Testimony Before the New York City Council Committee on Children and Youth on Racial Disparities in New York City’s Child Welfare System

We urge the City Council to see the family regulation system for what it is—a massively bloated system, rooted in racism, that unnecessarily ensnares tens of thousands of New York City families each year, blames parents for their socioeconomic conditions, and subjects families to further strain, destabilization, and trauma, including by tearing children from their homes and depositing them with strangers or in carceral-style congregate facilities. To genuinely improve child welfare, the city should enact procedural safeguards, like Intros. 0449 (Stevens) and 0466 (Ung), to protect families’ constitutional rights in the face of ACS’ intrusive state power. It should also invest in programs like universal child care, affordable housing, and cash assistance—material resources and structural supports that provide families with a solid foundation to break intergenerational cycles of poverty and trauma and to truly thrive.