Good on you New York Times ..but otherwise I'm dumbfounded ...what is wrong with you people? ..what is wrong with America? ...seriously how could such a system of treatment continue to exist without those involved putting a stop to it. I mean presumably there are plenty of unionised people involved (who likely wont get sacked for blowing the whistle) and yet seemingly even they don't scream and shout. foster care kid in leg iron through an airpport?? ...is it because they're black or brown that it doesn't strike y'all?
34
In my opinion, the “warrant” used here needs a new name, or a qualifier. Second, whoever in the foster program recommended or permitted the handcuffing and shackling of these already damaged children has got to be deaf, dumb, and blind. These are children without families, the most vulnerable children around, and treating them like criminals is ludicrous.
21
What stood out to me in this article immediately is how very little the American justice system has divorced itself from Slavery influences.
To shackle teenagers of color brings to mind how slaves were transported in this country.
I believe this country or at the very least, it's law enforcement, has a fetish with slavery.
36
This article is another sad example of how little our society values that segment that is troubled and loaded with problems. If the press devoted 10% of the press time expended on recounting the president's inadequacies to reporting the shocking underfunding of social services and training, perhaps consciousness and a collective will to act would develop.
19
There is justified outrage at ACS, but this article was far too kind to the Family Court referees or magistrates granting these warrants. The last one says she wouldn't have given a warrant if she'd known ACS was aware of her location. How is it possible you issue a warrant without, at any point, seeking an answer to that question? What kind of gatekeeper is that?
28
@Alex My guess is that the magistrate did ask that question, but the social worker lied or otherwise talked around that "truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth" formality. If no one asked then that is an astounding, face-slapping, failure of the justice system.
13
Several years ago the State of Illinois tried to determine what happened to children after they "aged out" of foster care. The study was difficult to conduct, but the results they did get were informative regarding the issue brought up in this article. The finding? A large number of kids wandered back to their families of origin who had been determined to be, by the state, unfit.
By the time a kid in foster care is 14 or 15 they "get it" about foster care. One of the things they "get" is that nobody cares about their views, which often are valid and worthy of consideration.
The entire foster care system is riddled with problems, and staffed by really well meaning people. It is often an impossible system to get "right."
But I can say this: putting a kid into handcuffs would make any child distrustful of everybody. These kids are scared, alone, and abused (sometimes even in foster care). Just do no harm. At the very least, do no harm. Putting a kid into handcuffs is doing harm.
38
I am not surprised (though I am sickened) by this news of the workings of New York's child welfare agency. The whole corrupt thing should finally be disbanded, the care of children taken over by a private philanthropic organization of good repute. Putting a perfectly fine child in contact with the police is an experience that will live with him/her forever. The welfare officials responsible for seeking these arrest warrants and the police officials who authorize putting the kids in handcuffs should be brought to task, the city's agency brought before an investigative commission in Albany.
14
And next week this same 'journalist' will be indulging in wailing prose and guilt tripping the rest of us because one of these undisciplined juvenile delinquents was allowed to run wild and got killed on the streets.
4
@winthrop staples
Oh, so every kid in foster care is a juvenile delinquent. Know before you blow Winthrop, you have no idea the life of a foster kid, having to move from foster placement to foster placement. Having to change schools, being separated from siblings.
You find me one kid who raises their hand and says let be raised in the foster care system...it just doesn't happen. Even the kids who are in foster care as a result of abuse would rather be with supportive family rather than being in this system. They are dealing with separation issues, attachment disorders, grief as a result of disruption of their family as they once know it.
They are not the undisciplined juvenile delinquents that you portray them to be. If you don't have a clue what you are talking about then you shouldn't be contributing to the conversation.
23
@LB Oh, but they can easily be even worse than "undisciplined juvenile delinquents." Their behaviors have kept them in foster care and in residential placement. They are living in the system because no one outside the system wants them....they can be violent, defiant, and disruptive because of the abuse they suffered at the hands of their parents. All of these kids have suffered unspeakable abuse which has caused trauma, and they are very very angry. They have a right to be. They cannot live in foster care because they will not trust anyone, and rightly so, and they lash out. As for kids preferring to be with their family ---- as every social worker knows, when a kid goes home for two days on a trial basis the parental environment does great damage to them. The parents give him liquor and drugs, the very things his therapists have tried to get him to give up. It's a horribly destructive cycle. But kids who have suffered trauma cannot be healed overnight. It takes time. Some never heal, and they carry their violent behaviors into adulthood. Look at the populations of homeless people and inmates...their behaviors began long ago.
