NYC #1

So apparently NYC rates as the "worst" foster care system in the United States.

But what goes beyond that is the defense of the system by a "Legal Aid" attorney who should be working to correct the problems.

Tami Steckler, head of the Legal Aid Society’s Juvenile Rights Practice, blasted the suit as “short-sighted” and warned that it could “stall the progress being made by those of us actually working with these families and children.”

“As the organization that represents almost all the children in New York City foster care, we have been working very closely with the current Commissioner to improve outcomes,” Steckler said in a prepared statement.

“This lawsuit is being brought by attorneys who have never represented clients in New York City’s foster care system, yet purport to know how to fix it, at a time when foster care numbers are at an all-time low and collaboration is at an all-time high.”

Collaboration at an "all-time high"? Sounds like the only collaboration that is doing well would be the collaboration between Steckler and the current Commissioner.

It would be interesting to trace the funding stream for the Legal Aid Society Juvenile Rights Practice - anyone care to hazard whether the money comes from the same locations that fund DSS and the foster care system?

So, let's take a look at their website: Legal Aid Society Juvenile Rights Practice - information from their own site reveals:

The Division was established concurrently with New York State's Family Court in 1962

and

The Juvenile Services Unit, the social work component, was formed as a result of the pioneering work of Juvenile Rights in teaming social workers with lawyers in order to adequately address the educational, social, and psychological issues that arise in Family Court proceedings.

Care to wonder where the "social workers" are found? I would be willing to bet that they are graciously supplied by DSS - in other words, DSS helps to keep control over the attorneys who should be only accountable to their child clients.

There has already been repeated documentation that DSS not only doesn't work to reunite families, but actively works to estrange family members from  each other, terminate parental rights as rapidly as possible, and farm children out for adoption.

It is time to stand up, speak out, and expose CPS for the outdated, abusive system that it is.