Abused in foster care and waiting to be heard
Queens Village: In 1975, the Daily News wrote a scathing series on foster care in New York City. It was so troubling that Congress, via Rep. Mario Biaggi, decided to hold a hearing about what was going on and what could be done. One of the biggest topics was how long children were in foster care, suffering abuse no American could have dreamed possible. One agency mentioned was Speedwell Services for Children. It turns out that replacement petitions for foster children were never audited by any social services department, just signed by social workers as supporting documentation. This I know firsthand, as I was able to request and find petitions for replacement of my own foster care that contained lies that devastated me. It became clear that this was the main reason for my staying in the same home.
Until 1987, replacement petitions had no requirement that allowed children to speak at hearings. Supporting documentation in petitions was not guided by law, but was a policy of the social services departments. For 15 years in foster care, I did not know such petitions existed. When social workers came to my home, I was never interviewed. The entire visit was with my foster mother. While Speedwell knew of abuse, it never reported it to the Bureau of Child Welfare. They never had to. The replacement petitions made it possible for them to do as they pleased.
Here we are with the Child Victims Act and many lawsuits against NYC in limbo, with no foreseeable outcome in any case as the city watches other cases work up to what eventually may be heard in the U.S. Supreme Court. Robert Quintana
Bring them home
San Francisco: Over the weekend, Hamas claimed that a female Israeli hostage it is holding, Daniella Gilboa, was killed in an airstrike. She was one of five Israelis, all ages 18-19 when they were seized on Oct. 7, 2023, who were taunted as “girls who can get pregnant” in a horrifying Hamas-filmed video of their abduction. Another of the five, Naama Levy, was seen in a subsequent Hamas video being forced into a truck bound for Gaza, her pants drenched in blood. Gilboa, Levy, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger and Liri Albag are among 101 hostages Hamas is still holding, including seven Americans and two children. The world must demand their immediate and unconditional release. Stephen A. Silver
Theirs fair and square
Brooklyn: To Voicer Richie Nagan: Your claim of land-grabbing genocidal Zionists is all wrong. Jewish land acquisitions in Palestine were by legal purchases. Their development of farms and factories provided higher-paying jobs for Arab Palestinians. The draining of the swamps and the sharing of modern medical techniques by the Zionists resulted in a decrease in Arab infant mortality. Palestinians were uprooted from their land because of the 1947 and 1948 Arab wars against the Jews. Wendy Jackson
Feeling cheated
Bronx: I have been a Daily News subscriber for more than 40 years and look forward to and enjoy doing the Word Search, Jumble and especially the TV Crossword puzzle. I totally agree with Voicer Jan Subelka to please bring back Jacqueline E. Mathews. It is now impossible to do the puzzle. Clues and answers do not make sense. Anyone other than Ricky Cruz would be better. I haven’t been able to enjoy doing the puzzle. Makes me sad. Please bring back a doable TV Crossword. Angela Bates
Surrendered talent
Sea Isle City, N.J.: The New York Giants are terrible to watch. The owners should be fired. The coaching staff will definitely be gone by the new year. How do they sleep at night — especially Sunday night, if they stayed up to watch the Eagles/Rams game? Saquon Barkley had two 70-yard touchdown runs. Jim Fusco
Offensive blame
Park Ridge, N.J.: Well, it finally happened. Daniel Jones has been made the scapegoat for a miserable Giants team, benched and proclaimed the third-string quarterback behind the now-starting Tommy DeVito and Drew Lock. The 2-9 Giants started the season with a lot of hope but not much promise. The offensive line has underperformed for years, and while players have come and gone, a prerequisite for being a Giants offensive lineman has always seemed to be, “Don’t protect the quarterback.” It’s like the old hockey movie “Slapshot,” where the goalie is taking shots from every angle and winds up blocking imaginary shots and talking to himself in the locker room. When Jones has had time, he has been very good, but when you’re running for your life on every play and getting sacked six or seven times a game because you have no protection, it’s hard to be effective. People have been calling for a change for years. If the change made was a better offensive line, Jones could be very good. Steve Ostlund
Hot-air top brass
Tomkins Cove, N.Y.: Regarding that holiday gift guide for Jets fans next to Mike Lupica’s column, I couldn’t help notice that one was missing: the old, reliable “Fart in a Can” with a picture of “The Ambassador” on the label. Though, to be fair, when reading Pat Leonard’s column on the Giants (“No one left to blame,” Nov. 24), a can with John Mara’s picture would make a great stocking stuffer for fans of the “G Men” as well. Doug Slotolowicz
Follow the ruling
Staten Island: The ignorance of some who express their thoughts on these pages is, at times, astounding. When a nut who isn’t in a hospital harms others, it has absolutely nothing to do with progressiveness (look up the definition of “progressive,” as the ignorant continue to use it to disparage) or any elected official beyond Richard Nixon, LBJ and Gerald Ford. How, you’ll ask? Who do you think appointed the Supreme Court justices who, on June 26, 1975, ruled in O’Connor vs. Donaldson that we can not involuntarily hold people or make them take meds? Look it up. You have a tool at hand to do just that, before incorrectly blaming everyone but the people who made it so. Ignorance is repairable. Lying just to see your words in print is still lying. Toward what end? I guess the folks who blame every Dem ever born make themselves feel good spouting lies. Tom McGuire
Similar vibe
Brooklyn: Does anyone else think that Nancy Pelosi, Kamala Harris and Gov. Hochul are related to each other? And are all three unburdened? Rocco Conte
Appeasement isn’t peace
Brooklyn: Bramhall’s cartoon showing Democrats writing about learning from history or repeating it should have the Republicans also. The history of the 20th century, especially of Czechoslovakia in the 1930s but also of aggressions by Italy and Japan, should show the perils of appeasing dictators grabbing territory. The 18th-century Seven Years’ War in Europe was the French and Indian war here. The French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars made waves for the U.S. in the 1790s and early 1800s, and were responsible for the War of 1812. Efforts to stay neutral failed in World War I and World War II. Today, the world is a lot smaller (missiles from Asia can hit us in a few minutes, the internet is almost instantaneous) and our interests are much wider. Donald Trump’s solution — to give Vladimir Putin what he wants in Ukraine, resume isolationism and ignore aggressive moves by North Korea and China — will ultimately backfire. Martin Selbst
Shorted
Brooklyn: I am sorry, but I have to disagree with your editorial praising the pitiful deal on the City of Yes (“Yes on Yes,” Nov. 23). As a result of a lack of leadership by our political leaders, we now have 30,000 fewer units, which will probably mean more than 30,000 more families arriving in shelters over the next decade. In addition to losing 30,000 units, somehow we also lost $5 billion that could’ve been used in many other areas. Where is the political leadership in the City Council and why couldn’t they get this passed? This Council is supposed to be progressive. With many of the members term-limited, why was it so difficult to get the original package, which was not overbearing, passed? We can’t accept this piecemeal addition to housing as a success or else we will be looking at more and more housing shortages. Robert Mascali