5
In America, to be a child is like being a worker who must obey, or a prisoner if he does not. Progressive politics redoubles this simply by adding to the mix that infantilizable poor people at least need bosses who care about them. Like a loving God who is primarily a boss or ruler. Conservatives are right about one thing, at least in this country: If you need anything and the government (or, in fact, any private organization) offers you help, it will be coercive.
None of these things are inevitable and necessary in the nature of things; they only seem to be.
6
Work in the Foster Care system for only a brief time and you will learn that there are sme awesome people who become foster parents. You also learn that many are in it for the money, and others are in it because they can't get or keep real jobs.
There are many foster care homes I would run away from too.
37
Why are judges granting these warrants? They are illegal, and they harm the very young people ACS is supposed to protect.
This is some crazy bureaucracy run amuck, where ACS wants to "keep track" of these kids, even if it means putting them in jail.
22
Why not professionalize the Foster Care system with well paid “professional parents” assigned to
nice small group homes located in the zip codes that provide the best public schools? Professional Parenting should be a state college major, with a career path.. intern entry level in a smallgroup home leading to further qualifications as a children’s counselor or psychologist in a school setting. Children standing at a fork in THEIR paths under these circumstances need the best care, not just warehousing. It’s unfortunate that the quality of education across the US is entirely dependent on your zip code. New York is well placed to take this on. The pipeline from their terrible schools to their disgusting prisons and institutions is well noted in these pages.
16
Really...we are arresting these minors ? Something is seriously wrong with the whole system. It infuriates me to know that my tax dollars are supporting this really messed up system.
24
If these children wander off and wind up dead the Agency is to blame. Police are highly trained to track people down so whose better services to utilize rather than overstretched caseload workers acting as junior detectives. It seems like it's in the kids' best interest and the supposed trauma handcuffs might have is hardly life threatening. Pause for thought, next time.
5
But why handcuffs and shackles? Just take them back safely and make sure they are placed in an appropriate home. One thing that baffles me about the police in this country is the amount of aggression and little common sense used. Countless people die in this country due to a confrontation with the police. Their whole demeanor is arrogant and condescending when dealing with people. The police academy curriculum needs a serious revamping.
20
It was sad and appalling reading .
This is US in 2018 .. can't believe
13
Sounds like this fits into Donald's lofty vision for treatment and care of juveniles, save for his.
12
We have no shame.
11
The comment section of the NYT's seems like a silly place to litigate this serious issue. Hopefully these children can find a good law firm, have a class action lawsuit and let a judge & jury sort it all out.
7
This is positively revolting, but sadly, not all that surprising.
This story perfectly demonstrates why, as much as I'd love to help children who are in the foster care system, I will never, ever consider being a foster parent or having anything to do with that 'system'. For I know myself only too well; having to deal with an ineffective, unprofessional, bureaucratic, under-staffed agency, and one which has completely failed its charges, would create endless frustration and pure anger in me. I know that I am not capable of changing the foster care system, nor am I the type of personality that could try to effect change within such a corrupt system.
Therefore, I am working instead to meet children who have officially aged-out of the system. In this way, I can still help young adults who need support, counseling, advocacy, a friend, and perhaps eventually, formal adoption. In this way, I don't have to have any interaction with 'the system'.
10
@Lisa What a wonderful way to give back. Can you suggest the name of an agency that connects potential mentors with young people who have aged out of the system?
4
It is so important to find foster care placements for chidren with families that can give them the support, understanding, and framework that they need. There is a tremendous shortage of people willing to do this job.
10
It's hard to read through an article on this topic, which fails to include any mention of the extremely high risk for commercial and sexual exploitation that these young people face (both male and female). Mentioning a 17 year-old who 'fell into prostitution' dangerously undermines the risks these young people face, day in and day out. Adding arrest to an already vulnerable population further perpetuates the notion that those without family or other resources now must be shuttled into the (in)justice system, and now with help from the very agency identified to protect them? Shame on NY and any other state moving in this draconian direction.
'There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.'- Nelson Mandela
15
Treating children this way should not be tolerated. Kudos to those who are litigating on behalf of the children and for our society.
However, ACS and other actors are the very, very end of the line. Yes, there will always be a need for foster care, but the need could be greatly reduced if we put money into education, childcare, family supports, drug treatment, job training.
Courts and ACS and police - the vast majority - are doing the very best they can in a very broken system.
We refuse to put the money in up front and this is what we get.
10
This is appalling. This defies everything we have known for 20 years about what trauma does, what it costs and how to mitigate it on a community-wide level. The financial incentives agencies have for their own behavior is always a factor but the lack of humanity - the absolute brutality of this approach, is something they must own on a personal level, each and every employee who abets this is responsible, as well as the agency itself. Good God.
