Reforms to Erie County's Child Protective Services have resulted in significantly lower caseloads, according to County Executive Mark Poloncarz.
Poloncarz who made comments Thursday in response to questions about a civil lawsuit filed by the grandmother of Eain Brooks. The 5-year-old Brooks was killed by his mother's live-in boyfriend Matthew Kuzdzal in September of 2013. Kuzdzal was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison last October.
Brooks' grandmother, Robin Hart, alleges county workers failed to take action following numerous reports of abuse by both the family and staff at an early childhood program.
Poloncarz says while he can't comment on the specifics of the case, reforms to county CPS have been put in place. Those reforms include additional support staff in both public schools and hospitals.
"We actually have CPS workers on site in these hospitals now. So if a case comes in right in the emergency room, instead of the doctor or nurse having to immediately make a report with New York State, they can immediately go the the Child Protective Service worker and say, 'Something doesn't look right here.' We can immediately begin the investigation," said Poloncarz.
Poloncarz says CPS case workers now handle an average of 31 cases, down from nearly 60. He says that number is still too high.
"There's a lot more that's going on to ensure to ensure that cases are being thoroughly vetted [and] that multiple eyes are reviewing the cases," said Poloncarz.
The county executive says the system is now more resilient and more proactive.
Poloncarz, for the first time, explained by why he recently withdrew his nomination for former Social Services Commissioner Carol Dankert-Maurer, considered by many to be the public face of the CPS controversy, to be the county's new Commissioner of Mental Health. He says Dankert-Maurer wanted to be pulled from consideration and resumes are being accepted for her former job, which he hopes to offer by the end of the month.
