{"id":194692,"date":"2026-04-12T20:42:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T20:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/194692\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T20:42:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T20:42:10","slug":"mamdani-new-child-welfare-commissioner-called-on-to-end-bias-against-black-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/194692\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani, new child welfare commissioner called on to end bias against Black families"},"content":{"rendered":"

After Mayor Mamdani passed over their top choice to lead the city\u2019s child welfare system<\/a>, New York parents whose lives were upended by foster care want answers on how he plans to help keep Black families together.<\/p>\n

For decades, Black parents have accused the Administration for Children\u2019s Services of being biased against them, pointing to the disproportionate rate at which their families interact with the agency. Nearly half of the city\u2019s Black children will be investigated by child protective services before they turn 18<\/a>, according to data in the Columbia Journal of Race and Law.<\/p>\n

In Mamdani, some of those parents hoped they had found an ally in the progressive, relative political newcomer, who promised a \u201cnew day\u201d for the city<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Their optimism was reenforced this year when Angela Burton, an attorney and influential voice in the push to abolish the child welfare system, was shortlisted for ACS commissioner<\/a>. But as her subversive positions drew headlines, Mamdani removed Burton from consideration<\/a>, angering parents who thought sweeping change was needed.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the mayor appointed Rebecca Jones Gaston, a seasoned child welfare official whose r\u00e9sum\u00e9 extends from former President Joe Biden\u2019s administration to working as a rank-and-file caseworker. While she is not from the ranks of the city\u2019s child welfare system and her priorities have not yet been revealed, Jones Gaston has called for a more balanced approach to reforming child protective services.<\/p>\n

During a news conference Friday with Burton in attendance, which was scheduled before Mamdani tapped Jones Gaston but after Burton was off the shortlist, advocates who have been impacted by the child welfare system as parents or children said Mamdani needs to do more to address allegations of anti-Black racism in ACS<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For starters, advocates are pushing for the creation of an Office of Family Well-Being<\/a> outside of ACS, leaving the job of responding to child abuse or neglect allegations to the existing welfare agency, while moving family support services under a different umbrella.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing I want is for them to do only what they are mandated to do,\u201d said Joyce McMillan, executive director of JMACforFamilies, who temporarily lost custody of her now-adult children before starting her nonprofit organization. \u201cWe don\u2019t want services from them. We don\u2019t trust them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is one step toward shifting resources and money out of the system of quote, unquote \u2018child protection,\u2019 out of ACS, and into a dedicated space within government, which will be looking at resources and funding and support through a family well-being lens,\u201d Burton said.<\/p>\n

ACS and the Mayor\u2019s Office did not immediately comment. While Jones Gaston has not started as commissioner yet, prior interviews suggest she could at least be open to the idea of dividing responsibilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have got to stop thinking that the child welfare agency is the holder of all the solutions for all the challenges kids and families experience,\u201d she told the podcast WonkCast<\/a>. \u201cThen you have a child welfare agency responding to the specific issues that need an intervention around abuse, and not just the issues that are very much connected to the experience and impact of poverty.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe in child welfare have kind of said historically, \u2018Send all kids to us,’\u201d she said in a separate interview with the child welfare news source The Imprint<\/a>. \u201cWe should actually get really good at what we\u2019re supposed to be doing, and that is responding to abuse and neglect when there needs to be an intervention.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two other things may help Jones Gaston make inroads with the parent advocacy community. One, Jones Gaston, who is Black, is a former foster youth who was adopted as a young child by a white family and speaks about how her personal experience informs her work.<\/p>\n

The second is that Jones Gaston is seemingly an outsider to the city\u2019s child welfare system.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m grateful that they did not hire someone from within the ranks of ACS,\u201d McMillan, who met with Mamdani\u2019s hiring committee before his ACS commissioner appointment, said at the news conference.<\/p>\n

Tanesha Grant, executive director of Parents Supporting Parents, who also was adopted as a child, said she felt \u201coverlooked\u201d by the mayor when he passed over Burton. Grant supported Mamdani\u2019s campaign by helping him reach out to Black voters, a demographic group that he struggled with during the primary<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI recall the enthusiasm I felt in supporting our current mayor during his campaign. I organized for him to speak at my church, and encouraged many Black individuals to consider voting for him,\u201d said Grant, who wished she\u2019d had more of a voice in Mamdani\u2019s commissioner hiring process.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur experience,\u201d she said, \u201cholds way more weight than people who have worked in this system for decades and have kept it anti-Black.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After Mayor Mamdani passed over their top choice to lead the city\u2019s child welfare system, New York parents…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194693,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,85,267,9,24,264,10,12,63,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-194692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-county","tag-new-york-news","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}