FOR PARENTS, FORUM SHEDS LIGHT ON CITY'S CHILD SERVICE AGENCY
By KIAWANA RICH
STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE
May 25, 2007

For parents dealing with the city's child welfare system, navigating the waters of dealing with an agency that has come under fire in the past can be difficult. But organizers of a town hall meeting hoped to shed some light on the system, how it operates and to help parents find their way through it.

The first-of-its-kind meeting last night was organized by Concerned Citizens for Family Preservation and held in the Central Family Life Center, Stapleton.

Folasade Campbell, Concerned Citizens executive director, said the event was about allowing parents to have a forum where they could directly address government officials about their complaints and concerns.

"Parents are often afraid to speak up or criticize and be abrasive," said Ms. Campbell. "Here, this is going to be an environment where they will be able to say what they want and address the powers that be."

The program's panel included state Sen. Diane Savino (D-North Shore/Brooklyn); Inspector Richard Bruno, commanding officer of the North Shore's 120th Precinct; Edward Josey, president of the Staten Island Branch of the NAACP; Ralph Porzio, former Family Court judge; Roy Pingle, representative, Human Rights Commission, and Boniface Eze and Jess Dannhauser, assistant commissioners of the Agency for Children's Services.

Panelists discussed their agencies and their roles or experience, and some with firsthand knowledge of problems took the opportunity to criticize the city's sometimes flawed child welfare system.

Ms. Savino, a former child welfare worker, said, "One of the problems with ACS is they are not proactive, but rather reactive, to the latest case in child care. . . . They are not doing enough for family preservation and not providing the needed services so young mothers can reunite with their child."

Those with ACS cases were advised to document everything, be persistent, and reach out to key agencies to get the assistance they needed to negotiate the system.

Elizabeth Figueroa, 28, of Stapleton, told the panel her 10-year-old daughter is now home after an earlier removal because she didn't let the system take charge, instead taking the initiative and making sure she did everything possible to get her child back.

"We have to do for ourselves," she said.

But the meeting took a heartbreaking turn during the question-and-answer session, when mothers and grandmothers came forward with passionate stories and pleas for help, describing how difficult it was for them to cut through the red tape.

ACS officials took names and phone numbers and promised to assist the women with their cases.

© 2007 Staten Island Advance
© 2007 SILive.com All Rights Reserved.