Eain Brooks, 5, died after police said his mother’s boyfriend allegedly beat him to death. Facebook photo
A Queens lawmaker’s request to increase funding for the state Child Protective Services following the beating deaths of two children has been included in the Assembly’s budget legislation, and the plan, if approved by the state Legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, would restore millions of dollars to the agency that has undergone drastic cuts in recent years.
A push by Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi (D-Forest Hills) and Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo (D-Binghamton) to increase funding for the state’s reimbursement to localities for eligible child protective services was included in the Assembly’s financial agreement, and lawmakers are expected to vote on the final state budget next week. As long as Cuomo gives his stamp of approval, about $3 million would be restored in reimbursement funding by October 2014, reversing what Hevesi has called a troubling multiple year trend that has resulted in about $20 million being carved from the Child Protective Services budget.
Hevesi and Lupardo sent the restoration request in a letter to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) last month, in which they stressed the need for it following the recent deaths of children who were supposed to be under state protection. As the state axed funding over the past several years, a number of tragedies have occurred – and while legislators are not directly linking the cut in funding to the deaths, they said it clearly does not help youngsters who have be taken care of by the state.
“The reduction in state funding for these vital programs has made it more difficult and costly for counties to provide services designed to keep children safe, and to provide them with permanent homes and reduced stays in foster care,” Hevesi and Lupardo wrote in their Feb. 12 letter to Silver.
The two legislators chaired hearings pertaining to the state’s child welfare systems late last year, which followed the fatalities of two children in Erie County who were being overseen by child welfare caseworkers. Another hearing was held later in New York City with the Administration for Children’s Services, after which a 4-year-old child in protective care was found dead in Staten Island.
The public sounded an outcry over the way the state handles child welfare cases following the deaths of 5-year-old Eain Brooks last September and 10-year-old Abdifatah Mohamud in 2012.
Eain died after police said his mother’s boyfriend beat him to death in Buffalo, and Abdifatah was killed in Buffalo when police said his step-father struck him more than 70 times on the head with a baker’s rolling pin.
By Anna Gustafson
