New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio

Supporters of family resource centers say they help families, but some believe the centers are unsafe as long as they're tied to child welfare agencies.

The New York City record budget of nearly $100 billion includes major boosts to programs that could benefit the most vulnerable children.

New York City should invest in support for families, but Black and brown parents have opposed programs overseen by the child welfare system.

New York City will expand an experimental approach to preventing child abuse and neglect, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday, describing it as key to the city’s COVID-19 recovery and his broader efforts to address racial equity before the end of his term early next year.

New York City’s newly named official in charge of health and human services comes with professional experience that neither of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s recent appointees for the position has had: deep roots in child welfare issues.

In late March, Loretta Wright had a frontline view of how bad the coronavirus pandemic had become in her home borough of the Bronx, with over 8,600 hospitalized at the time. 

New York City Council confronted Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration today on a steady increase in the use of force in two youth detention facilities. “We all agree there’s a problem, the numbers lay that out,” said Manhattan Councilman Keith Powers (D), chair of the Criminal Justice Committee, to a group of administration officials who appeared to testify.

When Roxanne Williams became a foster parent four years ago, she started in the deep end of the parenting pool. New York City child welfare workers brought her a boy with limited English on a Friday afternoon and left after confirming her home was safe, leaving Williams to muddle through their first days together on her own.