Six months ago, if you had told me a pandemic would hit the United States and cause New York City to shut down, I would not have believed you.  But if you told me the federal administration would refuse funding to help, I might have believed that.

Six weeks ago, if you had told me everyone would turn away from the pandemic and take to the streets nightly for two weeks to protest police brutality, I might not have believed you.  And if you told me the mayor would suggest allocating funding away from the NYPD as a result, I would have had serious doubts. 

Then again, if six years ago you had said the number of children in the City’s foster care system would have dropped from 20,000 to around 7500 in the spring of 2020, well, it goes to show you that things we "know for certain" aren't certain at all. 

Right now, there are news stories nationally and locally warning us that an "epidemic" of child abuse and neglect is occurring behind closed doors, and that when stay-at-home orders are lifted we will see a mammoth surge of placements into foster care.  It's likely there is some child abuse and neglect taking place, and maybe some of those children will need to be removed from family to keep them safe. But for the vast majority of those families there is a better answer –and imagine this, it’s far less costly. Foster care costs approximately $125 per child, per day, while prevention services costs about $24 per child, per day. 

For the past decade, New York City has increased its investment in programs that provide services to families to prevent child maltreatment while also preventing children's placement into foster care. Prevention services today include evidence-based interventions, lower caseloads, and workforce supports, and new programs are set to start with the new City fiscal year on July 1st. This investment pays off, with the City able to decrease the numbers of children receiving foster care while maintaining their safety.  Families haven't been separated, children and their families haven't had to experience the trauma of removal, and the City saved money - winning outcomes all around. 

Now we are entering a post-pandemic stage (or at least at the end of the first, and hopefully only, crisis stage), and we are also entering a period of police reform. Both Covid-19 and over-zealous policing disproportionately affect the same families that are impacted by child welfare – generally families of color, with lower incomes, living in underserved neighborhoods with under-resourced schools and supports. And the fear among advocates and service providers is the economic crash, combined with increased City expenses and lack of financial assistance from the federal government, will lead to budget decisions that further hurt people in these communities. The City has hard choices to make.

As the mayor and City Council consider how to prioritize funding in an environment of severely pinched local revenues and uncertain federal help, and as they discuss what would make sense to improve community safety while re-allocating funds and de-militarizing police services, we point again to prevention services. Throughout Covid19's peak prevention workers were going into communities to ensure people had the resources they needed to keep their families safe and cared-for. As the city re-opens, prevention workers are preparing to support and fortify families amidst a surge of parental unemployment, food and housing insecurities, managing children and youth no longer in daily school settings, and dealing with delayed grief from the loss of family members to the coronavirus. 

Some of the agencies that provide prevention programs also provide other services such as summer programs for youth, which serve as fiscal supports to families while keeping youth off the streets and out of trouble during the summer months. In the age of “Raise the Age” and the shift of justice-involved youth to the supervision of child welfare agencies, this youth population requires and deserves special attention and additional resources.  In the wake of the ongoing protests and civil unrest in New York City, child welfare programs and prevention services are well-positioned to serve this group. We have an opportunity to engage this population, assess their needs, and facilitate pathways to safety for the youth, their families, and the communities where they reside. If the City is worried about community safety while cutting back on police services, increasing child welfare programming and prevention funding would be a wise investment. 

Decisions made now will affect the city we see six weeks, six months, and six years from now. We should look at this unbelievable state of affairs not as a crisis – which leads to reactive, fear-based decisions – but as an opportunity to fund things that will support the changes we want to see in the world: strong families, healthy children, and safe communities.

Jim Purcell is the president and CEO of the Council of Family and Child Caring Agencies, which represents over 100 nonprofits providing child welfare services in New York City and across New York State.  

Photo Courtesy of Catholic Guardian Services.