Nancy Fortunato, Senior Parent Leader, and Jeanette Vega, Training Director at Rise, submitted written testimony to the NY State Assembly Committee on Children and Families and the Task Force on Women’s Issues as part of a public hearing in Albany, NY, November 21, 2019.
“At the city and state level, affected communities and parents should guide decisions about how to use available funds to best meet the needs of our communities and families.”
Mariya Kolesnichenko, Rise contributor and child welfare system-affected parent, submitted written testimony to a recent NY State Assembly public hearing on family involvement in the child welfare and family court systems.
This year, Rise has focused our work on examining the harmful impact of child welfare’s culture of surveillance on families, particularly low-income families of color. We are pleased that City Council has taken on this issue, and write in support of the bills introduced by members of the progressive caucus to hold the Administration for Children’s Services accountable for their disproportionate presence in our families’ communities, and to provide parents with crucial legal protections during investigations.
NYC’s City Limits magazine published two opinion pieces this week interpreting data about the city’s child welfare agency, the Administration for Children’s Services. Rise’s Jeanette Vega replied:
To the Editor:
Re: “What the Data Says About Child Welfare in New York City” by David Hansell published March 24 and “City is Spinning Child-Welfare Stats” by Richard Wexler published March 28.
ACS seems hell bent on claiming it’s doing better for families. This outrages parents … Read More
Hello Councilmembers,
Thank you for your attention to the issue of family separation in New York City family court. Although many people across our city and country have been moved by seeing how it affects children and families to be separated at the border, the separations that happen every day because of child welfare are seen differently. These families are seen as deserving separation, even though in many cases, families do not need to be separated—or … Read More
