The head of New York City’s child welfare agency resisted calls Thursday to release personal details about child deaths following the horrific death of malnourished 4-year-old Jah’Meik Modlin.
During a City Council committee oversight hearing, Children’s Services Commissioner Jess Dannhauser suggested that while he understood the need for transparency, he also took into account the surviving siblings in the agency’s care.
“We want to make sure that we protect children who no longer have to read in the [news]article about what the ACP Commissioner said about their specific family,” Dannhauser told the Committee on Children and Young People.
“I want to make sure that at ACS we maintain a culture where learning is more important than blaming, because blaming has historically led us down a path of making decisions based on fear. That’s not good for children; That’s not good for families.”
In the wake of the recent October deaths of Modlin and Joseph Heben Jr., a one-month-old child who died of malnutrition over the summer on Staten Island, experts warned against fueling panic in foster homes with the organization overcorrecting and separates families who could have been supported with food and resources. Modlin’s family in Harlem was known to the system, having previously been the subject of an ACS investigation.
ACS will continue to publish annual reports on infant mortality trends and will continue to work with the Office of Children and Family Services, a state oversight agency, Dannhauser said. The commissioner is also reconvening a group of experts — community advocates, parents and child abuse pediatricians — who will have “deeper access” to information.
Lawmakers acknowledged the challenge of striking the right balance, but also emphasized that ACS could do more.
“Some of the reports that ACS refused to release after a child died could help move us in the right direction,” said attorney Jumaane Williams, “and I hope ACS reconsiders not releasing these reports so that the public can can get an opinion about. look at.
“I know privacy is one of the problems, but I’m looking forward to it [materials] can be edited in a way that can help us all find the balance we’re trying to find.
Councilwoman Althea Stevens (D-Bronx), chairwoman of the committee, said she is “someone who really believes that we need to protect children.”
“Part of that is keeping certain things confidential, and also not having all their grueling details out there for all to see,” Stevens said. “But we have to find a balance between what transparency looks like and how we ensure that we can hold not just ACS accountable, but all parties accountable.”
