Testimony: The New York State Assembly Standing Committee on Children & Families - The Child Welfare System and the Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse or Maltreatment in New York State
On September 27, 2023 joint testimony was submitted by The Bronx Defenders (BxD), Brooklyn Defender Services (BDS), Center for Family Representation (CFR) and the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem (NDS) to The New York State Assembly Standing Committee on Children & Families on the subject of: The Child Welfare System and the Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse or Maltreatment in New York State.
"In New York State, over 148,000 reports of suspected abuse or neglect were called into the SCR in 2022, nearly 80% of which were unfounded. In 2022, the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) investigated over 44,000 reports in New York City, over 70% of which were unfounded. Nationwide, mandated reporters are responsible for 67% of all reports. Each year, thousands of families are subject to intensive investigations and policing after a report is made. Initially, mandatory reporting laws were purportedly intended to identify and report child abuse and maltreatment, but there is no evidence that these laws have been successful. Instead, mandatory reporting has expanded family policing into a massive surveillance system, targeted primarily at poor, Black and Latine communities. This reality is consistent with mandated reporting’s history and origins."
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"We recommend New York State eliminate mandated reporting and instead support solutions that have been shown to keep children safe, primarily, increasing concrete resources and support to poor, Black, and Latine families and communities."
