Overview
Zip Codes: 11236
Community District: Brooklyn 18
All data is from 2023. Analysis by Cat Pisciotta. Data provided by the NYC Administration for Children’s Services unless otherwise noted.
This neighborhood data is designed to help local groups, institutions, organizers and elected officials understand how families in their community are being impacted by the NYC child welfare system (ACS) and to support community-led planning and advocacy to improve conditions for families.
Research shows that poverty and economic setbacks put families at risk of investigation and separation, and that economic policies like access to paid family leave, cash assistance and childcare can reduce child welfare involvement.
Neighborhood conditions are another factor in family health. Access to supermarkets, safe places to play, parks, libraries, jobs and transportation are protective of families.
Recent reports by Citizens Committee for Children (CCC) on Brownsville, Brooklyn and Corona, Queens illuminate how conditions affect families. Brownsville has the highest number of CPS investigations for Black children in the city, and Corona has the fourth-highest number for Latino children.
In Brownsville, structural inequalities make it difficult to hold a job and take care of children. Commute times are
the longest in Brooklyn. Childcare is scarce. After-school and summer programs for older kids are lacking. Greenspace is minimal. Going deeper, parents told CCC researchers that they hesitate to take their kids to play outside because of violence, and that they avoid local mental health providers because they fear ACS involvement.
In Corona, parents told CCC researchers they wanted mediation for their conflicts with youth, and support to deal with economic stress and discrimination. Families also wanted access to adult literacy and English classes to improve their job prospects.
Families know how local conditions may be contributing to hotline calls and family separation -- and what solutions might prevent many of these calls. (This includes addressing local institutions like schools and hospitals that over-report.) Using data and families’ expertise, groups can develop community frameworks for family health.
Parent and youth advocates in NYC have laid out their visions for reducing the scope and harm of the child welfare system in Rise’s Unavoidable System report and in recommendations by the Narrowing the Front Door Work Group and YouthNPower. This kind of neighborhood-by-neighborhood approach can help turn these broad visions into actionable plans at the local level.
How were families impacted by ACS in 2023?
“ACS cases” is used as a shorthand to mean all ACS investigations + CARES cases. You can use this guide for explanations of any terms.
Note: All data represents “unique families and children,” unless otherwise noted. See notes below.
How common was ACS involvement in Remsen Village?
1 in 19 families experienced an ACS case in 2023, compared to the citywide average of 1 in 18 families.
Note: “Rate per 1,000” means: Out of every 1,000 children, how many experienced an investigation or entered foster care in this year? Looking at the rate of investigations per 1,000 children in a zip code – rather than just the number – allows us to compare which zip codes are most impacted. For example, Hunts Point ranked 81st in the number of hotline calls in 2019 because it’s a small neighborhood, but it ranked 4th citywide in its rate, which was 141 per 1,000 households with children (meaning there was 1 call for every 7 families). Families probably know a neighbor who was recently investigated. ACS’ presence is high.
What percent of ACS cases were substantiated?
Note: In 2019, an investigation was “indicated” if ACS investigators believed there was “some credible evidence” that a child was neglected or abused. In 2022, New York State raised the standard of evidence to indicate an investigation to require a “preponderance of evidence.” In addition, ACS expanded “CARES” cases, which do not result in a finding of substantiated/indicated. As a result, the percent of ACS Cases that are substantiated has fallen citywide.
Who was impacted by ACS?
Race/ethnicity of children
ACS involvement was fairly consistent with neighborhood representation.
Note: Some columns include “redacted” data because ACS cannot share case data below 6 (unless the number is 0). In columns that include redacted data, the chart may show the number of white, Asian, or “other/unknown” children as 0.00% but those children may be included in the redacted data total. For instance, in Brownsville, fewer than 6 children who are white, Asian, or “other/unknown” entered foster care, so these numbers are redacted and may each show as 0.00%, but combined they made up 7.8% of children entering foster care, shown as “redacted.”
How did the number of children and families impacted by ACS change from 2019 to 2023?
ACS investigations and CARES cases
Citywide, the number of families experiencing an ACS case – investigations or CARES – fell by 8% between 2019 and 2023, with 20% of ACS cases tracked to CARES in 2023.
Note: The historical data 2019-2023 reflects duplicate families/children. See notes below.
Methodological Notes
Click here for a complete Excel file of the data in this brief and additional calculations – as well as all other zip codes.
(1) ACS cannot share data (at either the case or child level) if the number is fewer than 6, unless it is zero. An asterisk indicates where the number is fewer than 6 and has been redacted.
(2) All Census data comes from the 2018-2022 American Community Survey 5 year estimates by zip code, as well as by borough and citywide. (2023 was not yet available.)
(3) Borough and Citywide data are totals from the NYC Administration for Children's Services (accounting for the fact that some data have been redacted at the zip code level).
(4) For Race/Ethnicity data, Child Population Census numbers are included for reference only. Due to data availability, Census data for the Child Population is categorized as follows: Black (Hispanic/Latino or not), White (non-Hispanic/Latino only), Asian/PI (Hispanic/Latino or not), Hispanic/Latino (any race); children of "Other" race/ethnicity are not included here. Census data for the All Ages Population is categorized as follows: Black (non-Hispanic/Latino only), White (non-Hispanic/Latino only), Asian (non-Hispanic/Latino only),
Hispanic/Latino (any race), and Other (non-Hispanic/Latino only). NYC Administration for Children's Services data is categorized in the same way as the Census All Ages Population data.
(5) Any #VALUE!, #DIV/0, #NULL!, dash (-) showing in a cell indicates that a calculation cannot be made (e.g., due to a redacted value, due to division by 0, etc.)
(6) Numbers may not exactly sum to totals in the raw data.
(7) In the summary tabs, numbers are rounded in the "By How Much?" columns.
(8) In the summary tab (Number and percent of children starting/entering each CW stage), percentages are based on the total number of children at each stage in 2023 as a percentage of the total number of children in the CPS stage (i.e., Investigations or CARES) in 2023. These numbers are not based on a cohort of children at the CPS stage.
(9) For the Race/Ethnicity summary tab, there may be instances where comparing the CW stage race/ethnicity breakdown to the Child Population race/ethnicity breakdown produces different results than when comparing it to the All Ages Population race/ethnicity breakdown (or vice-versa). This is due to the methodological challenges with the Census Child Population data (see note #4 above).