A Ward of the City
By Henry J. Stern
July 11, 2003
 
    Today's newspapers tell a story of incredible depravity.  The life of severely disabled Stephanie Ramos, 8 years old, shows unbearable suffering, cruelty and neglect. It ended with a painful and lingering death, allegedly caused by the greed of a foster "mother," who concluded her care for Stephanie by throwing her body into a trash can.
 
    Our concern is also with the systemic failure in child welfare that allowed this tragedy to occur.  How could inspectors have overlooked the miserable conditions in the foster home?  Queens prosecutors are said to be investigating the payments, said to be about $100,000 a year, that were made by the city and state for the care of three children in this foster home in Springfield Gardens.
 
    There was extensive coverage of this horror story in Newsday (a full page, the house was in Queens), the News and the Times.  The Sun carried an Associated Press report.  The Post ran a story Thursday on the discovery of the girl's body.  I don't know if you can bear to read every horrible detail of this tragedy, but you should read enough to understand fully what is known, up to now, about Stephanie's short life, sad death, and the abuse of her lifeless body.
 
    Over the next weeks and months, follow-up on this matter will be most important.  We pay private and public agencies to be responsible for the welfare of these children.  Is New York another New Jersey, where the murder of a young child led to the complete overhaul of the child protection system, and the dismissal of officials held accountable for the tragedy.  Where will the buck stop with regard to the death of Stephanie Ramos?

    Reformers are traditionally concerned with important issues of a white-collar nature - campaign financing, voting requirements, legislative procedures.  So are we.  But we feel even more concerned and aroused at the slow, painful death of a child who was a ward of the state, handed over to the care of a woman who was pathetically unable or unwilling to maintain a decent home, but quite able to receive repeated approvals from the officials whose responsibility it was to make certain the child was cared for.

     [ This just in, a late afternoon statement by the New York City Agency for Children's Services. ] 
   
    Who will protect us from the protectors?