ACS Admits Missteps In Dealing With Underweight Girl's Family
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The city’s Administration for Children’s Services is taking some of the blame for the death of a four-year-old Brooklyn girl who weighed just 18 pounds when she died.
ACS Commissioner John Mattingly told a City Council committee yesterday that his agency made critical missteps prior to the death of little Marchella Pierce.
He said it is unclear whether the agency made enough visits to the family and said ACS should have followed up after the girl's mother failed a drug test.
Marchella was found dead in her Bedford-Stuyvesant apartment last month.
Prosecutors say she had been beaten and may have been tied to her bed.
The girl's mother, Carlotta Pierce, is charged with assault and child endangerment.
Mattingly says the agency has strengthened its preventive services programs and has improved its record-keeping systems.
An ACS case worker and supervisor have been suspended, pending the outcome of an investigation.