14
This is kidnapping. Whoever filed the warrant application and the judge that signs them are committing a illegal act, kidnapping. I was in the system as a child and witnessed first hand the legal abuses by caseworkers, school administrations and judges. Especially now with the privatization of child services there is the profit motive.
11
Maybe I missed it, but why was she in foster care at all, if she has a mother ?
3
@John Geek Sometimes parents aren't fit to keep their children, for various reasons.
5
Staff at an agency mandated to enable wellbeing for minors has necessary information about the whereabouts of one of a system’s “wards.” It’s representative in court chooses not to share this information with the judge as a “shackling,” traumatizing warrant is requested. Personal as well as agency accountability?None! A law enforcement agent, working and living in a toxic WE-THEY culture which enables, and even fosters, the violating by words and deeds, of created, selected,targeted,”the other(s),” daily, walks a shackled teen age girl through an airport.It’s a job. SHE is a case. A number. A task. He was ordered to do so! No room for comment? For questioning? What if SHE was his own daughter? Personal accountability? None!
Would a policymaker, local, state, national, AWOL from his mandated daily responsibilities to his constituents, as
s/he spends, on average, 4 times as much time fundraising for his party, or for their own next election, to every 1hour in policymaking related activities, be brought back from across the street, handcuffed and shackled, to the Congressional-Senate “ infrastructure?” And what should we consider if we change the scenario from AWOL from foster placement, holding issues of qualities and unexpected outcomes, to staff “kidnapping” children from the arms of their “illegal” mom/dad/etc. and “caging” them. Humanely unshackled. “Just doin my job.Feedin my family.” In a democratic nation in which one has the right to speak out! UP! To BE
accountable!
2
According to some commentators, arresting and using handcuffs on AWOL youths in foster care is fine. Many of these same people are probably outraged by the detention of Central and American youths at our nation’s southern border. Why is one group worthy of our empathy but the other deemed worthy of being tested like criminals?
5
I understand protocol, but could someone explain to me how parading a child in handcuffs and leg irons through a public airport when that child has not committed a crime is not child abuse? Or are there different rules for poor people, especially when those poor people are also people of color?
30
The problem with people is not that some people have bad ideas. It is that so many people are willing to execute a bad idea passed on from above. This is the worst part of human nature. Once these ridiculous arrest warrants are issued, it never occurs to anyone that carries them out that maybe this is a horrible idea and they shouldn’t act on the order. “ It’s not my problem, I’m just following orders.” This kind of cowardice will lead to our extinction. And really, maybe we would be doing the planet a favor.
9
@MJT I so agree with you. To handcuff and shackle a child trying to save him or herself from a bad situation is a travesty. My God, this is totally inhumane. The people who carry this out are people who do not think, who follow the leader, who say it is not their rule. Terrible......we seem to get closer and closer to oblivion.
5
Really? New York revives the Fugitive Slave Act but for children who ought to have been emancipated minors? Handcuffs and leg irons? For her own good? I'm paying ACS to do this, to children? We expect this kind of thing from Sessions and Trump, but de Blasio?
8
Let's first acknowledge one very important fact - there may be a "bill of rights" for children in foster "care" - but, to the ACS and other foster "care" agencies throughout the United States these children are chattel. Plain and simple. Chattel, cash cows, meal tickets. Foster care is the biggest misnomer out there - there is no care at all for these innocents who ended up in the system through no fault of their own.
7
It's Capitalist Society so follow the money.
6
While the Times article points out a real problem on how we deal with runways, the Handcuffing part is bogus. Law enforcement protocol though the US is that anyone picked up by the police must be handcuffed for everyone's safety when riding in a patrol car. riding in the back of a patrol car. As an attorney, I represented these types of children for over 20 years. Until handcuffing them became standard practice many
of these children hurt themselves or tried to escape.
6
@Jeff the handcuffing ”protocol” - particularly when practiced in these situations or, for example, Harvey Weinstein’s arrest, serves only as a mechanism for police to establish their dominance and to create a sense of powerlessness in their victims, softening them up for the plea bargaining and other abuses that follow. I’ve been srrested in a dozen countries, including the USA and the Soviet Union, and only the USA has such a ’protocol’. It’s about power, not safety.
7
And even if that is true 1. That doesn't justify the procedure as acceptable and 2. It doesn't explain why she was handcuffed going through the airport.
5
There is a sane (can't use the word "happy" anywhere in this instance) medium somewhere but it is so hard to find with the great swinging pendulum of child welfare services over time.
