PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Kearney Coghlan, Policy Fellow of Family Defense Practice at Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem
2:38:28
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Kearney Coghlan from the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem addressed the NYC City Council, calling for greater transparency and accountability in the foster care system. She highlighted concerns about the lack of accessible data on foster agency contracts and outcomes, as well as issues with child safety and resource allocation in foster placements.
- Emphasized the need for public access to foster agency policies, contracts, and data to facilitate better oversight
- Raised concerns about high rates of disappearance, abuse, and trafficking of children in foster care
- Pointed out issues with foster placements, including misuse of funds and agencies benefiting from children's survivor and disability benefits
Kearney Coghlan
2:38:28
Good afternoon.
2:38:29
Thank you.
2:38:29
My name is Kearney Coughlin, and I am a policy fellow in the family defense practice at Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem.
2:38:35
As family defenders, we are often in the position of seeking accountability from foster agencies, but we can't do that without city council's help.
2:38:43
We know that these agencies receive over $600,000,000 from ACS, yet it's astonishingly hard to get information on these contracts or the data that they We're asking the council to support transparency in data and evaluation to provide accountability to families and to facilitate stronger oversight by the council.
2:39:01
The parents we represent have their children ripped away from them because of speculation that the children are at risk.
2:39:06
The children are then put in foster placements where rates of disappearance, abuse, and trafficking are shockingly high, but their parent can't protect them.
2:39:15
An estimated nineteen percent of children and youth who go missing from foster placements experience sex trafficking.
2:39:20
In spite of this, we do not have access to foster agencies policies on this phenomenon or even data on the number of children who are missing from their placements.
2:39:29
At the reckoning, Graham Windham, New York Foundling, and Good Shepherd, three of New York's biggest foster agencies, owned up to the harm they've done, particularly to black families, and affirm their commitment to prioritizing family integrity.
2:39:41
But we still hear about foster parents using their position as a power trip and keeping kids from their families without any agency repercussions.
2:39:49
Foster placements receive payment for each child they have in addition to having a clothing allowance for the child.
2:39:54
Yet our clients are reporting that their children are showing up for visits wearing nothing more than a denim jacket in these sub freezing temperatures.
2:40:02
To our knowledge, there is no audit to ensure foster placements use these funds for the benefit of the child.
2:40:07
We also know that foster agencies steal survivor and disability benefits from the children in their care.
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This was raised at a hearing last spring, and we still don't have answers on where that money is now.
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It is a massive conflict of interest when foster agencies are tasked with monitoring themselves or when ACS, their contract provider, who never doesn't renew contracts, is meant to monitor them.
2:40:27
There needs to be data that is publicly available and easily accessible so that the people of New York can see what's really going on.
2:40:34
Thank you to the committee members and the chair for your time and attention to this matter.
2:40:37
I'll be submitting written testimony with more detailed recommendations.