Ask Bill de Blasio Why

←Watch our "Guinea Pig Kids" Rap Video Now!

In the summer and fall of 2003, an investigative reporter working undercover at an orphanage in New York City found that the city was allowing foster children in its care to be used as "guinea pigs" for experimental trials of highly toxic and painful drugs.  What Liam Scheff found at Incarnation Children's Center (ICC) in Washington Heights ignited a city scandal in 2004 and into early 2005--a scandal mostly forgotten today but not yet resolved. The New York Press published his article in early 2004, and further articles followed in the London Observer/Guardian and the New York Post, among other media.  The allegations were even the subject of a BBC documentary, Guinea Pig Kids.

One former city councilman--District 39's Bill de Blasio of Park Slope, Brooklyn--chaired the council's General Welfare Committee and was responsible for the city's Administration for Children's Services (ACS), which referred children to ICC.  De Blasio is our new New York Public Advocate. While we took no direct position in the election, we thought this was a rare opportunity to watch a candidate for this important city post in action, "advocating"--or not--for the families of New York.

Please join us as we continue to ask Public Advocate de Blasio a few questions.  We invite him to participate and will faithfully post his answers here.  And if you would like to question him or comment as well, you can do so at the "Your Questions and Comments" form at the left

The New York City Council held a dramatic hearing on the Incarnation Children's Center matter in May 2005, and commitment was reportedly strong.  By this time, the Administration for Children's Services (ACS), New York's child protective agency, had just contracted with an outside organization to investigate its policies and procedures in enrolling city foster children in drug trials.  As chairman of the General Welfare Committee, wasn't Bill de Blasio supposed to monitor and oversee this investigation? . . .

de Blasio's Response: None yet.

It's a cheap political trick: Hold a news conference and put out a press release taking credit for things you didn't, and won't, do.  Take the photo op and run.  This is what Bill de Blasio did. . . .

de Blasio's Response: October 31, 2009 --When asked if he would send us this resolution: "Were working on it."  "Ask de Blasio Why" Organizer Elizabeth Ely's response: "But not actually sending it?"  Answer: Silence.

As chairman of the City Council's General Welfare Committee, Bill de Blasio has received resolutions asking for an independent federal prosecutor to investigate the Administration for Children's Services' "alleged human rights violations, wrongful removals, and unconstitutional practices," and for a hearing on improving the grievance procedures for families facing removal of their kids. These resolutions had several City Council sponsors, but they have died at the end of each session, for several years, because de Blasio did not hold hearings on them.

Did he just forget about them?  Or was he pointedly ignoring them? . . .

de Blasio's Response: None yet.

Bill de Blasio says he supports New York's families by opposing budget cuts for the Administration for Children's Services (ACS), the city's child protective agency.  But what has this agency done to earn our trust?. . .

de Blasio's Response: None yet.