Bloomberg Defends ACS Head After Workers Get Charged With Homicide

Former ACS supervisor Chereece Bell, and former ACS case worker Damon Adams

This week, prosecutors charged three more people, including two Administration for Children's Services case workers, with contributing to the death of Marchella Pierce, the malnourished four-year-old who died last fall, weighing a scant 18 pounds and showing signs of other traumas. It's believed to be the first time in the city’s history that child welfare workers had been charged with homicide in a child’s death. But despite the bad press, Mayor Bloomberg defended the head of the ACS yesterday: "I don't know if the charges are true but I have 100 percent confidence in John Mattingly."

Under questioning from outraged City Council members, Mattingly insisted that budget cuts at ACS had nothing to do with the little girl's death: "We had a worker and a supervisor who had caseloads that are some of the best in the country but did not do their job. Now that's my fault. That's my responsibility but it isn't because we cut their budget."

He was referring to former ACS caseworker Damon Adams, who was indicted for failing to make nearly all of the mandated biweekly visits to Pierce's Bedford-Stuyvesant home, and falsifying ACS records to show he did; and Chereece Bell, his former ACS supervisor, who is accused of failing to properly oversee and monitor Adams' work with Marchella and her family.

Prosecutors said that they have photos of the malnourished girl, autopsy results showing she was drugged, and twine used to tie her to the bed. But the most damning evidence comes from Adams' sloppy computer hacking: authorities said his attempt at record tampering shows that Adams "had an understanding of the nature of his failure to act and the potential consequences for it."

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By Ben Yakas in News on March 25, 2011 4:27 PM

Comments [rss]

bkgirl

This whole scenario makes me nuts from start to finish. That this poor child had such a horrible, horrible life and death. That nobody helped her. But AYFKM? Really, you're charging these dumbass ACS caseworkers with homicide? Why doesn't the Brooklyn DA's office charge themselves in the bargain. God knows they've done plenty of callous, craven and assy things that have brought harm to innocent people. This is just so over the top. Every time I think I've reached some sort of peak of criminal justice system stupidity in BK, I hear something like this. Really, WTF!

nccpr

Mayor Bloomberg’s perception of John Mattingly is out of date. Mattingly used to be a renowned leader, now he’s one of the most regressive forces in American child welfare. That doesn’t mean ACS leadership was at fault in this particular case, but there has been an overall retreat from reform which has overloaded the system and compromised child safety.

Hynes’ behavior is worse. There is no excuse for falsification, but ratcheting up the charges all the way to criminally negligent homicide will backfire, and more children will be hurt. Details on our child welfare blog: http://bit.ly/eU2tER

Richard Wexler
Executive Director
National Coalition for Child Protection Reform
www.nccpr.org