From Surveillance and Control to Family Assistance and Support
The child welfare, or family regulation, system harms Black and Latinx families. Its surveillance and policing targets and separates low-income families of color when families have either needed no such intervention or could have benefitted from supports, not coercion.
We refer to the “family regulation” system to describe what has traditionally been called the “child welfare” or “child protection” system. This reflects its prioritization of and roots in surveillance, punishment, and control rather than genuine assistance to and support of families living in poverty and families in other marginalized groups, particularly Black and Latinx families.
The systemic racism and generations of harm embedded in it have been recognized by state, national, and international authorities. Citywide, almost 45 percent of Black and Latinx children experience an investigation of their family by age 18. In a city where about 60 percent of children are Black and Latinx, they account for about 90 percent of children in the system. As the 2019 race equity plan adopted by the City’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) documented, Black families are less likely than other families to be mandated to services in place of removal, are disproportionately separated, and experience longer spans in foster care. A report commissioned by ACS, recently made public through a Freedom of Information Act request, found that its frontline caseworkers described their actions as predatory and discriminatory, with Black and Latinx parents subject to harsh treatment and punished for their poverty.
The New York City Narrowing the Front Door (NTFD) Coalition critically examines the existing approach to protecting children and strengthening families to identify what is working, reveal what is not, and make recommendations aimed at ending arbitrary, abusive, and unwarranted government disruption and destruction of families. We urge city government leaders to establish effective mechanisms to ensure accountability for past and ongoing harms attendant to the family regulation system, and institute anti-racist public approaches to repair, heal, preserve, and strengthen Black families in New York City.
NTFD is composed of youth, parents, and family members directly impacted by New York City’s child welfare system; community activists; lawyers for children and parents; academics; state and local government employees; and leaders in philanthropic and non-profit organizations who are committed to eliminating the destructive impacts of the child welfare system. Among the founding co-chairs of NTFD were Anne Williams-Isom, now Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services, and Jess Dannhauser, now Commissioner for ACS.
The goal of NTFD is embodied in its name: to narrow the front door to the family regulation system through which too many families and children have been forced for too long. It is well-documented that the so-called “child welfare” system has contributed to generational harm and disadvantage to Black children and families directly traceable to this country’s shameful and debilitating history of slavery and institutional and systemic anti-Black racism. The guiding principles adopted by NTFD acknowledge the harm to Black families in the name of child protection and provide a framework to move from government policies that focus on policing and surveillance to policies that prioritize providing support and resources to communities and families.
In a series of four convenings in 2021-2022, NTFD gathered diverse stakeholders, and especially members who were directly and personally impacted by the family regulation system. These interactive sessions invited participants to identify what changes they wanted in New York City’s family regulation system and in government policies regarding child and family well-being.
Mayor Eric Adams has stated his commitment to equity, racial justice, and responsive public services. In that spirit, we have presented our recommendations to the mayor, City agencies, and the City Council. We also include recommendations for the State Legislature, State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS), philanthropic organizations, and the media. Key recommendations include:
Acknowledge that the family regulation system has harmed and continues to harm the health, safety, and wellbeing of Black children, families, and communities.
Establish and provide government funding and support for an Accountability Council, led by parents and youth with lived expertise in the family regulation system and knowledgeable and committed community leaders. It would investigate the active role the family regulation system has played in the thinning and stressing of naturally existing supports within Black and Latinx families and communities, with the aim of holding government accountable, and the healing, repair, and prevention of future injury. The Accountability Council must have the authority to lead a meaningful and honest truth-telling and accountability process.
Shrink, and ultimately eliminate, mechanisms of surveillance, reporting, investigation, prosecution, and punishment of families, particularly on the grounds of poverty framed as “neglect.” Reduce investments in surveillance and regulation of families while expanding investments in supportive, restorative, and healing organizations unconnected to the family regulation system as the primary responders to family crisis.
Provide direct, unrestricted financial support to families and concrete resources in communities to ensure that all families can meet basic needs (such as, guaranteed income, cash transfers, childcare, housing, etc.). Dedicate new investments to families and communities most impacted by the family regulation system and administer such investments independent of the ACS. Recent commitments to youth aging out of foster care are welcome; however, resources must also be offered to families most at risk of family separation.
Make immediate adjustments to the child welfare system, Family Court and parents’ legal representation to improve access to justice. Mandate that child protective services investigators provide parents with notice of their rights and expand and improve legal representation for parents. Include community members on Family Court judicial appointment committees, provide for public comment on proposed Family Court appointments, and prioritize appointment of judges who have personal connections with the family regulation system.
Reducing coercive intervention and protecting children are not oppositional goals. The more we overload the system with trivial and false cases, the less likely we are to find and protect children who are in real danger.
We envision a significant transformation in the way New York City supports families. We want to reduce the harm and trauma experienced by families currently ensnared in the system. All our recommendations center the expertise and lived experiences of the parents, children, and families who have for too long endured government surveillance and policing. They replace current costly and harmful policies, laws, and practices with policies and approaches that ensure all families have what they need to raise happy, healthy, and thriving children.
This Urban Matters is adapted from the executive summary and conclusion of the December 2022 report of the Narrowing the Front Door (NTFD) Work Group. The Center for New York City Affairs (CNYCA) at The New School provides staffing and support to NTFD. CNYCA Executive Director Kristin Morse is a current NTFD co-chair, along with Angela O. Burton and Joyce McMillan. Thanks to the Redlich-Horwitz Foundation for its support of NTFD.
Photo by: Jay Suresh