I worked in a variety of foster care, preventive and post foster care services from 1971 to 2016. There is no one simple answer (As an older colleague told me gently and quietly one especially stressful day over 35 years ago - "you just have to keep trying.").
But on its face it appears very difficult to justify the action taken in this case- as another commenter already stated, the sane and logical first step would have been for the states to work together to check out mom's home. But the process for states to work together in a timely way apparently remains insanely complex and limited by red tape requirements.
I recall cases where right here in NYC, given police precincts refused to search for any runaway (not diagnosed with mr/dd or severe mental illness) over 12 before a certain number of hours - 48 at the time - had elapsed. Just let it play out, you know. And then you have this case. Of course the pendulum swings as we search for answers, and now, the brain science formulas will have humans not reaching maturity of judgment till 30-something
Just one more thing-a huge Thank You to the CASA program volunteers.
8
Yet another way on which ACS does far more harm than whatever they are supposedly protecting children from. I hope the lawsuits continue until they are brought under control - they have an entrenched culture of believing that the nature of their work puts them above the law.
83
@Gregory Smith: The arrogance inherent in this particular bureaucracy puts that of the legendary Motor Vehicles dept. to shame. It surpassses the legacy of the phone company, as so accurately depicted by Lily Tomlin (We're the phone company. We don't care; we don't have to). Handcuffs and leg irons? I hope there's a hefty judgement in the offing here.
38
Those wondering what could possibly animate a bureaucracy to treat non-offending kids as perps should realize the financial factor.
A minor who leaves ACS control is no longer a revenue source for the dept. or for the foster payee. Federal dollars flow to both when Jane Doe is in foster custody.
Once she has managed to get free, the dollars stop. The financial incentive to return the minor to custody so billing can resume is the priority. Minors are moneymakers in this scheme. Kids for cash is a meme for a reason - it's true.
Thus the eagerness to secure their immediate return.
For shame -
179
@Worried Momma Thanks for explaining this, I found myself wondering about it as I read the article, and I'm surprised that the author of the article didn't mention it.
23
@Worried Momma I think accountability is much more of an issue than any possible loss of revenue, particularly since the number of fleeing foster kids is so small compared to the total number of foster kids in the system.
I'm pretty sure that the NYT and its readers would be up in arms criticizing the ACS if it failed to find and retrieve its AWOL foster kids, who run away to other cities and states and, in some instances, end up in prostitution or are otherwise abused, exploited and endangered.
While handcuffs may seem extreme, it is entirely possible that they may be necessary, especially if the detainee is under the influence of drugs or is resisting return. After all, these kids have fled at least once before, and imagine the outcry if they escaped from the the police or other authorities who are trying to return them. If I were the person held responsible for their safe return I would definitely consider using cuffs, for their protection and mine.
4
@Worried Momma Utter nonsense. No one "makes money" in the child protective system. Repeating baseless gossip is destructive. Social services workers are underpaid, overworked, and hated. These lies do not help.
19
Why are so many government employees authorizing this obviously ridiculous practice?
4
Caseworkers are those childrens network into the world. Here in Illinois they suck at what they do. They barely check on the teens. They arent schooled on how to handle life like having a bank account or a license. I mentored a boy that his case worker never told him about link cards or getting food. Link cards are difficult to get. Once they found out I bought him groceries they told him to come back next month. They system is not helpful to teens.
4
Ms. Sandburg is not a saint and what she was responsible for is despicable but she founded this organization and her money fueled it for many years. Now it is the time to hand her an olive branch and support from this group.
It will require Ms. Sandburg to admit to her wrong doing. It may not be a bad idea for her to leave her current position since it became too toxic.
1
I think about all the kids in foster care when the Republicans implement another impediment to legal abortion, when Republicans labor to make contraception more difficult to obtain, and when Republicans cut funding for poor women's reproductive health care. This stuff is all connected, you know.
When women give birth to children they don't want and are not prepared to raise, the ensuing children aren't "magically" provided with an ideal childhood.
12
“In most cases, they are going home to their home communities to spend time with their families and friends,” Ms. Kramer said of missing youth. Bless her naivety, but that is exactly the situation from which the children had to be removed. Family and friends are abusers, unstable mentally and physically. These teens are often "rescuing" their mentally ill caretakers. Or, they are used to having complete unfettered freedom, and can't abide by the normal rules of foster home life, routine, curfew, chores, etc. which are all necessary but boring parts of adult life. Otherwise, they will simply be added to the homeless population, suffer, and have their own children go through the same ordeal. It is necessary to break the cycle of instability.
