Jahmeik Modlin slowly starved to demise in a squalid Harlem house — one in all seven uncared for and abused children who died below the lax supervision of the town’s Administration for Youngsters’s Companies.
The tragic 4-year-old’s mother and father allegedly stored his meals locked in kitchen cupboards for as much as two years, leaving Jahmeik so malnourished that he died weighing simply 19 kilos — along with his grieving household blaming ACS for abandoning the kids in its care.
“ACS failed the children,” Jahmeik’s aunt, Nyisha Ragsdale, informed The Put up. “They might have completed one thing. They should repair the system, their guidelines, their rules — the entire thing.
“Why are these items occurring? You don’t know what’s occurring till one thing occurs and that’s the unhappy half. It doesn’t have to come back to this,” she stated. “He was nonetheless a child. He didn’t get an opportunity.”
The toddler is simply one of many harmless victims of an company stubbornly dedicated to a progressive ideology that considers eradicating youngsters from a troubled residence — regardless of how abusive — to be merciless and even racist, leaving too many youngsters to fend for themselves, a evaluation by The Put up discovered.
“Caseworkers are taught at their academy to maintain the nucleus of the household collectively,” one pissed off ACS employee stated. “Inexperienced employees don’t wish to upset their supervisors so that they advocate to maintain the household collectively, asking for counseling.
“Nevertheless, there have been quite a few instances when a caseworker wrote within the report that the kid must be put with one other member of the family or foster care and the supervisor and our supervisor overruled them and stated the kid must be stored with the household after counseling,” the staffer stated.
Of greater than 18,000 reviews of neglect filed with the 7,000-employee company final 12 months, 44% ended with no providers being offered — with a minimum of seven youngsters dying below ACS supervision because the begin of final 12 months and dozens of others struggling horrific abuse, information reviewed by The Put up reveals.
The company additionally struggles to maintain staffers on the payroll, with 30% of ACS employees with not more than a 12 months on the job. Sources informed The Put up that the overtaxed caseworkers are even pressured to rubber stamp a number of the Massive Apple’s most heartbreaking little one abuse circumstances to lighten the workload.
And but, it’s the final line of protection for battered youngsters.
Jahmeik’s hunger demise on Oct. 13 led to homicide costs towards his mother and father, Laron Modlin and Nytavia Ragsdale, who had been the topic of at least 4 ACS neglect reviews since 2019 — but had been allowed to retain custody of the boy and his three siblings, information present.
The boy and his siblings had been left to starve as a result of meals was both locked away or stored in a stocked fridge turned to the wall — making it too heavy for the malnourished children to get inside.
“They blame all people besides themselves,” Nyisha Ragsdale stated of the kid providers company.
As a result of the company’s information are largely sealed, it’s unclear precisely what number of youngsters have died below ACS supervision since final 12 months, however The Put up is highlighting seven high-profile circumstances.
In the latest ACS fail, 8-year-old Nazir Millien and his mom lay lifeless of their Bronx house for a minimum of two weeks whereas his child sister, Promise Cotton, 4, was left trapped subsequent to their decomposing our bodies, surviving solely on no matter chocolate she might discover.
Within the days earlier than Promise was lastly rescued, NYPD cops and ACS caseworkers each knocked on the household’s door — however merely walked away, leaving the traumatized lady to fend for herself, sources stated.
Her mom, 38-year-old Lisa Cotton, had a historical past of unhinged conduct and an open ACS case for alleged little one neglect, however was by some means allowed to maintain custody of Promise and Nazir.
“Whoever signed off and gave this little one again to his mom must be arrested,” an ACS supply informed The Put up. “One harmless little one’s demise is just too many. When somebody dies in police custody there are protests outdoors the precinct and an investigation by the legal professional normal.
“You by no means see a protest outdoors an ACS workplace,” the supply stated. “No one talks about this drawback.”
Final 12 months Sharlene Santiago and her 10-year-old disabled son, Brian, had been discovered lifeless of their house at a public housing mission in Marble Hill after neighbors reported a stench coming from the house.
Santiago, 39, was below investigation by ACS and had briefly misplaced custody of the boy, solely to have him returned to the house the place he’s believed to have starved to demise subsequent to his mother.
