Connecting the Dots: Improving Neighborhood-based Child Welfare Services for Asian Pacific American Families (2007)

The Asian Pacific American community continues to grow steadily in New York City, yet its needs remain hidden and unnoticed. Asian Pacific Americans represent a diverse range of ethnic groups, cultures, languages, religions, immi gration patterns, and socioeconomic statuses. This diversity has proven to be challenging to New York City’s child welfare system, the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS). 

ACS is charged with protecting New York City’s children from child abuse and neglect. ACS has and continues to imple ment reforms to better execute this charge. Recently, ACS has increased its focus on the importance of providing neighborhood-based child welfare services. ACS developed Neighborhood Based Services to ensure that families can better access child welfare services, such as preventive and foster care services, within their own community. 

Neighborhood Based Services work to ensure that: 

• Families can access preventive services, which aim to reduce the number of children removed from their families and placed in foster care;  

• Children who must be removed are placed in foster families within their neighborhoods to remain near friends and family; and

• Neighborhood based services are better coordinated to meet the needs of children and families.

The Neighborhood Based Services Unit also oversees the Neighborhood Networks. These networks provide a collaborative forum for community-based ACS staff, preventive and foster care service providers, and other community stakeholders to meet and proactively address local child welfare needs and issues. 

CACF chose to focus on the Neighborhood Networks in this report because Neighborhood Networks 1) can help improve child welfare outcomes for the Asian Pacific American community and 2) play a key role in the realignment plan of ACS. Therefore, this timely report can help the Neighborhood Network system fulfill its goals while addressing the needs of the Asian Pacific American community.