ADMINISTRATION FOR CHILDREN’S SERVICES, HEALTH DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCE NEW CITYWIDE CAMPAIGN TO PROMOTE SAFE SLEEP PRACTICES FOR FAMILIES WITH INFANTS

Central Bronx, High Bridge/Morrisania, Hunts Point/ Mott Haven, and Northeast Bronx have the highest rates of sleep-related infant deaths

ACS and Health Department teams trained over 12,300 frontline child welfare staff, city workers, parents and other caregivers in safe sleep practices

ACS frontline staff offers in-home assessments with smartphones and training video

Health Department home visiting staff provides safe sleep education and cribs for families who do not have a safe place for their infant to sleep

  The New York City Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) and the Health Department announced a new citywide campaign today at NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln to promote safe sleep practices for families with infants, building on a community-based training initiative that has seen over 12,300 New Yorkers trained on approved Safe Sleep practices since January 2016.

The new campaign – in English, Spanish, Chinese, French and Haitian Creole – directs parents and caregivers to “Put them to bed as if their life depends on it. Because it does” and highlights the reasons why safe sleep recommendations can save lives. The campaign will be featured in bus shelters, hair and nail salons, bodegas and laundromats in East and Central Harlem, throughout Brooklyn and the Bronx, parts of Queens and Staten Island. 

In New York City, sleep-related injuries remained one of the leading causes of death among infants, with 40 deaths in 2014 and 48 deaths in 2015 at a combined rate of 36.1 per 100,000 live births for 2014-2015. During this time period, prematurely-born infants (less than 32 weeks) compared to other gestational ages, infants residing in the Bronx compared to other boroughs, and infants whose mothers were 20-29 years of age compared to other age groups, had higher rates of sleep-related injury deaths.

In an effort to focus these trainings in communities with the highest rates of sleep-related infant deaths, ACS’ Safe Sleep team has trained over 5,300 fatherhood groups, faith-based organizations, expectant teens, healthcare professionals, formerly-incarcerated mothers, public housing residents, and homeless families. In the field, the agency’s over 2,200 frontline child welfare workers are also able to access ACS’ “A Life To Love” educational video through new Smartphones distributed throughout the division.

“Empowering parents to practice safe sleep is a critical part of our Administration’s efforts to keep children healthy and safe,” said Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Dr. Herminia Palacio.  “I commend the Administration for Children’s Services and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene for coming together to spread the word about these practices – which will save lives and ensure that every child, in every community, has the same chance at a long and healthy life.”

“These initiatives are part of a comprehensive effort to promote safe sleep practices for families with infants,” said ACS Commissioner David Hansell. “We know that, tragically, the High Bridge/Morrisania is one of the area’s most affected by sleep-related deaths. We consider such deaths entirely preventable with public education-- like this bold campaign-- and appropriate and accessible healthcare. We are proud to join the Health Department in this mission, proud to re-launch this campaign at Lincoln Hospital, and proud to continue this vital work in the Bronx.”

“Safe sleep practices are life-saving for all newborns, and this renewed effort enlists the help of trusted community members to educate families about these practices,” said Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett. “Additionally, by focusing on community engagement and training, we are disseminating this important knowledge to families and connecting them to the resources they need through the Neighborhood Health Action Centers’ Family Wellness Suites. We are confident this neighborhood-level approach will be effective in making safe sleep the norm for all moms and their newborns.”

“Every family should get to celebrate their newborn’s first birthday,” said First Deputy Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot. “Sadly, each near approximately 50 of our tiniest New Yorkers die due to a sleep-related cause, which is entirely preventable. This new educational campaign coupled with programming to reach credible messengers in communities most affected is a positive step in remedying a longstanding inequity.”

“NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln recognizes the power of community as an important element in the making of strong and healthy families.  We are proud to continue supporting the work of the Safe Sleep initiative as part of our ongoing commitment to better health outcomes and providing necessary resources for families in the Bronx,” said Milton Nuñez, Chief Executive Officer, NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln.

The Health Department provides safe sleep education and supports breastfeeding families in high priority neighborhoods through home visitors from the Department’s Newborn Home Visiting Program, Nurse-Family Partnership, and Healthy Start Brooklyn programs. Staff can connect families to resources and support, including the Department’s Healthy Homes Program, to address housing quality issues like heat and rodents that can interfere with safe sleep practices. Through initiatives such as these the Health Department has trained over 7,000 home visitors, city employees, community health workers, parents and infant caregivers in safe sleep practices since January 2016. The Department promotes American Academy of Pediatrics safe sleep recommendations that breastfeeding helps reduce the risk of sleep-related infant deaths.

New Health Department initiatives include:

·         The Champions Program: A pilot project to train community influencers to be Safe Sleep ambassadors. The Health Department is engaging community members through the Neighborhood Health Action Centers and community partners to recruit grandparents and other trusted community residents to be trained in safe sleep practices. The training employs a newly-created safe sleep curriculum and educational materials and aims to train 100 grandparents and community residents by June 30, 2017.

·         Launch of New Parent Safe Sleep Educational Video: ACS and the Health Department are jointly creating a resource for NYC Health + Hospitals’ hospitals and community health centers, the video will be shown to new parents before hospital discharge. The video will be available at nyc.gov/safesleep and it will be downloadable on smart phones.

·         Safe Sleep Educational Flyer: The flyer promotes Safe sleep by focusing on the “why”: why safe sleep practices make a difference in preventing sleep-related infant deaths. It will be mailed with every birth certificate.

