Maggie Lear (212)266-2255 (ACS)
MAYOR GIULIANI, CHANCELLOR CREW AND ACS COMMISSIONER SCOPPETTA ANNOUNCE AGREEMENT TO SHARE INFORMATION ON AT-RISK CHILDREN
Memorandum of Understanding Outlines Process for Collaboration and Exchange of Information
Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani joined Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta and New York City Schools Chancellor Rudolph F. Crew in announcing that an agreement has been reached on how the two agencies will share key information on children at risk of abuse and neglect.
At the announcement held at P.S. 155 in Manhattan, Commissioner Scoppetta and Chancellor Crew signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) delineating procedures for collaboration and exchange of information regarding at-risk children.
Mayor Giuliani said, “This agreement represents a significant step forward in our efforts to identify and protect children from abuse and neglect. The Administration for Children’s Services and the Board of Education are now working together to monitor at-risk children and improve investigations of child abuse and neglect. This new plan will help to ensure the well-being and protection of this City’s children. I congratulate Chancellor Crew and Commissioner Scoppetta on their collaborative efforts in developing this agreement.”
Chancellor Crew said, “This agreement was the result of the State Legislature’s passage of “Elisa’s Law” which was crafted in the wake of the death of Elisa Izquierdo. Tragically, it is being signed as we learn the horrible facts about the murder of Justina Morales, and events again point to lapses in procedures with both the education and child welfare systems. I am in the process of strengthening the Board’s commitment to ensure the safety of our students, and this agreement will assist us significantly by enabling our two agencies to take a comprehensive look at a child at risk and determine how we can intervene on behalf of the child.”
Commissioner Scoppetta said, “The Public School system is one of ACS’s most valuable resources, and these new protocols will enable our Child Protective staff to work more closely with school-based personnel and obtain necessary information to make comprehensive investigations and monitor children. ACS must maintain a close partnership with the Board of Education if we are to be effective in protecting the children of New York City.”
Key provisions in the agreement include the following:
- The Board of Education (BOE) will designate staff members to serve as School Service Providers who will act as liaisons with the ACS. These liaisons will be charged with facilitating the exchange of information with ACS and ensuring school cooperation with ACS investigations.
- ACS will designate staff members to serve as liaisons with the Board of Education.
- Schools will provide all information necessary for ACS to make risk
assessments on children known to the agency’s Child Protective Services Unit. School attendance records, the names and locations of schools attended by children under investigation, and the identities of school personnel likely to be knowledgeable about the current status of children under investigation can be provided.
- School personnel will provide ACS liaisons access to its computer database to obtain information on a timely basis.
- ACS will provide School Service Providers with child protective services information as appropriate.
- ACS will maintain the confidentiality of the source of child abuse reports and will not disclose legally sealed unfounded reports, unless they pertain to new investigations.
Also released at the press conference was a memo distributed last week to the Child Protective staff at ACS which imposes a new “collateral contact” requirement on caseworkers. Caseworkers are now required to have direct contact with school personnel at the beginning of every abuse or neglect investigation. Caseworkers will obtain information on attendance and performance, the school’s assessment of risk to the child, and a history of direct involvement of the school with a child’s family.
As a result of the Morales case, the BOE has altered its computerized attendance system so that transferring students cannot be removed from a school’s attendance rolls until the receiving school confirms that the student has registered at the new school. In addition, Chancellor Crew has sent a memorandum to the districts underscoring the need to follow attendance procedures.
In January 1997, eight school districts began piloting a computerized attendance system that automatically alerts the school and district when a child has been absent for 10 consecutive days or 20 intermittent days. The districts piloting this system are: 3, 4 (all schools), 9, 11, 13, 14, 22, and 27 (all schools). All schools will use this system for the start of the 1997 school year.
Last December, the Mayor and Commissioner Scoppetta released a comprehensive reform plan for ACS entitled, “Protecting the Children of New York: A Plan of Action for the Administration for Children’s Services”, which contains several initiatives to improve coordination with the Board of Education and better utilize the school system including:
- The development of a new training program for mandated reporters (including teachers) at the Satterwhite Academy to educate teachers and other mandated reporters regarding how to better detect cases of abuse and neglect, as well as identify at-risk families;
- The establishment of case conferencing among relevant parties including school officials and others who have knowledge of the child. The case conferencing model will be used as the primary means of integrating the services and help of various local providers and support systems.
- The creation of the Coordinating Committee for Children that will include ACS along with other City agencies. The first meeting is scheduled for March 4, 1997.
In addition, a key component of the ACS neighborhood-based foster care approach to children’s services is to keep foster care children in contact with their school, or in the same school, during their foster care stay.
Contact Us | FAQs | Privacy Statement | Site Map