“We did our very best” vs. “we are running in place”: On Ulysses Stable
“In the case of the fellow who killed his autistic son, everyone was all over that case trying to help….This is a case where we did our very best and no one could rightly have expected this to happen. I feel a lot better about that than I do about Nixzmary.”
says John B. Mattingly, commissioner for the Administration for Children’s Services in New York City in an article in today’s New York Times. Ulysses Stable, who was killed on November 22nd by his father, Jose Stable, is mentioned in a few paragraphs towards the end of After 7-Year-Old’s Death, Agency Monitors Cases More Aggressively. The mother and stepmother of 7-year-old Nixzmary Brown are accused of fatally beating her in January of 2006.
In referring to “everyone being all over that case,” Mattingly in the New York Times article argues that “child welfare workers monitoring Ulysses Stable were substantially engaged and active in ensuring that he was safe and cared for.” After a complaint was made in July of 2005 that Ulysses’ father was not taking “good care” of him, workers saw the family twice a month; in January 2006, they had taken Jose Stable to court to consider putting Ulysses into foster case. A judge and Ulysses’ court-appointed lawyer had decided that he would stay with his father, “who had cared for him for 10 years without complaint.” It was shortly before his death that Ulysses was placed in a school specifically for autistic children.
Says Betsy Gotbaum, the city’s public advocate:
It is clear to me that we are running in place. This has just gone on too long, and we are just not pulling everything together.”
I have to agree with Gotbaum, rather than Mattingly.
2 opinions for “We did our very best” vs. “we are running in place”: On Ulysses Stable
Kassiane
Dec 11, 2006 at 8:22 pm
I agree too.
Clearly someone wasn’t even running in place, but sitting down on the job.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Dec 11, 2006 at 9:34 pm
It doesn’t seem that too much could not have been done.
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