4
@vandalfan: But is the way to break that cycle arresting and jailing innocent children whose only "crime" is away from foster homes?
13
@vandalfan, It may well be extended family they are visiting, perhaps a beloved grandmother or other relatives who for some reason cannot care for the young person in their home.
When does incompetence become illegal? Who will be held responsible for the damage done to these kids for literally no reason except bad management?
6
I'm sorry, but using police and a warrant to retrieve a child living with her pimp and working as a prostitute appears to be entirely appropriate. Draconian, maybe, but appropriate.
4
@Dave C It would be appropriate to arrest the pimp. Arresting the child? When they know where she is every day? That is not social work, nor will it be effective.
19
I didn't think I could hate A.C.S. any more than I already did. Then I read this article.
EVERY SINGLE ADULT who caused these teenagers to be arrested should be charged with child abuse. Every single adult should be charged with misusing the legal system. And for requesting warrants without cause.
The judges should all be suspended until they can demonstrate they know how the law actually works.
21
If the young woman was with her mother, the problem for me is: if child welfare services cooperated across county and state lines, the case could have been transferred. No one handcuffed and a home inspection followed by appropriate local steps to protect the girl could have taken place. That's what a appropriately funded and staffed child welfare program could do.
23
Say a girl runs away because she's been sexually molested by her foster father. Then the New York authorities come and shackle her. How enlightened.
78
@William Lazarus
Say a girl runs away because she is being trafficked or coerced, is involved with drugs and is unsafe and unable or unwilling to return. What is best for her? From the articles that the NYTimes publishes about children and families involved with ACS you'd think it was all a matter of the state oppressing poor people who were just going about their lives. I believe that the state does oppress poor people, but many of the children that are put in care are done so for very legitimate reasons. Maybe the Times could balance out their reporting on this issue with some details about children whose lives have improved because of care, or children who went through difficult and traumatic experiences in the home, not just ones where mom smoked a joint and was poor?
13
@Matt the article isn't about if the kids should have been removed. It is about the unconventional and unconstitutional ways that they are going about recovering runaways.
9
@ LB
Agreed. I think I was reacting to what I perceive as a pattern of bias by the Times based on this and previous articles. My first point was that despite being problematic, the practice described in the article might be for the best.
1
great way to create better citizens..
get to foster, by the time they turn 18; put them into jail..
once born; put into system for-profit corporations for rest of their life; paid-4-by American tax payers.
4
If you're "working for a corporation for the rest of your life", you're paying taxes. Your statement doesn't make sense.
1
This, to me at least, seems to be in a direct violation of an individual’s right to liberty as set forth in the Declaration of Independence.
9
@Dominick Ros ??Violation of Declaration of Independence? Foster kids have no voice. They are broke & don't vote. Sickening.
1
This story should give Democrats pause about the dangers of "big government". Clearly a government that has the police and judicial resources available to be repurposed for social work is misusing resources. On the other hand Democrats should not feel threatened that Republicans would like to stop this practice in their quest to destroy "big government". If the prime examples of this abuse is harm to LGBTQ and prostitutes, then there is nothing to fear from Republicans.
2
@Rusty Carr indeed no. There are law and rules already in place, called the Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children, or ICPC. Unfortunately, because of lack of appropriate budget, many states' Social Services refuse to investigate a potential placement unless there is an allegation of neglect or abuse there, and no child would be placed in a home with suspected neglect or abuse. It's a catch-22. The solution is simply to pay Social Services enough to hire people to properly do their job.
2
I'm pretty sure that the NYT and its readers would be up in arms criticizing the ACS if it failed to find and retrieve its AWOL foster kids, who run away to other cities and states and, in some instances, end up in prostitution or are otherwise abused, exploited and endangered.
While handcuffs may seem extreme, it is entirely possible that they may be necessary. After all, these kids have fled at least once before, and imagine the outcry if they escaped from the the police or other authorities who are trying to return them. If I were the person held responsible for their safe return I would definitely consider using cuffs, for their protection and mine.
7
If nothing was done when the teen departed her foster home and traveled to Ohio, then met with mishap, the ACS would be blamed. Arrest is absurdly heavy-handed. A less draconian system would be appropriate. But a failure to act, and swiftly, could have led to blame and charges. Think of all the cases where a child is abused and there is insufficient investigation or follow-up; great harm is done to the child and the authorities are blamed.
6
I’m really glad NYT is highlighting this issue, but I wish they would be more careful with their language.
Language is important. It defines people.
A child is not a prostitute. A child is a victim of human trafficking. When youth are trafficked, we treat their trauma and punish their traffickers. When they are prostitutes, we don’t try as hard to help them.
