uptowngirl
uptowngirl

In a rich city like NYC, a shocking death

We have spoken often about the plight of some children in NYC. The city has organizations like the ACS- The Administration of Children's Services which have been created to protect the kids of NYC and prevent such incidents but they still occur. Here's a recent report on the death of a child in Brooklyn who is believed to have been starved to death and the surprising thing is that the ACS was monitoring her case,

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/year_crib_brooklyn_girl_weighing_qqeAccoijkR7asBLQTDQ9M

Simply horrific, it makes me so mad, the parents of this child should not be allowed to procreate and what good is an organization like the ACS if are not really effective?
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JenMac
JenMac 2yrs+
This is so disgusting. What is wrong with people?
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hhusted
hhusted 2yrs+
I hate to tell you this, but some people get paid under the table to overlook certain things. Maybe in this case the ACS was told to do this. Hard to say. There is corruption at the government level. You have to remember that.
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
@hhusted I tend to agree with you.. its simply shocking and disgraceful
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hhusted
hhusted 2yrs+
@Uptowngirl: Yes. And unfortunately, it's the innocent who end up suffering the most.
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
Some people just shouldn't be parents, period.
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BroadwayBK
BroadwayBK 2yrs+
Isn't it more likely that whoever was supposed to be doing their job in ACS simply wasn't doing that? It's also possible that whoever's case it was was overloaded with cases. This is a very sad incident...
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ajadedidealist
ajadedidealist 2yrs+
@Broadwaybk - the sad but true thing is that the ACS is completely overloaded, as you said. I don't think people are ever willfully negligent, but there are only so many hours in the day and only so much money to hire people to deal with these cases, and eventually the overload leads to catastrophes like this. That's not to say ACS isn't to blame - but to perhaps look at ACS's limitations and those doing the limiting as supporting factors.
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
@ajadedidealist we all know government agencies waste a lot of money, why not direct those funds to ACS which desperately needs funds. After all its a question of the welfare of the city's children
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
Everything I've ever heard about working for the government is that most of those people spend the majority of their energy in a day trying to find clever ways to NOT do their jobs. Sad, but I've heard it from a few people.
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BroadwayBK
BroadwayBK 2yrs+
@ajadedidealist I tend to agree with you.
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
@Uraniumfish haven't we seen umpteen such instances in the MTA? I think these folks know they are fairly secure in these jobs that afford them many benefits and hence they tend to do as they please. I doubt that many of these jobs are performance driven. Do they get paid bonuses ?
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BroadwayBK
BroadwayBK 2yrs+
Yeah, but people who work in the MTA didn't strive to work in social services. You actually have to have a lot of training to work in social services - they don't just take any college grad off the street, you actually have to get a degree in social work. A lot of social work jobs want someone with a masters in social work. Granted, I'm sure not every ACS employee is living their dream life and completely motivated all the time, but I still don't think their jobs are comparable to, say, the people who work at the DMV.

You have to know how to deal with stuff like this: http://www.yournabe.com/articles/2010/09/07/brooklyn/courier-yn_brooklyn_front_page-bn_bayblotter_2010_09_10_bk.txt

Working in child services is not an easy task...
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BroadwayBK
BroadwayBK 2yrs+
Oh, man... I just realized that the original story at the top of this forum happened pretty close to where I live...
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BroadwayBK
BroadwayBK 2yrs+
Okay, one more comment and I'll shut up. The ACS hired a private contractor to look into this case, the Child Development Support Corporation. They're the ones who were not visiting as much as the ACS required them to, according to the ACS. Which I guess is partly the fault an overloaded government system and the lack of effort on the part of a non-government contractor.

