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Read the press release here.

Rampant Runaways at City's Foster Facility 'Raises Concerns,' Mayor Says

By Heather Holland | September 18, 2014 5:36pm
  Officials are working to create a more secure environment for kids at the Children's Center, Bill de Blasio said during an unrelated press conference at the Bronx Zoo on Sept. 18, 2014.
Officials are working to create a more secure environment for kids at the Children's Center, Bill de Blasio said during an unrelated press conference at the Bronx Zoo on Sept. 18, 2014.
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DNAinfo/Colby Hamilton

NEW YORK CITY — Mayor Bill de Blasio is concerned about children disappearing nearly 1,600 times from a city-run shelter, and he is working with officials to create a more secure environment there.

De Blasio addressed the issue during an unrelated press conference on Thursday, days after DNAinfo New York reported that the city's Administration for Children’s Services filed 1,583 missing reports to the NYPD during a 13-month period for abused and neglected kids who ran away from the 55-bed Children's Center at 492 First Ave.

"It certainly raises concerns," de Blasio said of DNAinfo's report. “I know Commissioner [Gladys] Carrión is looking at that situation very closely and trying to figure out how we can create a properly secure environment."

“We are devoted to community-based solutions," de Blasio added. "We think there’s a lot of reasons why that’s a smart thing to do, but they have to be secure at the same time.”

In addition to filing missing reports for kids who disappear, the city also often seeks warrants from Family Court to allow the NYPD to bring the youths back in handcuffs, even though the children have not broken a law by running away, DNAinfo previously reported.

Critics have decried the practice as criminalizing kids who have already been traumatized, but de Blasio did not take a position on the issue.

“I think the use of handcuffs is an issue that really depends on the circumstance,” de Blasio said. “I don’t want to comment across the board because it really depends on what their interaction with the police was, for example.”