New Report Rebuts Three False Claims About the Child Welfare System

A New York Advisory Committee recommends misguided policies that could undermine the safety of at-risk children

NEW YORK, NY — Most Americans agree that the main goal of the child welfare system should be to prevent tragedy by identifying children in abusive and negligent homes and keeping them safe either by providing supportive services to their families or removing children from dangerous environments. Balancing the safety and well-being of children with the rights of parents is no easy feat. Alarmingly, a small group of increasingly vocal activists are trying to upset this balance by pushing a radical policy agenda that would all but eliminate the government’s role in child protection. A new Manhattan Institute report by Nick Ohnell fellow Rafael Mangual and American Enterprise Institute senior fellow Naomi Schaefer Riley provides an overview of the child welfare system’s central role and highlights the dangers invited by those seeking to “reimagine” child welfare policy.

Illustrative of the broader push to weaken, if not wholly abolish, the child welfare system is a recent report issued by the New York Advisory Committee (NYSAC) to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, “Examining New York Child Welfare System and Its Impact on Black Children and Families.” The NYSAC report offers policy recommendations that underestimate the dangers of substance abuse, overestimate the potential benefits of cash payments to families, and misinterpret top-line racial disparities in child welfare. By not taking seriously reports of suspected child abuse and neglect, NYSAC’s recommendations will only place more children in harm’s way.

These wrongheaded and dangerous recommendations forced Mangual to resign his position on the Committee earlier this spring, which he publicly announced in The Free Press. Though intended as a guide, the NYSAC report should be received by policymakers as a wakeup call. If left unchallenged, shortsighted activists will make the child welfare system less effective by making it more difficult for child abuse and neglect to be reported and investigated.

Click here to view the full issue brief.