The Health Department’s ongoing Safe Sleep activities will continue to be offered at the Neighborhood Health Action Centers, community spaces in East Harlem, Manhattan, Brownsville, Brooklyn and East Tremont in the Bronx. The Neighborhood Health Action Center initiative is revitalizing underused Health Department buildings by co-locating health services, community health centers, public hospital clinical services, community-based organizations and service providers.  

According to the 2014 Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System data, the percent of mothers placing their infants to sleep on their back has increased significantly, from 53 percent in 2004 to 66 percent in 2014.  Despite improvements over time, disparities among racial groups persist and were statistically significant in 2014: 62 percent of Latina mothers and 58 percent of Black non-Latina mothers put their baby on their back to sleep compared to 75 percent of White mothers.

Infant sleep-related injury deaths involve the following risk factors:

·         Sleep positioning: Unsafe sleep positioning (placement on the stomach or side) were found in 49 percent of sleep-related infant injury deaths.

·         Bed sharing: Bed sharing with an adult or other child at the time of death was evidenced in 52 percent of injury deaths.

·         Sleep surface: Unsafe sleep surfaces (anything other than a crib, bassinet or playpen) were found in 72 percent of sleep-related infant injury cases.

·         Bedding: Excess/soft bedding or other object in bed was found in 68 percent of sleep-related infant injury deaths.

For more information about NYC ACS, please visit www.nyc.gov/acs, and for more information about NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, please visitwww.nyc.gov/health 

ADMINISTRATION FOR CHILDREN’S SERVICES RFP HAS BEEN A DISASTER

Comptroller’s office will register more than 200 ACS contract extensions to ensure existing childcare programs remain in place for over 40,000 children   

   City Comptroller John C. Liu today called on the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) to reassess its EarlyLearn NYC Request for Proposal (RFP) process.  The EarlyLearn NYC initiative was designed to, according to the agency, “merge childcare and early education into a single, seamless system.”

In May, following an RFP process, ACS announced new contract awards for the EarlyLearn NYC initiative which was scheduled to begin on September 1, 2012. Following an outcry from numerous well-established childcare vendors who responded to the agency’s RFP process, ACS began submitting requests to the Comptroller’s office to extend the existing childcare contracts scheduled to expire this month. These contracts have now been extended for up to one year.

“While the EarlyLearn NYC initiative may be well intentioned, the RFP process has been, by too many accounts, a disaster. It has also caused a tremendous amount of unnecessary anxiety for parents, children, and service providers,” Comptroller Liu said. “It is unfair to put parents through the stress of not knowing how long the doors of their childcare provider will remain open. ACS should use the twelve months provided under the contract extensions to conduct a comprehensive review of the EarlyLearn NYC RFP.”

“City Hall is taking some of the best programs in the country and throwing them out the window. You have to fear for our kids’ futures if we lose centers like these,” said Public Advocate Bill de Blasio. “If this were really about the merits, the City would have never made these decisions. The Comptroller is absolutely right to extend these contracts given the serious concerns with this RFP process.”

“Several centers in my district will be closed as a result of the EarlyLearn RFP and many others have been significantly downsized as slots have been diverted to lesser known centers in and around the community,” said City Council Member Letitia James.  “The citywide effect is even more detrimental. Mayor Bloomberg's proposed city budget slashes more than 47,000 low-income and working-class children from subsidized daycare, Head Start and afterschool programs. About 6,500 children will be left without a slot come this November as a result of Early Learn. I believe something is extremely wrong with this picture and it is our time now to stand up and say enough is enough.”

To date, the Comptroller’s Office has received 35 contract extensions from ACS and expects to receive nearly 200 more before the looming expiration deadline. In order to ensure stability in childcare for more than 40,000 children throughout the City, Comptroller Liu’s Bureau of Contract Administration will work to swiftly register these extensions. 

This blunder echoes a similar incident at ACS in 2010, when the agency rescinded awards worth $470 million for a group of more than 60 foster care nonprofits because of mistakes made when the contracts were evaluated.

Due to the importance of early childhood education and the serious issues raised regarding the EarlyLearn NYC RFP, Comptroller Liu will be exploring the possibility of auditing whether ACS has abided by all applicable procurement guidelines.

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Statement by Council Member Annabel Palma:

In Response to Mark Page's Testimony on EarlyLearn

  

   Last fall, my colleagues and I sent a letter to the Administration highlighting a number of concerns related to the EarlyLearn RFP, which at the time had not yet awarded contracts to child care providers.  Among the concerns laid out in this letter were that the RFP would result in a significant decrease in child care capacity and that the reduction in per child rates would place thousands of child care providers at risk of losing their jobs or benefits. 

 

Despite the concerns we expressed in the letter, as well as in subsequent committee hearings and meetings, the Administration is moving forward with only minor changes to the original RFP and the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) awarded contracts to providers this spring. 

 

The release of these contracts has made clear that our concerns were well-founded and our predictions were accurate. EarlyLearn’s impact on the child care system will be devastating for providers, workers and a number of New York City’s children and families.

 

This morning, Office of Budget Management Director Mark Page came before the City Council’s Committee on Finance to present his annual budget testimony and, during this appearance, I took the opportunity to once again highlight the Council’s concerns over EarlyLearn.  While it is clear at this point that the Administration and the Council are at odds over the implementation and consequences of EarlyLearn, Mark Page, as steward of the City’s finances, has an obligation to look beyond ideology and focus on the fiscal impact of these reforms. 

 

Slashing child care services and the jobs they support will place the City’s fiscal health in jeopardy for many years to come.  I hope the Administration will address the Council’s concerns we push to fix this flawed RFP and ensure that we have a system that works for our children and our City.  

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