http://bushwickbk.com/2010/09/07/proud-parent-tied-child-to-bed-before-death/
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ajadedidealist
ajadedidealist 2yrs+
That's a good point, @broadwayBK. I think that the people who go into such a relatively low-paying, highly-demanding and grueling job such as child or social services are to be commended - and often are doing the best they can with all the odds against them. Stigmatising them for the failures of the system at large (not to mention this parent) won't help matters.
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
@ajadedidealist I don't think the ACS pays any less than any other government agency but yes in a city like NYC they seem to be overwhelmed by the number of cases so ever so often such a case comes to light which makes you question your faith in humanity. The mother of this little girl needs to be locked up forever so that she has no chance for further procreation and endangering the lives of other children.
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
I worked for the Children's Aid Society briefly a while back and all I can say is all the people in the office I was assigned to were creepy, defeated administrator types who would quibble about whether their coffee break was 10 minutes or 15 minutes. I did not have the feeling that these people cared at all. Granted, I was on the floor that involved paperwork, whereas the people who work directly with children were on another floor, but still...
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
@Uraniumfish I do happen to know of folk in this city who strive to get a job with the government only for the relative security it offers.They don't really care about much else. Seems like your colleagues at ACS belonged to that genre, what a sad state of affairs.
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BroadwayBK
BroadwayBK 2yrs+
Isn't Children's Aid Society a non-government charity? I'm so confused ....
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
@BroadwayBK Yeah, I think they are a non-profit but they work pretty closely with government agencies. Anyways, just sayin: people who work with supposedly noble institutions that do supposedly noble work aren't necessarily noble themselves. My guess is government agencies are even worse than CAS.
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hhusted
hhusted 2yrs+
@BroadwayBK: It is unfortunate that a private contractor failed in their duty to do a job. But when the contractor is working for the federal, state, county, or city government, they get paid no matter what results they get. That's just the way they do things. I was hired by a government agency a few years ago to install networking at a non-profit organization. They paid me up front and requested I set up their network. I did not finish the job. They hired someone else to take over and complete it. They never asked me for half the money back. So I got paid for something I did not do. I even contacted them about it, and they said to keep it. What can I say.
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
@hhusted Amazing. Now we know why so little gets done in this city. The amount of waste is enormous.
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
Wow @hhusted that means there is no accountability at all for all the funds that are being spent. I thought only countries like India had that problem didnt know the US was also hampered by such inefficiency. Come to think of it I noticed such colossal wastage in the UK as well. We have often praised the NHS well its run on government grants and subsidies which are funded by tax collections. My late father in law was an invalid for a few years before he passed away, he had had difficulty with his mobility over the years and had been given walkers and other contraptions to aid him. Well after passed away my mum in law collected all the wheelchairs and walkers some of which were brand new and asked someone from the local council to come and take them away for they could have been used for other patients. They were just not interested as they said they don't use second hand stuff and we should contact a charity shop and give them away. We were astounded as some of the walking aids were still in their packing and they hadn't been used at all surely they could have been used by another patient?Ultimately we did give them away as they had suggested but the wastage was shocking.
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ajadedidealist
ajadedidealist 2yrs+
Normally I'm really pro-NHS, @uptowngirl, but your post makes it clear that while it may be better than nothing, the NHS is not perfect and can always be improved! (As in the dentistry area, for example. It's a pity that my city has no (I believe) NHS dentists at all!)
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BroadwayBK
BroadwayBK 2yrs+
@hhusted Yes - that explains so much.

@everyone I still think it's unfair to stereotype everyone in an entire agency as having no morals or not caring at all about their jobs. Fine - the agency did not live up to expectations in this case. And that is sad and disappointing. But what about that mother? Seems like she is the one most at fault here.
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
@BroadwayBk Yes, of course it's not any agency's responsibility to police people or keep them from acting badly. The best that agencies do, if they are effective, is act quickly in case someone does behave that badly.
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
@BroadwayBk Yes of course.. she totally is a monster
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hhusted
hhusted 2yrs+
@Everybody: You'd be surprised how much the government, no matter what level, waste money. It is sad. For the amount of money wasted, I could buy a mansion, six sports cars, and still have a lot of money left over.

@BroadwayBK: I agree that you can't blame an entire agency for the work of one person, although the agency's supervisor or manager is responsible for keeping a heads up on all employees under him or her. So, I have to say the person in charge of that one person is the person responsible and should be investigated.
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