Zymere Perkins

It was the dead kids who inspired me to leave my comfortable, well-paid job as a researcher and become a child welfare social worker. Kids like Adrian Jones, Zymere Perkins and Yonatan Aguilar, who were killed by their parents after months or years of abuse.

In February, New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio appointed former Obama official David Hansell to lead the Administration for Children’s Services, the agency that oversees both child welfare and juvenile justice in the Big Apple.

On Sept. 26, 2016, Geraldine Perkins brought the dead body of her six-year-old son, Zymere Perkins, to the St. Luke’s Hospital Emergency Room in New York City. On October 12, New York City’s Chief Medical Examiner ruled that Zymere’s death was a homicide caused by child abuse.