There is new scrutiny on New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) after it was accused of diverting funds from disabled children. The agency has also acknowledged it also took benefits from orphan children for more than a decade.
On Friday, the ACS Commissioner testified at budget hearings at City Hall — but in his testimony did not address questions as to where the money is now, and why the agency did not give federal funds directly to disabled children in foster care.
ACS previously acknowledged that from 2011-2019, it took $18.8 million dollars in survivor benefits. However, it says the policy changed under the Adams administration, during July 2022, to conserve those benefits in interest-bearing accounts.
The agency continues to divert federal disability funds, saying it will now give disabled children leaving foster care a $2,000 benefit. ACS Commissioner Jess Dannhauser, who testified Friday, said hundreds of children have received that benefit.
"The Social Security Administration rules cap the amount that you can provide a child at any given time. So during their time in care, they’re receiving support through their foster parent, they’re receiving lots of different services," said Dannhauser. "This is a draft policy — we’ve gotten great feedback. We’re going to work to see if other states have worked around those rules and ways, and we’re going to try to perfect this policy."
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NBC New York spoke to one person who formerly was in foster care under the supervision of ACS, and because of his disability, should have been eligible for those federal benefits. But he said he's never gotten any benefits from the agency.
For four years as a teenager, Julian Aviles was under ACS care. Because of his disability, he should have received the maximum benefit: $943 a month, or roughly $11,000 a year.
Money he never saw, he told News 4.
"I didn’t receive anything from them," said the 20-year-old Aviles, who is legally blind.
When asked if he got the $2,000 benefit ACS said it would dole out to disabled foster children, his answer didn't change: "I never received anything from them," he said.
"It would have helped with getting clothes, getting hygiene products, getting food," he told the I-Team.
Even if he had gotten $2,000, that is only a fraction of the $44,000 he was entitled to receive for his years in foster care. Now that he has aged out of the system, Aviles relies on government assistance to live. Sometimes he runs out of food, or has no clean clothes.
The Legal Aid Society says it had to go to court to force ACS to pay for basic necessities, including Julian’s smart cane, which has a motion sensor.
"What they have done is for some children, they haven’t applied for disability benefits at all. And for other children, they applied and kept all that money," said Anna Blondell, a staff attorney in Legal Aid's law reform unit. "Their argument is that it goes to offset the cost of foster care. But the problem is that the Social Security Administration is clear: The benefits have to be used to benefit the specific child...and that means either use the money for what the kid needs now or save the money for what they’ll need in the future."
The I-Team previously reported that ACS, for years, also diverted survivor funds from orphaned children in foster care. One teen lost out on more than $29,000 in survivor benefits.
When asked if the kids who were owed money should be paid back, ACS Commissioner Dannhauser said "the "that policy precedes me, we’re going to have to take a look at that."
But for those who may have lost out on money, the issue still stings.
"You’re basically stealing from these kids every day," said Aviles.
In Fall 2024, it’s expected there will be another hearing specifically on the issue of survivor’s and disability benefits.