96
@Jess Excellent observation.
12
@Jess - that's an important distinction, well said
8
As a Democrat who cast four ballots for him, President Obama. My biggest concern regarding his presidential duties was the lack of speaking for the rights and care taking of our children.
And it is not just his work, it is the lack of regard for the safety and concern and positive results by those who make law, and meter out the law who refuse to show respect for children's rights also.
Child abuse is abuse, children do not just get over it, in fact they carry it with them forever. And this is ok with many in society, children are voiceless disposable humans in their minds. We see this fact in DHHS, in the schools, in the courts, in detention facilities, in jails, and the courts. The rancid moral decay of devaluing all people including children, for financial profit, gained by abuse.
2
I hope you four ballots for Obama included the primaries!!
1
C'mon NYT! Jasmine "stopped prostituting herself?" An exploited child is never consenting to being exploited. Please bring your language into alignment with current understanding of commercially sexually exploited children, and stop perpetuating harmful stereotypes. How about, "With agency support, Jasmine was able to cut ties with the man who was exploiting her."
82
@Karen I understand the importance of language but I think you’ve got a blind spot there- at least to this reader, your proposed change of language is deeply patronizing to the teen and denies to her any notion of free agency.
9
@chuffy, I’m with @Karen. Jasmine is not an adult. It was not appropriate to describe her as prostituting herself. This was not an expression of free agency. It was a crime. She was a victim of sex trafficking.
9
@Chuffy
A teenager is still a human child who needs our protection.
9
I am a court-appointed special advocate CASA for a foster child. It is a volunteer position -- and our role is to provide the judge/court with a 360 view of the case. We interview all the stakeholders including the child.
My child was a runaway -- and she too went to her mother's in a different state. Fortunately the case worker made the 10-12 hour round trip to bring her back. I had no idea arrests were even possible.
Using force on children who in most cases are victims of abuse or neglect is beyond criminal. Who are the people making these decisions? Is there absolutely no training when it comes to dealing with children.
Are police only trained in force?
40
@DIane Burley As a CASA, you see SOME of the workings of the foster care system but not all of them.You're not the case manager who is responsible minute to minute for the child's safety. You do not see what goes on between family members when you're not in court or visiting a child. You're not the child's attorney or the parent's attorney who knows what's legal and what isn't. As a former CASA, I never pretended to know the inner workings of the social workers at children's nonprofit agencies, the mandates of state employees of the children's division, or the restrictions the law places on family court judges. As a CASA you mean well but you are not a professional with a career that allows for ZERO mistakes.
5
It would appear that the use or threat of the use of force to detain a person who has not believed to have commited a crime and who is not presumed to be a danger to him/her self or others, is the very definition of a crime.
The fact that an officer of the court -- even a judge -- issues a paper authorizing it is irrelevant. A court order that the court is not authorized to issue is a nullity and one who acts on it deserves prosecution. Mr. Justice Marshall's discussion on the logic in Marbury v. Madison would appear to be controlling.
In New York state in particular,we need a method of holding officers of the court (lawyers, prosecutors, and judges) responsible for their UNlawful activities.
12
What the heck is happening to our country? This is appalling.
33
We are awash in social problems we don’t have the resources to treat.
5
We have trillions to throw at our bloated military industrial complex—but no resources to help the most vulnerable in our society.
7
@Greg We have the resources, but spend it on secret service golf cart rentals, Nuremberg-type rallies to maintain Trump's ego, and billions to the Eric Princes of the world. There are plenty of tax dollars. There's just no courage in Congress.
7
For the specific case of Nevayah it would appear that an A.C.S. official supplied false information to the Family Court referee. If this false information was supplied under oath, a charge of perjury would be appropriate. Perhaps this would be an effective method of controlling abuses by A.C.S. officials.
40
So, if leaving foster care is not a crime, then the arrest for leaving foster care *is* a crime.
66
I'm not sure what is more sad - this gross injustice perpetrated against our most defenseless citizens, or that we let the system do this without holding it accountable. And there is extra shame to be heaped upon those judges who allow these lazy, soulless bureaucrats to afflict such pain and suffering.
33
The foster care system is broken across this country. We have children born to parents who do not want them, abuse them, and cannot care from them. The scars last a lifetime. As a nation, we should be ashamed of how we treat these precious children but most people don't about these kids or even their fellow humans. We have become a nation of callousness. I hope I never become an instrument of this shame.
8
Well then we need a non criminal warrant system, join it with the Amber alert type stuff. Urgent stuff and not urgent stuff together.
