Recent Cases Across New York State
Workers in an upstate residential treatment center for troubled children are arrested for sex trafficking vulnerable young girls placed in their care.
A staff member in a Westchester juvenile facility for at-risk youth is convicted of engaging in sexual intercourse with a teenage resident.
Childcare workers in a NYC daycare center are arrested for abusing and mistreating multiple toddlers, none of them older than 24-months.
A NYC teacher is indicted for sexually abusing multiple young children at a childcare center, most around five years old.
A young migrant in a Westchester childcare facility informs direct care staff that he was forcibly raped in his room by a fellow resident at night and is relocated to reside with a relative in another state the next day, without notification to the police or regulatory authorities. After a whistleblower comes forward, the facility is reportedly fined $10,000.
Officials allow a licensed daycare business in a private home to continue to operate, unbeknownst to parents who use their services, after the owner’s teenage son is found to be in possession of child pornography, noting his access to the pictures and videos of prepubescent children was online.
An upstate daycare worker is charged with endangering the welfare of a child, accused of witnessing a toddler being assaulted by another employee and failing to report it or seek medical attention for the victim.
It’s time to hold childcare providers accountable across New York State.
A Broken System with No Oversight
Sadly, these are just some of the recent horror stories that have occurred in daycare facilities, residential treatment centers and foster care agencies throughout New York State. They are far from rare and represent the tip of the iceberg. Daycare centers are big business and popping up everywhere. Politicians are pushing for a massive expansion of the already broken system through taxpayer funding. Yet other than basic licensing requirements, there is literally no ongoing oversight of their daily operations. Those responsible for investigating complaints of abuse in childcare settings are overwhelmed, underpaid and oftentimes disinterested.
Schools Are Not Investigating Abuse
Schools too operate with impunity, ignoring their moral and legal obligations to investigate and report allegations of serious physical or sexual abuse against students. Employees suspected of inappropriate relationships with students are moved, assaults from classmates resulting in serious physical injury treated as “schoolyard fights” and preventable sexual abuse committed on campus explained away as “horseplay.” Teachers who report incidents to the police are often retaliated against by administrators more concerned with advancing their careers than the safety of their students.
Residential Care:
Lack of Supervision and Accountability
Residential care is even worse, with supervision spotty at best. Contract agencies receiving upwards of $200,000 a year of taxpayer funding per child pay direct care staff peanuts - barely above minimum wage, while those at the top receive grossly inflated salaries, all along smiling and telling the public what good they are doing. The end result is rapid turnover of direct care workers and indifference from many of those who stay. Let’s face it, a child cannot be sexually assaulted in his cottage at night by a resident assigned to a different room if direct care staff are actually supervising the youth in their care.
What Happens
Behind Closed Doors
As anyone familiar with New York’s Family Court system will tell you, physical and sexual abuse of children in childcare is rampant. Most of what occurs, given the confidential nature of family court proceedings and the public’s lack of access to related records, remains unknown to those outside of the courtroom. In fact, it has gotten so bad that many family court judges, tasked with always considering the best interests of a child, will hesitate in removing children from homes where they are the subject of abuse or neglect, out of fear they will be victimized even worse in foster care. Similarly, when faced with violent juvenile delinquents in need of immediate placement to ensure public safety, some family court judges will repeatedly try previously unsuccessful community-based supervision, rather than place them in residential treatment centers. In those cases, not only are the subject children deprived of their best chance at rehabilitation, but the communities in which they reside suffer immeasurably.
What Needs to Change
The answer is not to shut down residential treatment centers and group homes like what occurred with mental hospitals in the 1970’s, when former patients became homeless and living on the streets of New York City. Such cruelty should never be repeated. What is needed is actual ongoing oversight by New York State regulatory authorities and serious consequences in the event childcare licensees fail to protect the children in their care. Childhood trauma leads to lifelong physical and mental health issues. The example of a $10,000 fine levied against a facility for attempting to coverup a rape of one of its residents should shock the conscience of any parent. Until there is accountability, there can be no reform℠
