De Blasio: Six Years After Nixzmary, Children Still Lost in Preventable Deaths
NEW YORK — Six years after the tragic death of Nixzmary Brown, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, a former Brooklyn councilman, has released a report reviewing dozens of recent child deaths.
“Lessons from Tragedy” reviews 75 child fatality reports issued by the New York State Office of Children and Family Services in 2011 with the goal of identifying continuing risk factors and areas of focus to better protect children. As was the case leading up to Nixzmary’s death, the report found that multiple prior reports of abuse and neglect were common in these families, with more than 15 prior reports received by the Administration for Children’s Services in some cases.
De Blasio, a Park Slope resident, is recommending new measures to reassess families with a significant number of such reports so that authorities can intervene earlier to prevent tragedy.