“They might have completed extra,” Santiago’s cousin, Jose Zayas, stated of the company. “Her son wanted assist. He wanted particular care, so she wanted additional assist, undoubtedly a hand.
“If that occurred to my cousin I’m certain one thing comparable occurs to others,” he added. “I believe the system may very well be labored on. They’re there to assist however these items occur, so I don’t assume they’re doing job.”
In one other tragic case, Jazeli Mirabal, an 11-month-old Bronx boy, drowned within the household’s bathtub on Aug. 14, with sources reporting that each of his mother and father had been below ACS scrutiny.
Ariel Gonzalez, a 4-month-old Bronx boy, died after being taken to the hospital with acute cocaine intoxication on Aug. 10, with the case dominated a murder.
On July 16, De’Neil Timberlake, 5, overdosed on methadone within the Bronx whereas his father, Darrell Timberlake — who had a earlier bust for performing in a way injurious to a toddler — was below ACS investigation, police sources stated.
“When ACS will get concerned it complicates issues,” De’Neil’s grandfather stated final week. “Had they stored a more in-depth eye on the daddy, perhaps it might have labored out slightly higher. If you happen to see an individual or mother or father shouldn’t be wholesome for them, take away them.”
The boy’s demise got here lower than every week after one-month-old Joseph Heben, Jr., died at his residence on Staten Island from extreme malnutrition, in accordance with police.
Yet one more deadly ACS fail made headlines final 12 months, when Bronx mother Lynija Eason was charged within the Might 2023 demise of her 6-year-old daughter, Jalayah Eason Department, whose torturous younger life allegedly included being overwhelmed whereas she hung by her wrists in a bed room closet.
In accordance with a report by NY1, ACS decided neglect and abuse claims months earlier had been unfounded, and within the weeks earlier than the tragedy made one digital go to and failed residence and faculty visits.
Mayor Eric Adams backed the company, which gives providers to about 30,000 youngsters yearly, following the grisly Bronx discovery in Lisa Cotton’s residence — and has been lax to criticize ACS.
Lately, the company has altered the way it responds to little one welfare reviews, in lots of circumstances providing providers to distressed households as a substitute of launching abuse or neglect investigations — an initiative known as Collaborative Evaluation, Response, Engagement and Assist, or CARES.
Nevertheless, as a result of the company routinely cites its mandate to maintain its information from public scrutiny, it’s unclear how efficient the strategy has been — aside from by the all too usually deadly outcomes.
Final 12 months, the Metropolis Council reported that greater than half of the kids faraway from their properties because of abuse or neglect had been despatched again to their households inside six months.
An ACS audit by metropolis Comptroller Brad Lander final 12 months additionally discovered a collection of shortcomings by the kid providers company — however the evaluation targeted on it’s dealing with of youngsters in foster care.
The audit did expose evident shortcomings in foster child circumstances, reporting that greater than 3% of youngsters in foster care in 2023 suffered “substantial neglect and/or abuse” after being positioned within the properties.
Extra troubling, the audit discovered that 76% of the abuse suffered by foster youngsters occurred after they had been visiting their organic households with ACS authorization.
The town comptroller’s workplace is tasked with auditing all Massive Apple departments a minimum of as soon as each 4 years, whereas the state comptroller has no such mandate — regardless of often together with ACS operations in native authorities evaluations.
The latest audit of ACS got here in 2018, and likewise targeted on youngsters in foster care.
“ACS is the most important trigger of kid deaths within the metropolis and the DOI must be investigating them,” one pissed off regulation enforcement supply snapped.
In an announcement to The Put up, an company spokesperson stated the protection of youngsters in its care is “our high precedence,” and is working with the NYPD to analyze the Lisa Cotton case.
“New York Metropolis has taken many steps to prioritize the hiring of kid safety specialists and, consequently, our common caseloads are lower than eight [per staffer] — properly under the nationwide customary of twelve,” they stated. “Our frontline little one protecting specialists endure intensive coaching, together with on-the-job coaching.”
Nevertheless, below state Social Service Legislation ACS details about the households it offers with are confidential.
Further reporting by Craig McCarthy
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