AGENCY TESTIMONY
Introduction and overview of NYC foster care system
0:05:29
ยท
48 sec
Commissioner Jess Dannhauser provides an overview of the current state of New York City's foster care system, highlighting significant reductions in the number of children in care and recent improvements in outcomes.
- Foster care population reduced from 13,000 a decade ago to about 6,500 currently
- Emphasis on tailoring responses to individual family needs
- Recent improvements in safe reunification rates
Jess Dannhauser
0:05:29
Currently, there are about 6,500 children in foster care, down from 13,000 a decade ago and nearly 40,000 in the late 1990s.
0:05:38
Our goal for every child and family we come into contact with is to tailor our response to the individual needs of that family.
0:05:45
Our child protective responses along with our continuum of prevention services have enabled us to greatly reduce our reliance on foster care as an intervention.
0:05:53
At the same time, when there's a child who cannot remain safely at home, we must take steps to seek family court approval for the removal of the child, place the child in foster care, and then provide high quality services and supports so that children can safely return to their families.
0:06:08
Our efforts have resulted in recent improvements in safe reunification.
0:06:12
When that is not achievable, we work to achieve permanency for the child through adoption or kinship guardianship.