{"id":372816,"date":"2026-10-14T10:40:27","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T10:40:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/372816\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T10:40:27","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T10:40:27","slug":"nyc-child-care-abuse-cases-soar-in-troubling-trend-as-mamdani-rolls-out-tot-slot-expansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/372816\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC child care abuse cases soar in troubling trend as Mamdani rolls out tot-slot expansion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Credible child abuse cases at Big Apple-regulated daycares have skyrocketed as Mayor Zohran Mamdani ramps up expansion of tot care slots<\/a> \u2014 but no one knows why, new statistics show.<\/p>\n

There were 564 reported cases of child abuse during the last fiscal year, a bone-chilling 24.4% of which were found to be substantiated, according to statistics provided in the annual Mayor\u2019s Management Report <\/a>released in September.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s nearly double the 13.1% deemed credible during the 2024 fiscal year \u2014 which also had 7% fewer reported cases of neglect and abuse, the Administration for Children\u2019s Services reported.<\/p>\n

\"NewMayor Zohran Mamdani speaking at a press conference on his plans for expansion of free child care in The Bronx on Oct. 5, 2026. James Keivom for NY Post<\/p>\n

Even more concerning is that the ACS is not sure what is causing the surge. <\/p>\n

\u201cACS is working with child protection leadership to understand factors that may be leading to a higher indication rate in investigations of alleged abuse and\/or neglect that occur in child care programs,\u201d the agency said.<\/p>\n

Councilman Frank Morano, who sits on the governmental operations committee, suggested the council hold a hearing \u201cright away and work to get some answers\u201d on the documented increase in child abuse.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe child-care numbers are especially hard to ignore. Reports went up 7%, but the share that were actually substantiated nearly doubled,\u201d said Morano (R-Staten Island).<\/p>\n

\u201cThat tells me this isn\u2019t just a story about more people making reports. ACS itself says it is trying to figure out why the substantiation rate jumped so dramatically. Parents deserve that answer quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

The MMR covers the last six months of former Mayor Eric Adams\u2019s term and the first six months of Mamdani\u2019s tenure, which began this year.<\/p>\n

\"PlaqueAccording to the Administration for Children\u2019s Services, there were 564 reported cases of child abuse in the last fiscal year \u2014 with 24.4% found to be substantiated. NY Post<\/p>\n

The data follows several disturbing accounts of sexual abuse that have been made public \u2014 including the February arrest of a pervy Brooklyn day care teacher who investigators said molested four girls over the course of nearly two years. <\/p>\n

Devonte Brown, 30, is accused of intimately touching the kids \u2013 two 5-year-olds and a 6- and 9-year-old \u2013 he was entrusted to care for at The Learning Factory in Bushwick.<\/a><\/p>\n

The month earlier, the Eva Cr\u00e8che Day Care center in Prospect Lefferts Gardens was shut down by the city after parents reportedly saw videos of the caretakers physically mistreating the kids \u2014 in one instance grabbing and tossing a child. <\/p>\n

ACS responds to allegations of child abuse and neglect reported to the New York State Central Register. Child protective specialists at ACS respond to about 50,000 allegations of child abuse and neglect each year.<\/p>\n

Some 11,000 providers care for 475,000 children in facilities inspected by the city Health Department, including licensed childcare centers, home-based programs, afterschool care and school-based childcare programs.<\/p>\n

The Health Department said it maintains some of the strictest protective health and safety childcare standards in the country \u2014 requiring teachers to meet strong education and experience qualifications and undergo rigorous background checks.<\/p>\n

Every provider who applies to open a childcare center undergoes a rigorous inspection process by the Health Department before being allowed to open.<\/p>\n

Routine inspections continue after childcare centers are up and running, the agency said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vast majority of childcare providers in New York City provide safe and loving environments for children, but if we find a program operating in a way that puts children at risk, we step in and hold them accountable,\u201d a department spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe conduct rigorous background checks on staff, respond to all health and safety complaints and refer cases of alleged child abuse or neglect to the proper authorities so that childcare centers remain safe places for children.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The troubling increase comes as the mayor moves to dramatically expand child care for pre-school tots in 2-K and 3-K programs.<\/p>\n

One of Mamdani\u2019s central campaign planks during the 2025 mayoral race was promising free child care <\/a>for kids under age 5 citywide.<\/p>\n

But as the Post reported last month, the number of city schoolchildren enrolled in the 3-K program slipped to 43,678 in fiscal year 2026, down from 44,729 in the prior fiscal year, according to the MMR.<\/p>\n

Enrollment in the 3-K program fell short of the administration\u2019s own target of 45,454.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, enrollment in the city\u2019s free pre-K program for fiscal 2026 was 55,042 \u2014 lower than last year\u2019s <\/a>56,950 and considerably less than the administration\u2019s target of 59,250.<\/p>\n

Last week, Mamdani and ACS announced that the city will deliver free child care to more than 10,000 children by moving them off the child care voucher waitlist, thanks to a $1.2 billion state commitment from Gov. Kathy Hochul.<\/a> <\/p>\n

The program covers low-income children ages 6 weeks to 13 years, and through age 19 for children with special needs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credible child abuse cases at Big Apple-regulated daycares have skyrocketed as Mayor Zohran Mamdani ramps up expansion of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3775,8301,3208,68,5237,426,57,9,24,55,54,56,47350,58,82],"class_list":["post-372816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-administration-for-childrens-services","tag-child-abuse","tag-childcare","tag-exclusive","tag-health-department","tag-kathy-hochul","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-pre-kindergarten","tag-us-news","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372816","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=372816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}