Legislation by Council Member Rafael Salamanca, Jr. bringing greater accountability to the Administration on Children's Services (ACS) unanimously passed the City Council today.
Part of a package of bills aimed at reforming ACS, Salamanca's legislation, Intro 1609-A, would require the ACS to report annually on the findings and recommendations of its child fatality reviews during the previous calendar year.
Such a report would include the number of fatalities known to ACS for the previous year, the cause of death in such fatalities, the age, gender, race and ethnicity of children with such fatalities, any relevant trends identified and systemic recommendations, and a summary of any case practice findings and agency policy changes made in response to child fatalities in the previous 12 months.
The legislation comes after ACS came under increased scrutiny in reports highlighting a persistent lack of progress in meeting its own targets for how investigations surrounding fatalities are conducted, supervised and managed, including a number of child deaths in the last two years.
"While I believe that the administration has taken steps to rectify problems at ACS, it is my belief that the Council is taking meaningful and needed steps forward today to reform ACS through this package of legislation," said Salamanca.
'While we will never forget the names Michael Guzman, Jaden Jordan and Zymere Perkins - three beautiful kids who tragically lost their lives on a fatality list that’s way too long, my hope is that we can prevent all fatalities of young children in the future. I appreciate the support I received today on Intro 1609-A."
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