure, and involved a boy from Staten Island.
Then 7-year-old Patrick Alford was removed from his mother's custody on Staten Island in 2009, after she was arrested on theft charges. Patrick was placed in a foster home in Brooklyn, then, disappeared less than a month later.
His foster mother was the last person to see him when she took out the trash. She told police he disappeared when she turned to answer her cell phone.
In February, Mayor Bill de Blasio appointed David Hansell, 63, to head the agency, which operates on a $2.9 billion budget. Hansell is the third ACS commissioner over the past decade. The move was praised by observers frustrated with the agency's handling of several abuse cases in which children died.
Hansell has told reporters the agency has undergone a "top-to-bottom review" since he took the helm, with initiatives including arming workers with high-tech devices to notify police if they are in danger during an investigation, and revamping the ChildStat program.
An emailed written statement from Hansell read as follows.
"ACS is moving forward through coordinating with our partner agencies such as DHS to ensure ACS-involved families entering shelters have access to the services they need, modernizing technological support for workers in the field, and enhancing access to case information for frontline staff. Ensuring our frontline staff is best equipped to serve families is a top priority."