Hundreds of families in Brooklyn and Queens could lose access to services aimed at preventing children from going into foster care if funding cuts suggested in the mayor’s budget are approved.
The mayor’s proposed budget recommends cutting about $2.7 million from organizations that provide support to families on the brink of separation. The proposed cuts follow a directive from Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration that all city agencies find ways to streamline their operations and eliminate waste. Dozens of providers are urging Mamdani to restore the funding before a new fiscal year begins next week, as the city prepares to finalize its budget.
”These cuts are concerning, because these are some of the very programs that are helping families stay safely together,” said Kathleen Brady-Stepien, president and CEO of the Council of Family and Child Caring Agencies, which represents the groups that provide prevention services.
Sneha Choudhary, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office, said in a statement that more than 10,000 slots for prevention services would remain available.
“Our priority is making sure every family continues to receive the support they need, and [the Administration for Children’s Services] will work closely with impacted providers and neighboring organizations to ensure a seamless transition and continuity of care for all families currently receiving services," she said.
At a City Council budget hearing last month, ACS officials said they recommended the cuts based on how many families were using the services in certain neighborhoods.
“ It was a very difficult decision for us, but we really had to maintain our fiscal responsibility and ensure that we are maintaining as strong a prevention program as possible,” Deputy Commissioner Luisa Linares told councilmembers.
The goal of prevention services is to provide parents and children with the tools they need to avoid the child welfare system — things like mental health counseling, parenting coaching, clothing, furniture and help enrolling in public benefits.
ACS helps to fund organizations across the city that offer these resources, serving about 30,000 children and 15,000 families each year. The agency touts its prevention programs as a key way to reduce the number of kids in foster care.
Without these services, Felicia Evans said she and her 10-year-old son, Mason, would likely have been separated. They lost everything, including their beloved cat, in a house fire in February, she said. Evans said she didn’t know if her son would be able to stay with her while she navigated the fallout from the fire and she searched for a new home.
“It was very heart-wrenching knowing that Mason probably wouldn’t be with me,” she said. “I didn’t know what the next day would bring.”
Then Evans connected with CAMBA, a nonprofit that provides a wide range of resources to struggling New Yorkers, including foster prevention services. Staff have offered her help with food and clothing, accompanied her to appointments, connected her with immigration services and ensured that Mason is still going to school, she said. The organization has also been helping her to find housing.
“ I don't think I had time to panic, because they stepped in, and they reassured me that everything would be OK,” Evans said.
CAMBA’s prevention services program in Brownsville and Bushwick, where Evans has been receiving support, is one of four slated to lose city funding when the fiscal year ends on June 30. Programs at Good Shepherd Services, Forestdale and Coalition for Hispanic Family Services in several Brooklyn and Queens neighborhoods are also supposed to lose funding in the proposed budget.
The approximately $2.7 million in reductions from the city would cause the organizations to lose millions more in funding from the state, which reimburses prevention services costs based on local investment. The cuts would eliminate 360 slots for families and affect 49 employees, according to a letter dozens of providers sent to Mamdani earlier this month. As the affected organizations prepare for a looming financial cliff, they have started to withdraw offers to candidates for open positions and are moving toward layoffs, the letter said.
‘There’s going to be harm’
At last month’s budget hearing, Councilmember Althea Stevens pressed ACS leadership on their plans to address the effects of the funding cuts, which she described as a disinvestment in families who are often minorities and impoverished.
“Whether we like to say it or not, there’s going to be harm,” said Stevens, who chairs the Committee on Children and Youth. “And for me, it’s like, how are we mitigating this? And how are we moving thoughtfully?”
The councilmember questioned how far families would have to travel if the program in their neighborhood shut down. She expressed concern that some would give up if it were too inconvenient or they had to build a relationship with a new social worker.
“ There is no way that families who are already vulnerable, families who already don't trust the system, are now going to say, ‘All right, well, it's slots over here, so I'm gonna go,’” she said.
ACS officials testified that they would work with providers and families to help those who want to continue receiving services to do so elsewhere. Linares said the agency has a team to review every case.
“I’d like to say that we have carefully thought about what it would mean for each individual family,” she said.
Brady-Stepien said she wishes the city would boost — not reduce — its investment in these programs, so they have the capacity to serve more families. Even before the proposed cuts, she said, organizations struggled to retain staff with competitive salaries. If the reductions go through, she said, she worries what it will mean for the families who have entrusted caseworkers with “some of the most sensitive and challenging parts” of their lives.
“Their caseworker is the one helping to try to get them the support needed to stay safely together,” Brady-Stepien said. “It's really concerning that those relationships may be severed.”
Evans said she is preparing for that possibility. If the program in her neighborhood closes, she plans to travel to another CAMBA site in Flatbush for services. But she said she’s “praying and hoping” that doesn’t happen.
“This is our life,” she said. “We really depend on this.”
