Overview
This spring, the New York State Legislature will again consider a bill that would end anonymous reporting of child neglect and abuse, replacing it with confidential reporting.
In NYC, one in 24 child welfare cases is called in by an anonymous reporter. These calls are frequently malicious and rarely substantiated – only 6.7% of ACS cases based on anonymous calls were substantiated in 2023, compared to 22.5% of all cases.
Calls are frequently made to terrorize an ex as a form of domestic violence or to influence a custody dispute before the family court. Landlords also make false reports as a form of tenant harassment.
Using previously unreleased data provided by the NYC Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), this data brief shines new light on who is most impacted by anonymous calls in New York City.
Parents have repeatedly documented the harm of harassment through anonymous calls, and NYC and state child welfare officials have acknowledged that investigations can be traumatic. As parent and former foster youth Ruth Horry put it: “It’s not a small thing when a family is investigated—it has lasting impacts on the mental health of both the children and the parents. Even when there’s no abuse or maltreatment found, families still have to go through home inspections, interviews, and have their private lives opened up in ways that are deeply invasive.”
Research also shows that investigations leave enduring negative impacts on the family. Fearing that discussing family needs can expose them to another investigation – and possible family separation – parents limit social networks and help-seeking, increasing their isolation and stress.
California and Texas passed laws to curb anonymous reporting in 2023 and a number of other states have proposed similar legislation, but the Anti-Harassment in Reporting bill has not yet passed in New York.
All calls to the State Central Register (SCR) already are confidential; investigators are not allowed to disclose any information about the reporter. And professionals who are mandated by law to report child maltreatment are always required to provide their name and contact information. However, neighbors, family members and others can make an anonymous report. The Anti-Harassment bill would end the practice of untraceable calls.
This brief highlights the families and communities that would be impacted most by legislative action to end anonymous reporting.
Data analysis by Caterina Pisciotta and text by Nora McCarthy. All child welfare data provided by the NYC Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) unless otherwise noted.
How to Use This Brief
All of the charts and data can be downloaded so that you can use this information in advocacy and community education.
A few notes:
- This brief uses "ACS cases" as a shorthand to mean all ACS investigations + CARES cases. CARES is slightly different from a traditional investigation. In 2023, 20% of all ACS cases were CARES cases and 80% were traditional investigations.
- "Hotline calls" throughout this brief refers specifically to calls to the State Central Register that are referred to ACS. Reports of the same incident from multiple callers are consolidated into a single report.
- There’s a bunch of other jargon in these briefs – "substantiated," "allegations," "court supervision," SCR, etc. You can use this guide for explanations.
Feel free to contact info@familypolicynyc.org with any questions.
4,000 Children Experienced ACS Cases Because of Anonymous Hotline Calls in 2023
2,211 anonymous reports resulted in approximately 1,700 investigations and 500 CARES cases, impacting 4,042 children.
Rates of anonymous reporter cases were far higher in the Bronx than in other boroughs.
Download: Image, Chart 1 Data, Chart 2 Data
Note: An additional 190 anonymous reporter cases had an “other/unknown” borough. “ACS Cases” refers to all investigations + CARES cases, and “Anonymous Reporter Cases” refers to all investigations + CARES cases reported by anonymous caller.
Out of More Than 2,000 ACS Cases Based on an Anonymous Call, Just 22 Resulted in a Child Entering Foster Care
Only 1% of anonymous calls resulted in foster care entry, compared to 4.3% of all cases, meaning that removal was 77% less likely in anonymous reporter cases.
Download: Image, Chart 1 Data, Chart 2 Data
Black Families Are Most Impacted by Anonymous Calls
Black children made up almost 50% of children experiencing ACS involvement based on anonymous calls, despite making up just 24% of all children in NYC. Black children represented 37% of children in all other ACS cases.
Latino children made up 38% of children experiencing ACS involvement based on anonymous calls and 34% of all children in NYC. Latino children represented 47% of children in all other ACS cases.
White and Asian children were highly underrepresented in ACS cases based on anonymous calls, representing 5% and 2% of these cases but 26% and 13% of all children in NYC.
ACS Cases Based on Anonymous Calls Have Fallen Sharply in Recent Years
Staff at the State Central Register (SCR), which determines whether to screen-in calls for investigation, have begun to require anonymous reporters to speak with a supervisor, reducing reports, according to ACS. However, anonymous reports still impacted more than 4,000 children in 2023.
Most Anonymous Reporter Calls Allege Neglect
Consistent with all ACS cases, approximately 75% of anonymous calls alleged neglect.
“Parent Drug/Alcohol Misuse” was the most common allegation among cases with an anonymous reporter, with 38% having a parent drug use allegation. Other neglect allegations – such as lack of supervision (25% of cases) and inadequate food/clothing/shelter (22% of cases) were also common.
For most abuse allegations, anonymous reports were consistent with or below citywide averages. However, sexual abuse allegations constituted 8% of allegations in anonymous calls compared to about 4% of all citywide calls.
Anonymous reporters were almost three times more likely than other reporters to make a parent drug use allegation, three times more likely to make an inadequate food/clothing/shelter allegation, and more than twice as likely to make a lack of supervision or sexual abuse allegation.
Note: Inadequate Guardianship (IG) was alleged in 93% of all anonymous reports and 85% of all ACS cases; FPP typically does not include IG in allegation counts because of its loose definition and over-use. ( See p.77 of this New York State Child Protective Services Manual.) Anonymous reporters also were three times more likely to allege “child drug/alcohol use,” but these cases constituted only 6.5% of anonymous calls and 2% of all calls.
Abuse Allegations Are Far Less Likely to Be Substantiated in Anonymous Reports
Only 3.4% of cases with physical or sexual abuse allegations were substantiated in anonymous reports compared to 7.8% of cases with neglect allegations.
In all ACS cases, 27.3% of cases with physical and sexual abuse allegations were substantiated and 20.5% of cases with neglect allegations were substantiated.
These Are the Zip Codes with the Highest Burdens of Anonymous Calls
These zip codes had the highest numbers of anonymous reporter calls and also had approximately 4% or more of their total ACS cases coming from anonymous reporters.
Note: There are other zip codes with a high percent of cases coming from anonymous reporters, but they are not presented here because the number of anonymous reporter cases was at or below 30 (e.g., 10473-Castle Hill BX, 10451-Melrose BX, 10466-Eastchester BX, 11691-Bayswater QNS, 11213-Crown Heights BK, 7.3%, 10469-Laconia BX, 5%, 10304-Clifton SI, 6.1%)