3
Ali Watkins--This is good reporting and relevant to the growing problem of the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC). However, when referring to Jasmine, its inappropriate to describe her behavior as "prostituting herself." Youth in these situations are exploited, typically by adults who are able to take advantage of them due to the lack of stability in their family lives. The way in which you described is suggests this young person, who presumably has endured years of trauma and abuse, is somehow choosing to become a prostitute. It's more complicated than that. See what I mean?
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@John, your point is solid, but she apparently chose to stop since she's voluntarily back in foster care.
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Maybe we need to stop spending resources searching for those in their late teens who leave. They can be offered a solution like group housing or foster home, but if they choose to not accept it, by age 16 or 17, there is little point in forcing these young adults into living arrangements they refuse.
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@Hazelmom no, that is not the answer.
At 16 none of these kids is ready for all the life decisions ahead of them. in fact in nj they are looking to expand it to 23. Casa.org is an amazing organization that pairs a foster child with a volunteer who works as an advocate.
I became a CASA when I empty nested. The first month was tough -- as I not only dealt with a runaway -- but the case had bounced from one case worker to another (who then retired) and had shifted to a child with a "behaviorial problem" to one who was actually acting out because she had been sexually abused by a family member.
There are so many people involved in the foster care system -- nurses, clinicians, case workers, lawyers -- but none of their IT systems talk to one another.
The CASA becomes the hub.
Kids need more intervention by caring adults -- not less. I encourage people who want to help (and you can definitely make a difference) to explore becoming one at casa.org
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It would be useful to read a follow up article on the Constitutional basis for obtaining a warrant to arrest a child where no probable cause of illegal activity is present.
Since an warrant cannot issue without probable cause, the standards for a warrant for a child's arrest must be different and it would be interesting to know that.
Additionally, while ACS's job of keeping children out of harm's way cannot be easy, and is likely fraught with many pitfalls, there are real costs to doing it the wrong way. Largely, it is their charges who bear them in the long term.
7
America's treatment of children is disgusting. From birth to adulthood, children in this country are treated worse than some pets. Children are raped and murdered, often by family members, they are abused and jailed, starved and kept in cages, denied education and neglected. Parents have almost unlimited power over their children and courts send children back to live in unsafe homes again and again. Yet, we tell ourselves that we love our children. We grow misty-eyed at cute babies in TV commercials. Meanwhile, The United States has one of the worst records among industrialized nations – losing on average between four and seven children every day to child abuse and neglect. So, the treatment of Nevayah should surprise no one.
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Charles Dicken's world lives on...in New Jack City.
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In the age of Trump, where every day the media spotlights something new and sickening in the public arena, this horrific treatment of the most vulnerable children in our society tops the ignominious list of inhumane acts.
To Betsy Kramer, director of special litigation at Manhattan-based Lawyers for Children, thank you and your peers for standing up for these children.
To Bill DeBlasio, and the specific A.C.S. employees and police officers under YOUR watch who issue these warrants and HANDCUFF CHILDREN - you may rationalize that you can't be accused of wrongdoing because it's "policy," but you could not be more wrong or more cruel. Work together to change this policy, or resign from your posts immediately - because you are hurting the very people you are supposed to serve.
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Disturbing and disgusting. Who is the ACS trying to emulate? Trump's separation and trauma of immigrant children? Is that next? Shameful.
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The Elected politicians of this State must be held legally accountable. They are, afterall, the megalomaniacle who appoint the ACS leaders, support budgets and are the first to blame their own underlings when things go horribly wrong, which seems to be a daily event at ACS. We need leaders who lead from the front, not the back.
8
Wow....this is really troubling. It makes you wonder who are these people who would make such a ruling to arrest a child and enter their name into a questionable data base. Are these the people who are supposed to have these vulnerable children's best interests at heart?
What they are doing tells me that they really don't care about these kids in any way. It could almost seem like they are intent on causing more long term social damage to these children. My personal experience with A.C.S. has been that it is NEVER about the children and this affirms it.
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@Paula There are many, many things wrong with New York State Child Welfare practices under OCFS, and antiquated Family Court law as manipulated by OCFS.
The "data base" is probably the one thing that is NOT an issue. Law Enforcement going in search of a child has only the runaway warrant. And once the child is located, or the child turns eighteen, it really truly does disappear from any system and can not be retrieved.
There are again, many concerns. But children being entered into a "data base" as a runaway is not a concern.
The runaway warrant is constantly misused by parents and foster parents (and ACS and CPS) to get children out of their system without a neglect finding of the parents.
