New York’s efforts to end child abuse got a big boost last week when 340 “child-protective specialists” completed the Administration for Children’s Services training.
The caseworkers’ ranks will be augmented by 39 “investigative consultants,” former NYPD personnel who will help in abuse probes and who also graduated from the six-week program.
The city now has 1,300 such specialists and 60 investigative consultants.
The new caseworkers, honored at a ceremony at John Jay College of Criminal Justice on Friday, were hired between January and August, part of a recruitment campaign the city hopes will keep the number of abuse cases at 12 per specialist.
From January to August, the city investigated 43,338 abuse or neglect allegations.