PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Angela Burton, Co-chair of Narrowing the Front Door to New York City's Child Welfare System
3:13:51
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173 sec
Angela Burton, Co-chair of Narrowing the Front Door to New York City's Child Welfare System, provided testimony regarding proposed bill Intro 9-A and family Miranda rights in the context of ACS investigations. She expressed concerns about the bill's limitations and timing of providing information to families under investigation.
- Burton highlighted the confusion in the bill's language regarding when information about legal services would be provided to families.
- She emphasized that the proposed bill is less comprehensive than the family Miranda bills that will be reintroduced later in the session.
- The testimony urged the committee to support the Aung and Rivera bills instead of the current Intro 9-A.
Angela Burton
3:13:51
Good afternoon.
3:13:53
Thank you very much for having me.
3:13:54
I am Angela Burton.
3:13:56
I'm the cochair of the Narrowing the Front Door to New York City's Child Welfare System, and I work alongside many of the advocates who have testified today as well as on the state level.
3:14:07
I wanted to start.
3:14:09
My testimony is related to, proposed bill 9.
3:14:16
The Narrow in the Front Door group is very invested in family Miranda rights.
3:14:21
We know that there are 2 bills that will be reintroduced, the verbal and the written, family Miranda warnings, which are much more expansive and starts at the front door.
3:14:36
The bill that is proposed today is a bit confusing because although it says that it is, designed to provide information about where to get legal services at the beginning of an investigation, it also, in the actual language, indicates that this, information would be provided to people after or following an indicated report, which is after an investigation has already happened.
3:15:04
So it's very problematic in terms of the confusion around when this information would be provided as well as the fact that it only provides information about where to receive services, unlike the family Miranda bills, which will be reintroduced later on this session, which provides a whole panoply of, information about rights, to the people being investigated.
3:15:30
I'd like to just, read an excerpt from the ACS, lawsuit, that is currently pending against the, Administration For Children's Services to I'm sorry.
3:15:48
Should I continue?
Althea V. Stevens
3:15:50
Yes.
3:15:50
Continue.
Angela Burton
3:15:51
Okay.
3:15:52
I'm sorry.
3:15:52
And I'm sorry I didn't put my video on.
Jess Dannhauser
3:15:55
Your time has expired.
Althea V. Stevens
3:16:00
10 seconds.
3:16:01
You can wrap it up.
3:16:01
Go ahead.
3:16:02
You were still continuing.
3:16:03
Go ahead.
Angela Burton
3:16:04
Yes.
3:16:05
So the narrowing the front door group, is, very, thank you, supportive of providing people with their rights.
3:16:14
But the bill that is proposed today, bill 9, does not, address all of the due process concerns that have been well documented, because it number 1, it's far too late in the process.
3:16:28
And number 2, it only provides information about where to obtain services, which is already being provided, in any event.
3:16:36
So we would urge the committee to actually support the, Aung and Rivera bills that will be reintroduced this session.
3:16:44
Thank you.
