ACS

You should discuss this with a Rav that you are sure knows how to handle such situations. (not every Rav knows how to deal with this).

Just so that you know, ACS has the potential of messing up someones reputation and life even if ACS finds that there is nothing wrong. (a case gets opened, and stays open for at least 6 months, afterwards there will always be record of the case).

Also, calling ACS for revenge or for personal reasons can get you in jail.

I know of an organization that follows a Ravs guidance, they have called ACS a lot of times. However they claim, that when you need them, they are ineffective, when you dont, they mess up the families life.

kfb,

This is not not true, unless you are a mandatory reporter such as police officer or maybe a teacher you will not be prosecuted for not reporting. however most other people are not mandatory reporters.

The reason one should consult with COMPETENT Rav, is because calling ACS can ruin a family and their life forever. Therefore; before doing such a drastic move which can have drastic effects you should consult with a Rav that has knowledge of abuse and what the implications of abuse and calling ACS are.

This is how it usually works.

ACS will come and make an interview. they will ask as many questions as possible. they will look around the house. might even talk to the children.

The fact that you say that you heard something, does not mean much to them. A lot of people who know the system and abuse their children know how to handle ACS as well. This is unfortunate.

A lot of people who really do not abuse their children had a lot of headaches with ACS, most orthodox yidden get very exited when ACS knocks on their door, they shut the door start shouting.

ACS gets excited as well, what is this person hiding. They are not versed in the mentality of orthodox yidden.

However, if you really think that this is a legitimate case of abuse, I would suggest that you consult with a Torah Authority, so like that you know that even if it turns out that you did more harm than good, you have backing.

Most people do not know, ACS is not interested in keeping your children, they will work together with anyone who is willing to get help and return the children to the parents home.

I’ve had experience with ACS both reporting and being reported. I would strongly suggest that you contact Ohel. They have a mobile crisis intervention unit which may the appropriate way to deal with your concerns.

ACS doesn’t want to take children and their goal is to keep families together, sometimes with disasterous results.

I say contact Ohel as well.

Bikur cholim of boro park has a family crisis office.

they will come and talk to family and see what is going on..

they might refer you to Ohel as well.

and put you in touch with the right people

are you looking for legal action or for help..

Once there is a file open, the family is scrutinized with a magnifying glass.

If thats what these people are looking for, go for it.

How many cases do you know of personally where ACS put each member in a caring and frum home? As far as my experiences, ACS puts children into homes and people put on “shows” when the ACS worker comes to “check on that foster child”.

ACS workers are regular people who work because they have to! Many times the children are put into homes where they are abused too!

How would you like it if someone says that the way you discipline your children is abusive? How would you feel if someone threatened to take your children away?

You might say you are not abusing your children but guess what? ACS will act on any call, and they do not make a difference between regular discipline and actual abuse because they do not have enough manpower to really investigate… and because they do not have enough workers that really care!

Obviously if you decide to ask a rav or not is your decision, we are required to let a rav decide if we should call only because he could use siyata dishmaya to determine if calling could have WORSE EFFECTS THAN NOT CALLING! as it says “asay lecha rav”!

Yes i am a teacher. I am required to report any signs of abuse regarding the children in my classroom, but i agree with you. As i stated i feel awful that i have not reported it sooner. I was pregnant this whole year and this neighbor has threatened me NUMEROUS times and honestly, i was afraid she was going to push me down a flight of stairs or worse. So i was being selfish. I happen to have a newborn now which is why i am pushing it off until i move. I hope that Hashem forgives me for that but i was putting my family first.

I do not want to say too much because it may give me away, as my husband and i have discussed the situation with many of our friends, but what goes on in that home is out of control, and unbearable for the kids. No one is answering my question so i will ask again, IF acs does come and for whatever reason lets the kids stay, what if the parents react WORSE then usual and do something drastic? I am being 100% serious. As i told the police one of the many times i called them on these neighbors, ” does a child need to be killed for you to actually do something about this”?

I know!!! We are calling as SooN as we mOve which iyH is in the next 2 weeks. what I don’t get it that the Police have been called so many times, by all of the neighbors, yet they do nothing.

Thank you very much, I will.

Hello MorahRach,

I am a child advocate attorney in a different state, where I have both represented children and before that represented a major city’s child welfare department (the city social workers).

When people have inquired of me in that capacity about things similar to your inquiries here, I have advised them that, in my state, there are criminal charges (misdemeanors) that can be brought against mandated reporters who fail to report to the local child abuse hotline.

In my very brief Internet search into New York’s child welfare laws, it appears to me that New York imposes both criminal penalties and can seek to hold mandatory reporters who fail to report liable in civil court for any damages that result due to that failure to report.

G-d forbid anything happens in the next two weeks.

