Strengthening Schools by Strengthening Families

With data collected for this report, we have considered two very crude measures that could reflect
the degree to which focused, effective family engagement and outreach are undertaken in
primary and middle schools.
One is absenteeism, measured by the rate of chronic absenteeism, on the one hand, and, similarly, by
the rate of 407 alerts. Since 2006, the city has made a concerted effort to reduce these 407 alerts, and
the numbers citywide have improved. A focused effort to engage productively with families of children
who are chronically absent may have the same result.
Another measure to consider may be the number and quality of reports each school makes to the
State Central Register (SCR), the state child abuse and neglect hotline. (See “Reporting Cases of
Abuse and Neglect,” page 22.) Center researchers have had frequent conversations with frontline city
child protective services staff who believe school-based neglect reports could often have been better
handled by the school. In cases where the suspicion is related to severe tardiness, hunger, or behavioral
issues, they say schools should make a solid initial effort to reach out to parents and guide families
to assistance. In fact, calls from schools to the SCR are less likely than calls from other mandated
reporters to result in an investigation that finds evidence that abuse or neglect has occurred.
The city’s stated policy is to encourage reports of child abuse or neglect whenever there is the slightest
suspicion. “It is true that we want calls if there is a suspicion but what a suspicion is, is subjective,”
says one city official. While decisions around reporting are bound to be imperfect, calling the SCR too
quickly only diverts resources from cases that need them.
Using these measures as guides for improvements in the system could encourage principals to establish
more intensive family outreach services and lead to greater collaboration with community-based
organizations. And while no one wants to discourage reports of suspected abuse and neglect, greater
training and stronger relationships with community organizations may have an impact helping school
staff identify possible child neglect, on the one hand, and recognizing a call for help, on the other.
“I would like to see a complete change in the idea of what a school is supposed to be,” said a teacher
we interviewed in a Manhattan elementary and middle school. “It should be a community-based
place, a place where families are invited in.”
CAsE sTUDY: Crossroads
The four siblings all sat like zombies in their classrooms, numb and distracted, impossible to
engage. Their teachers knew there was a problem—and that it probably stemmed from their
home. This made it a perfect case for Crossroads, which provides a range of social services designed,
in part, to prevent family crises and reduce foster care placement of the children who attend P.S. 27 in
Red Hook, Brooklyn.
Crossroads Director Sandra Campbell contacted the children’s mother, and learned that she was a
survivor of domestic violence and living with her five children in a shelter. “She was really hesitant and
didn’t trust people,” Campbell recalled. “I said ‘You know what, why don’t you just come in and see
how you feel?’ She came.”
With the mother’s hesitant consent, Campbell visited the home, a dark and sparsely furnished
apartment. She pulled back the curtains to let in some light, explaining to the mother that the physical
environment was having a negative impact on the children.
Then she set to work on helping the family as a whole. She helped enroll the children in P.S. 27’s afterschool
program, which allowed them to leave Red Hook and see new things, like the Central Park
Zoo. Their mom received counseling and help finding work at a local nonprofit organization.
Using measures
of absenteeism
and abuse and
neglect reporting
as guides for
improvements
could encourage
principals
to establish
more intensive
family outreach
services.
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