PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Jesse McGleughlin, Policy Counsel at The Bronx Defenders Family Defense Practice
2:26:07
·
148 sec
Jesse McGleughlin, Policy Counsel at The Bronx Defenders Family Defense Practice, testified about the importance of supporting families to prevent harm and child fatalities. She emphasized the need to address root causes of family separation, such as racism and poverty, rather than relying solely on preventative services.
- McGleughlin argued that preventative services, while potentially helpful, are often seen as an extension of ACS and do not build trust between parents and service providers.
- She urged the City Council to invest in community-based resources and provide financial support to families through guaranteed basic income.
- The testimony highlighted the importance of addressing systemic issues like racism, poverty, and structural disinvestment in poor, Black, and Latine communities to truly support families and prevent harm.
Jesse McGleughlin
2:26:07
Chair Stevens and committee members, thank you for the opportunity to testify.
2:26:10
My name is Jessie McLaughlin, and I'm policy counsel in The Bronx Defenders Family practice.
2:26:16
The Bronx Defenders fights to prevent family separation by the foster system.
2:26:20
I just wanna note that I came to parent defense work after representing teenagers in the foster system.
2:26:26
It's my deep love of young people that first brought me to parent defense defense because I came to quickly understand that to support young people, we must support their families.
2:26:35
And I'm committed to shrinking the family policing system precisely because I care about the safety and the well-being of young children and families.
2:26:45
The best way to prevent harm, including child fatalities, is to ensure that all families have what they need to survive and thrive.
2:26:52
Income, financial stability, a high quality education and health care, safe housing, a living wage, access to food, and a reason to hope for a better future.
2:27:02
As the committee examines preventative services in this highly charged time of publicized tragedy, I urge you and the city council to stand firm in your commitment to keeping families together, not just by refusing to roll back preventative services, but also by challenging the practices by which poor, black, Latine families are weakened by surveillance, investigation, and separation.
2:27:28
Children are entering the family regulation system is because of racism, poverty, and the structural disinvestment of poor, black, and latinate communities.
2:27:39
Preventative services are often held out as the solution to this problem.
2:27:43
The theory of change in Bronx, in the Bronx family court and in court around this around the city, is that preventative services, whether in the form of functional therapy or in trainings like parenting classes, can solve risk in families.
2:27:58
I do not just sit before you to say that therapy cannot be helpful, but requiring a parent to engage in services by an agency contracting with ACS, in other words, the prosecuting agency does not build trust between parents and service providers.
UNKNOWN
2:28:13
I see that
Jesse McGleughlin
2:28:13
your testimony is is rather lengthy,
Althea V. Stevens
2:28:13
so you should wrap it up in the next sentence.
2:28:16
I I I just wanna make one other
Jesse McGleughlin
2:28:17
point briefly, which is that, preventative services are a de facto extension of ACS, and, the city council should be investing in actual resources, community based resources, and providing financial resources to family in the form of guaranteed basic income.
2:28:34
Thank you.
