MANHATTAN VALLEY — Mayor Bill de Blasio said Public Advocate Letita James is "dead wrong" that Administration for Children's Services Commissioner Gladys Carrión is doing a "poor job."
"I think that’s fundamentally wrong," de Blasio said. "On that one, she’s just dead wrong."
James has criticized de Blasio, Carrion and ACS in the wake of the beating death of 6-year-old Harlem boy Zymere Perkins. ACS and other city agencies had multiple interactions with Zymere and his mother over allegations of child abuse, some of which were substantiated, but failed to take the boy out of the home.
“What’s ‘dead wrong’ is dead children under ACS’ watch. ACS is fundamentally broken and its current commissioner has failed to fix it," James in a statement responding to the mayor's comment.
De Blasio has declined to give a full accounting of Zymere's interaction with city agencies, citing the ongoing criminal probe of the boy's mother Geraldine Perkins and her boyfriend Rysheim Smith.
► READ MORE: 'I'm Not a Baby Killer,' Zymere Perkins' Mom Says in Rikers Interview
Both were charged with child endangerment. Prosecutors say Smith beat Zymere with a broomstick and his hands after the boy defecated in the living room, and that Perkins did not intervene to stop him.
Perkins, in a jailhouse interview, said she never saw Smith hurt her son before that fatal beating and that she "didn't know how to leave" her boyfriend.
The mayor has backed Carrion, saying that she is the best person to make reforms given her background working on child welfare issues.
"Gladys Carrion has been at this for 40 years," de Blasio said. "And Gladys knows how to protect children well....there’s been many, many times she has protected children you don’t know about, but it worked."
James said the mayor is wrong.
She has criticized de Blasio for not being forthcoming with the public about the city's involvement with Zymere and his family. De Blasio is also "hiding" behind the criminal investigation, she said.
ACS has also routinely failed to properly investigate allegations of child abuse, according to reports from Comptroller Scott Stringer, James and the Department of Investigation. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the state will also investigate Zymere's death.
De Blasio announced a series of reforms following Zymere's death including increasing the number of NYPD and child services personnel who jointly investigate suspected cases of serious abuse.
The mayor said based on what he already knows about Zymere's case, Carrion is the best person to carry out existing and new reforms.
"At any time I think something has changed, I’ll say it. But based on everything I know, Gladys Carrion needs to continue as ACS Commissioner, and she’s the person who can actually get the job done," he said.
James says the mayor's proposed reforms are not enough.
"For over two years, my office has gone to court, passed legislation, issued reports, and advocated to reform ACS," James said. "No child deserves to die because of mismanagement or lack of oversight; we won’t surrender another life to the very broken system that’s supposed to protect our children."
