The fabric of New York City’s child welfare system has been called into question, highlighting incidents of suspected racial bias in the city’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) operations. The report reveals a disturbing pattern where Black and Latino families are subjected to more punitive measures, with ACS being seven times more likely to investigate a Black family than a white one, and children of color disproportionally placed in foster care. The Bronx Defenders, a public defender group, has brought attention to several cases where ACS acted prematurely, such as removing a child from a household following an incident deemed accidental by the court, as per Gothamist report.
In similar tone, The Markup’s recent investigation unveiled another concerning layer of scrutiny through an artificial intelligence algorithm ACS utilizes to assess harm risks in households; this tool employs factors like neighborhood and a caretaker’s mental health in its evaluation, aspects often linked to socioeconomic status, and which could perpetuate systemic biases, since the majority of ACS’s interventions target families of color and residents from impoverished neighborhoods—factors that could bias the algorithm right from the start. Despite an internal audit acknowledging possible inherent biases, ACS spokesperson Marisa Kaufman claims measures are in place to mitigate these issues; still, the app’s covert existence raises red flags about transparency and fairness in ACS’s operations.
Their algorithm, established in 2018, scrutinizes families with a system that uses a staggering 279 variables, without disclosing its application to affected families or their legal representatives. This lack of transparency means individuals like Karlena Hamblin, a Brownsville mother who’s been under ACS watch since her pregnancy, are left bewildered and anxious over the prospect of family separation, according to The Markup interview. Her past as a foster child and a single encounter with postpartum depression seem to have entrapped her in a cycle of surveillance and fear in the eyes of the city’s child welfare agency, an experience echoed by many others ensnared by the agency’s dragnet…