January 25, 2008
Tourist Mom Gets Sick, Kids Get Taken in by ACS
Hey, tourists, NYC may want you to spend lots of money when you visit the Big Apple, but just don't get really sick or else the Administration for Children's Services will take your kids in! Because that's what happened to one British family last month!
Yvonne Bray and daughters Gemma and Katie, who live in Devon, England, were visiting New York for four days, staying at the LaGuardia Courtyard Marriott. The mother fell ill with pneumonia, so the hotel manager called 911 and she was taken to Elmhurst Medical Center (which a British paper called "Queens Medical Centre hospital in Harlem"). From The Times (UK) (which also mentioned that the "public hospital in Harlem [is] where most of the other patients were handcuffed to their beds or a police officer") :
Too weak to wave goodbye, their mother was forced to leave Gemma and Katie in the custody of social workers who asked them “do you have any homicidal tendencies?” and “which street gangs do you belong to?”. Gemma, a student at Bideford College, replied: “I am a member of Appledore library.”After Yvonne Bray spent a frantic night not knowing where her children were, they were reunited the next day. Gemma Bray added, "We were lucky to be able to leave after just one night. It was scary at first but everyone turned out to be friendly.”The girls found themselves in a municipal orphanage. Their trendy clothes were taken away and they were issued with one-size-fits-all white T-shirts and elasticated jeans. Gemma said: “They looked like prison outfits.”
The sisters had mugshots taken, were given a medical examination and a wash pack and were dispatched to a glass-walled dormitory for 12 to 15-year-old girls. Katie said: “It was like being in a little cage. It was scary as the staff were constantly looking in at us. I tried to go to sleep, but every time I opened my eyes, someone was looking right at me.”
Upon their return, Yvonne Bray received a letter from ACS informing her that they were investigating her for child neglect. ACS told the Daily News, "Children's Services assisted a mother whose children could not remain safe by themselves," and mentioned the mother could expect another letter saying the case was closed. ACS also disputed reports that the girls had been strip searched, "Children's Services assisted a mother whose children could not remain safe by themselves in a country that was strange to them. Our procedures at the Children's Center are respectful of all youth who are brought there."
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Municipal Orphanage? Is there really such a thing? Sounds like that British reporter was very familiar with the story of Little Orphan Annie.
So, lawsuit much?
I'm not one for litigation, but this woman might want to get her law on. Seems like there must be some kind of case here.
Crazy stuff. Like we all needed more reasons to be embarrassed of our citizenship this morning.
Everyone at ACS involved with this should be fired.
What gang do you belong to? The Appledore Library Gang! At least she now has street cred.
At least they all got out ok!
Needless to say, I doubt these three will be stateside again anytime soon
"Our procedures at the Children's Center are
respectful of all youth who are brought there."
Oh yeah, I'm sure they feel LOADS better now. Blah.
There has to be more to this story. These girls are from England, and last I looked they probably spoke English. What happened to "here's my passport", "here's the phone number for my grandma", "here's the name of the hotel where we've been staying", or better yet "here's the number for the British Embassy." Even more perplexing, why weren't the girls simply allowed to wait in the hospital waiting room for their mother to recover enough to make her wishes known? Who called social services?
I know caseworkers are overworked and see what they expect to see, and don't expect to deal with foreign kids with a sick mom, but this case deserves some serious scrutiny by someone who doesn't have turf to protect.
^^ Good.
well put devout well put.
Good Job, ACS. You failed with Nixmary Brown, but you totally redeemed yourself here.
***Insert sarcastic tone here***
This story makes no sense... unless the girls are retarded, they could've a) stayed at the hospital b)take a cab back to the hotel. Plus we speak the same language, it's not as if they were stranded in some strange land.
Halfzies rule.
While ACS is clearly a mess and needs some serious revamping, this story does not add up.
Let's look at the primary source of the account. The Times (UK) said that they were brought to a public hospital in Harlem where everyone is handcuffed to a bed or a cop. In reality there were at Elmhurst and no one handcuffs a suspect TO a police officer. The fact that these simple facts were not checked by the newspaper immediately brings the account's credibility into doubt.
Could this have happened? Knowing ACS it certainly could have. On the other side of the coin, is this newspaper who provided the account a little biased and bad with facts? Yes.
Take this story with a grain of salt.
I'm with Devout and kane on this. Something fishy. But I have to say that not all the English speak English. And I'm not talking cockney here. Prince Charles is the number one offender of the cotton-balls-in-mouth brand of the native tongue.
First of all, ACS does not show up without someone first contacting the STATE. From what the article says, the hospital social worker (who is not an ACS employee--but is a mandated reporter bound by the law to report) would have had to make the decision of whether or not she/he felt the girls were in danger of harm. Then she/he would call the State Abuse/Neglect Hotline. The STATE decides whether or not the call is serious enough to investigate. If they think it is they assign it to ACS.
Imagine if ACS investigators decided to send the girls to the hotel without supervision? And then suppose something happened to the girls? In the wake of the tragedy of Nixzmary Brown, do you think ACS wants to risk another tragedy?
How safe are teenage girls on the streets of NYC?
Wake up people! The hospital is not going to be liable for girls unsupervised on their premises. Neither is a hotel.