The handcuffs and leg irons? Well, if we are talking about a near psychotic thirteen year old with a history of heroin overdose with a pimp she, or he, cannot extradite themselves from and will punch and kick until they get free of the officer-so be it. Really. Otherwise, no.
But the New York Times here just took a tiny tiny slice out of a very serious problem and actually played drama queen. In my humble opinion.
3
the criminals involved in planning, approving and implementing this policy ought to be sent straight to Rikers. 5 years should cure them, or at least discourage others.
How anyone could possibly believe such a policy is appropriate is impossible to comprehend.
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Unless the individuals in ACS and the judges who issue the arrest warrants are held personally responsible, nothing is likely to change. The lawsuits will be paid for with taxpayers money, and everything will continue as it is. This is only one example of human interaction gone astray, but there needs to be a paradigm shift in human thought if we are to approach these types of situations with reason.
In the near future, we will program the human mind in the computer based on a "survival" algorithm, which will provide irrefutable proof as to how we trick the mind with our ridiculous beliefs about what is supposed to survive - producing minds programmed de facto for destruction. These minds would see the survival of a particular group of people or a belief as more important than the survival of all. When we understand all this, we will begin the long trek back to reason and sanity.
See RevolutionOfReason.com
5
The ACS should be put under the control of an independent Child Welfare agency, an entity which can operate outside of the political pressures and interior inertia of the city agency. It will cost.
It would require a (successful) lawsuit and court order, with massive fines to be levied for non-cooperation. It will take better funding, and much better management and supervision. It will also require absolutely clear instruction of caseworkers.
You can bet that the mechanism of asking for warrants for missing foster children was begun as a corrective measure for the times when children were missing and no one informed the court.
Once begun. it became a CYA process that was required by the administration as proof that the agency had "done everything" to locate a child. Not longer a tool to achieve a goal, it became an objective in itself.
It also suggests that, whether the worker is an employee of the city (ACS) or of a contract agency, that worker is not being told to do the footwork - the face to face work -( just the paperwork) and the logic of use of the Court has been lost.
I tend to think it is also endemic of the checklist mentality of assessment, Check lists are good reminders - so that no one forgets necessary actions. But they can become a substitute for thought: Say, a checklist requires Fam. Ct be notified if a child is AWOL; it takes more thinking , flexibility and planning in order to reassess the entire plan in accord with reality.
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@cheryl The Administration for Children in New York City, and Child Protective Services in the remaining Counties throughout New York State, are under the auspices of the New York State Office for Family and Children (OCFS). The practices is very sadly one wherein OCFS can, in the end, blame children for their own abuse. This allows them to dramatically reduce the numbers of children they remove from abusive homes. If the reason the child ran away is because the parent beat them, and if the parent beat them because the child was "out of control", then the parent is off the hook! And ACS (or CPS) is off the hook. Family Court now removes the child as a PINS (or Probation) proceeding. Not because ACS (or CPS) failed to confront the parent and demand the beatings end, or else removal. Sadly, children don't vote. (Sometimes abusive parents or foster parents lock the children out of the house and then report the children as runaways in Family Court).
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I find it strange that this is an article about runaway foster children in New York City and Family Court warrants issued for them. In New York State, EVERYWHERE in New York State, children under the age of 18, who have committed a "status offense" (often referred to as "PINS" or "Persons in Need of Supervision"), appear in Family Court. A status offense is an act that would not be illegal if committed by an adult; and which is not a criminal act. The law states: "A child under the age of 18 who does not attend school, or behaves in a way that is dangerous or out of control, or often disobeys his or her parents or other guardians, may be found to be a Person in Need of Supervision." AWOL (Runaway) whereabouts unknown for over 24 hours allows the parent or guardian to obtain a "PINS" runaway warrant allowing the police to search for, and return, the child. Although children are appointed attorneys in Court, it is near impossible for a child to defend themselves against an absurdly broad accusation of being "out of control" which has many different meanings to many different parents and guardians. While this law can be helpful in the case of a thirteen year old child being trafficked sexually, who is using heroin; it is often misused because mom's boyfriend is attracted to her teenage daughter-and the daughter ends up getting sent away from home to a residential facility by Family Court. PINS reform needed? Yes! This article? Why?
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Until articles such as this one are published the policies continue without constant review and revision by agencies for their negative consequences. It is also a lesson in the vulnerabilities of children and youth to adults even in law. We have seen and read hundreds of examples where children are subjected to practices which harm them and yet we continue to employ such practices as a matter of convenience. Yes, there are children for whom good practices don't work. It's not our job nor our right to employ bad practices, however, because the good ones don't work.
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