Investigation: Child Welfare Agency's Lax Supervision Led To 2 Child Deaths
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP)-- An investigation into New York City's child welfare agency has found that it failed to protect two children who died and a third who nearly died in 2014.
The report was released Tuesday by the city Department of Investigation. It found that the children were placed in danger due to lax supervision by the Administration for Children's Services.
Agency spokeswoman Jill Krauss said Mayor Bill de Blasio has invested more than $100 million to strengthen the child welfare system since the three cases happened.
One of the cases documented in the report involved a child who was abused and starved by his parents for at least two years before he was removed from the home.
Another child died under suspicious circumstances. The third died after being beaten by her mother.
DOI found that ACS and its agencies failed to ensure that staff reported allegations of child abuse and neglect, prevent new child abuse investigations to the same caseworkers providing services to families being investigated, identify high-risk issues, and follow basic casework requirements to ensure child safety and well-being.
Child welfare officials recently made headlines after a Long Island man was accused of sexually abusing at least seven foster children in his care at a home prosecutors described as a "house of horrors."
Authorities said the children were placed in his care by New York City child welfare officials and SCO Family of Services, a non-profit group on Long Island.
"SCO Family of Services is aware that the Suffolk County District Attorney has filed charges against a former SCO foster parent in connection with allegations of abuse and maltreatment," the group said in a statement. "SCO considers the safety and wellbeing of children in our programs to be our absolute highest priority. We are cooperating with authorities as they continue their investigation. "
The district attorney wanted to know if the nonprofit organization ever made house calls or checked up on Mugaburu in any way. Detectives said they expected there were dozens more victims.
Before his arrest in January, Cesar Gonzalez-Mugaburu was the subject of nine previous investigations involving alleged abuse dating back to 1998, according to a spokeswoman for Suffolk County.
Investigators are trying to figure out how he was able to keep getting children placed in his home, despite years of concern about his conduct.
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