I understand that you have a newborn and are moving, which makes the timing awful.

Nonetheless, I can not encourage you strongly enough to make the report as soon as possible, based upon the fact that you are a mandatory reporter and due to the civil and criminal penalties that New York imposes on mandatory reporters who do not report.

Hello MorahRach,

In my work, I have noticed on many occasions a lack of communication between government entities that have specific protocols to interact with each other — e.g., children & youth services and the police department.

That being said, the unit of the police department that would be most used to interacting with and reporting to children & youth services due to frequent collaboration would be New York City Police Department’s equivalent of a Special Victim’s Unit (it may be called that in fact, as it was in the large city where I formerly practiced). The officer who responds to the equivalent of a 911 call initially probably is not an officer in the Special Victim’s Unit, nor a detective in same.

Nonetheless, the mandatory reporter fulfills the legal duty to report and avoids criminal and civil penalties by reporting to the local child abuse hotline, which is distinct from calling the police via the 911 equivalent in New York City. The mandatory reporter duty and the phone number for the hotline are posted on the New York City Administration for Children’s Services website.

Good luck to you MorahRach!

Hello Brooklineborn,

It is interesting to hear that New York is widening the scope of their child abuse/neglect reporting laws as well. That has certainly been the case here in Pennsylvania as well. Indeed, within the past several years, our CPS statute added the second-hand information requirement like New York. We have had numerous high profile deaths in Philadelphia of children known to Children & Youth Services. As you mention, there is also the Penn State situation in the forefront or background on any given day, and then we have the guilty sentence that just recently came down on the supervising Catholic priest in the Philadelphia Archdiocese who was found by a jury to have failed to take sufficient action to protect children from pedophile priests.

In the ten years that I have been practicing, I do not think that child welfare law has ever been so much in the daily news in the Commonwealth or perhaps the nation as it has been in the past year or so.

ACS is the most vile & filthy organization on the face of this earth.

They don’t even care about children. They only care about pleasing angry women, and destroying innocent men, and breaking up good families, and advancing their careers even on false pretenses.

The definition of child abuse and neglect are clear under the Social Service Law and Family Court Act. Lack of Supervision, leaving your children alone is under part of the Social Service Law and Family Court Act. ACS can only investigate the law. There is a state criteria for safe and leaving children alone or with inadequate caretakers are not safe situations. If leaving the child alone was a misunderstanding then it should be a situation that should be resolved in the investigation period, Watch for a indicated report letter that will have long lasting effects.

the law allows for hitting your child but you cannot use excessive corporal punishment, the law does not dictate how old a babysitter has to be but the person has to be mature, capable and an adequate caretaker,…

An indicated child welfare case is a serious matter. It effects any work with children. If any organization tries to clear someone with an indicated report, they cannot. There are ways to get the cases expunged and clear the records.

Leaving children alone is a serious matter, especially if the police took the child.

As for MorahRach, ACS will only come to talk to you if you leave your name and address or they are talking randomly to neighbors which they are obligated to do. They will not get legal action to talk to a collateral. They have to get a warrant to talk to someone who was reported.

Nixmary Brown would still be alive if they got a warrant and didnt try keeping back at different times.

As for the law, Xstacy was a child with her parents in a hotel and the hotel clerk heard her abuse and they called DSS upstate and DSS did not call the case in or take action. The child died. This has been a law for over 5 years, The Sandusky case will change mandated reporting laws across the country.

Child abuse is serious and needs to be taken seriously,

Mora,

After reading your posts, my personal opinion is, that if the situation is as severe as you write it is, you should not delay reporting them to ACS.

Aurora,

What makes a neighbor a mandatory reporter?

Thanks everyone. We are calling today wish us luck. You are right we should not delay anymore, I just hope they don’t find out it was me, as is i pretend to be on my phone when I pass by them so they don’t talk/yell at me. Thanks for the info and help!

Hello 2scents,

A neighbor is not a mandatory reporter, but a teacher is (MorahRach mentioned that she was a teacher in a previous post). Within the past several years, various states (including Pennsylvania where I live and New York) have expanded the scope of reporting for mandatory reporters to include situations of second-hand knowledge. The duty is also extended beyond the classroom (or whatever the mandatory reporter’s official work environment is).

Hello MorahRach, I am wishing you the best of luck and will be thinking of you! Please take care.

Hello Zahavasad,

I am thinking that you may be correct about that, now that I have reviewed a few more aspects of New York’s mandatory reporting laws. It would seem that the mandatory reporting legal duty is enlarged for social service workers, more so than for the other classes of mandatory reporters (such as teachers).

I apologize for any confusion for this misunderstanding. Thank you for that clarification.

Thank you Brookline for all of your information. These systems can certainly be confusing to navigate when one is not accustomed to the process.