THE New York TIMES RAN THE FOLLOWING STORY TODAY ON THE DANGERS OF BEING INDICATED FOR CHILD ABUSE.
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The issue has become especially urgent as more people apply to become home health aides, one of the fastest growing industries in the country. In New York, agencies that work with children or vulnerable adults are required to screen job applicants through the registry. Last year, the state processed more than 316,000 of those background checks.
Parents and their advocates are pushing elected officials to consider reducing the amount of time a name lingers on the register to five years, with some exceptions.
Registers were created decades ago to address the kind of recurrent abuse that can fall through the cracks, often revealed when a child is killed. A previous report of abuse is the strongest predictor of a fatal attack on a child, a 2016 federal commission concluded.
Marie K. Cohen, a former social worker who worked with foster children, said she has empathy for people who are denied jobs, but she believes registers protect children. “I’ve been taking the child’s side because it’s not getting enough play. Parents are bigger and more articulate, and the children are defenseless,” said Ms. Cohen, who is based in Washington, D.C., and advocates on behalf of children.
She recalled past cases in which adults had been cleared of abuse charges but went on to hurt a child. “It seems like that would be worth knowing. The red flags were there,” she said.
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Some states, like Michigan and Hawaii, automatically expunge names from databases if cases are dismissed in court. Others distinguish between neglect and abuse, or clear records after five or seven years.
Still, many state databases keep names on the lists even after people are cleared of allegations. A single database that would have contained every name nationwide never came to fruition more than a decade ago because of concerns the lists were flawed. In New York in 2010, the state Office of Children and Family Services settled a class-action lawsuit brought on behalf of people who were listed in the state register and were not given hearings that could have removed their names.
The state does not keep track of the total number of people in the New York database, which is formally known as the Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment, said Monica Mahaffey, the agency’s spokeswoman. But the number could be in the millions. One incident, which is recorded as a case, can involve multiple people, Ms. Mahaffey said.
New York is among a handful of states that require investigators to find only “some credible evidence” of abuse or neglect before including a case on the list. That is not the same level of proof needed for a criminal conviction. In 2018 alone, the state ordered investigations into 166,000 complaints of child abuse or neglect and ended up including 47,541 cases in the database.
The database also does not distinguish minor cases from the most egregious ones. A parent who fails to put a coat on a child in winter is treated the same as a person who sexually abuses or continually beats a child. The employer viewing the database cannot see the difference.
“If it’s this easy to put my name on, then why isn’t it easy to take off?” said Ann, 45, who asked that her last name be withheld.
Only a fraction of people on the New York registry try to get their names removed, advocates said; 1,300 people successfully had their cases removed or sealed in 2017. The process is complicated by paperwork, deadlines and two types of hearings.
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Even some people whose jobs are centered on protecting children said the New York law goes too far. Anthony Wells, the president of the union that represents child abuse and neglect investigators in New York City, called the current system unfair, especially because many people are investigated or even charged based on false or exaggerated claims.
“You want to have an open system where people can call in a report, but you want a system that exonerates people when they are not guilty,” said Mr. Wells, the head of Social Service Employees Union Local 371, which represents employees in the New York City Administration for Children’s Services.
Richard Heyl de Ortiz, executive director of the Adoptive and Foster Family Coalition New York, said the intention of the list is well-meaning, but foster parents and people who have adopted children are also more likely to be included on it. New York law mandates that teachers, doctors, counselors and people in other professions who come into contact with children report possible neglect and abuse to the state. Adoptive and foster children can act out, prompting calls. “It’s almost guilty until proven innocent,” Mr. Ortiz said.
Advocates for parents called the database another layer of discrimination in the child welfare system, which disproportionately affects low-income and black families. Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee, a Rockland County Democrat who leads the Committee on Children and Families, said she is reviewing proposed legislation.
Hope Lyzette Newton, 54, said after she was placed on the list in 2004 amid a custody battle, it affected her career decisions for years. Charges against Ms. Newton were dismissed in court, but her name remained on the list for an allegation of corporal punishment, which she still denies.
Ms. Newton had always wanted to work as a high school counselor, but she said she began working at colleges to avoid being run through the database.
Even then, she was suspended from her job at a community college until she proved the charges had been dismissed. In 2016, she moved to seal her record. “It’s like a scarlet letter,” said Ms. Newton, who lives in the Bronx and now works with parents whose children are in foster care. “You aren’t aware of how low the bar is for some of the allegations.”
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State officials said there is nothing in the law to prevent employers from hiring an applicant who appears in the database. But advocates and parents said that is the practice.
In Ann’s case, a school counselor called authorities when her daughter said she had hit her with a small stick. Ann admitted she spanked her daughter when her behavior changed and she began getting in trouble at school.
After the criminal charges were dismissed, Ann got the state database report amended and sealed, a six-month process that took an attorney, a paralegal and a hearing. She said she and her daughter get along better now. “It’s looking brighter,” Ann said, adding later, “I just got hired.”
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