Another child has died in NYC as officials prioritize “social justice” over protecting children

“It breaks our hearts every time a child is abused, every time a child is harmed,” Mayor Eric Adams said after learning of the death of four-year-old Jahmeik Modlin, who was malnourished and suffering in an apartment in Harlem was found hypothermia over the weekend.

Jahmeik is the sixth child to die as a result of abuse in the city in the last three months.

And like the other recent fatalities like 11-month-old Jazeli Mirabel, 10-year-old Brian Santiago and 5-year-old De’Neil Timberlake, Jahmeik’s family had a history with the Administration for Children’s Services.

Details of this history have not been released, but a neighbor reported that the relationship between the parents was abusive, with the father wielding a knife while the mother barricaded herself in the apartment.

What lesson did Mayor Adams learn from these tragedies?

“We will do everything we can to give parents the support they deserve.”

Are you kidding? You hear a story about two parents who were charged with involuntary manslaughter for starving a 4-year-old boy, and your first thought is: How can we support the parents?

How about supporting the children?

A local mother of three had a different and perhaps more understandable reaction to the post. “Get rid of both parts – the mother and the father. . . Not feeding a child? That is not right.”

But supporting parents seems to be the only thing our city’s professionals have to offer these days.

Jess Dannhauser, the commissioner of the Administration for Children’s Services, has touted his agency’s plan to divert as many cases as possible from official investigations and toward its collaborative assessment, response, engagement and support system.

To “address racial disparities” and “promote social justice,” CARES calls for “[s] Families to develop their own solutions to their challenges.”

ACS has also added “Family Enrichment Centers” to promote “social connection and parental resiliency.”

And it provides parents with legal notices explaining that they don’t necessarily have to allow ACS into their home to investigate reports of child abuse!

Maybe we should just change the name to Parent Services Administration?

It’s not just ACS that’s failing. The many nonprofit organizations funded by the city also believe that such tragedies wouldn’t happen if only parents had more support.

Dr. Iesha Sekou of Street Corner Resources stated, “We can’t bring this 4-year-old child back, but what we can do is some prevention,” said, “We can start talking to each other in the neighborhood,” get more involved , talk to the people at the hair salon, the beauty salon, the corner store.”

Talk to people at the hair salon? How about calling the authorities?

Jahmeik’s mother had four children under the age of ten. Neighbors said they almost never saw her at school and never once. (Makes you wonder how many days of school these kids missed or if anyone reported it.)

Some neighbors apparently thought her children seemed so deprived that they offered her food and clothing for them, but she refused.

This is not a problem that needs to be solved by more engagement at the corner store. This is an issue that needs real investigation.

Speaking of schools, ACS recently launched a program to discourage teachers from reporting families whose children are no-shows or who show signs of simply needing more “resources.” Maybe the child is wearing a t-shirt in the middle of winter because the parent simply doesn’t know that there are organizations throughout the city that distribute coats to those in need.

Does anyone believe this nonsense? Did the mayor?

It is this myth that all parents who abuse or neglect their children are simply suffering from poverty – rather than severe mental health problems or substance abuse – that has become pervasive.

PIX11 News, for example, included a list of resources at the end of a story about Jahmeik, including the National Hunger Hotline and Temporary Housing Assistance. Is that a joke? His parents were intentionally lets him starve. How about information about who to call if you suspect child abuse?

Apparently the news organization is in good company. A recent article in JAMA Pediatrics points out that pediatricians may not want to call CPS if they suspect a child is being neglected. “Doctors are worried about families. . . They should first know and rely on local resources like food pantries and housing assistance.”

They simply don’t want to face the truth that in most cases the problem is not that they don’t know what services are available, but that they don’t care enough to use them.

Government officials, nonprofit leaders, teachers, and even doctors turn a blind eye to the suffering of the most vulnerable members of our community and protect the interests of the perpetrators rather than the abused. Who stands up for the children?

Naomi Schaefer Riley is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.