Watching the Numbers
Our annual Watching the Numbers report monitors trends in the child protective system and our latest edition includes six years of data ending with City Fiscal Year 2024.
In FY24, there were 60,571reports of abuse and neglect concerning mostly Black and Latinx families in New York City. Of these, only 22.6 percent were substantiated, representing an all-time low in the 25 years that we have tracked this data. The percent substantiated declined steadily during the pandemic and in the decade prior to that ranged between approximately 35-40 percent of reports.
It was also a year marked by continued calls for reforms in child protective services. While many aspects of the child protective system have shrunk over the years, the front door – meaning investigations of alleged neglect or abuse – remains wide open. Last fall, the State Assembly held a hearing on reporting through the State Central Registry at which both State and City officials acknowledged overreporting and racially biased reporting and identified steps they are taking towards retraining mandated reporters on how to support rather than report families in need of economic or social support. Meanwhile, advocates continue to press for changes in mandated reporter laws, the passage of “Miranda”-style rights for families, and for the screening out of more calls alleging child mistreatment (as other states do) in order to reduce the number of families ensnared in harmful investigations.
This year we include data on CARES (Collaborative Assessment, Response, Engagement, and Support), an alternative investigative approach that ACS adopted in 2013 and that now makes up 22 percent of its caseload. The initiative targets families that are generally deemed “non-high priority,” defined, for example, by reports alleging educational neglect, parental substance abuse, or poor hygiene, and seeks to partner with families in completing a safety assessment and providing services. In calendar year 2023 there were 10,058 CARES cases, 10 percent of which were converted into traditional child protective services (CPS) investigations, 27.9 percent of which were indicated, meaning there was sufficient evidence to support the claim of abuse or neglect, and 7.8 percent that led to a child removal.
Data track child protective outcomes for CARES cases, but ACS does not provide public data on any services provided. Overall, FY 24 saw a decline in families receiving ACS-contracted services, with 13,968 receiving services in FY24 compared with over 19,000 in FY19.
Other findings include:
Kristin Morse
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