Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival, and Hope in an American City

by Andrea Elliott

There are two categories of child maltreatment: abuse and neglect. Abuse, according to New York law, occurs when a parent inflicts or allows serious “physical injury” to the child. The most extreme cases make headlines that rile the public and shake up the agency. In 2006, two years after ACS began tracking Dasani’s family, seven-year-old Nixzmary Brown was beaten to death by her stepfather in Bed-Stuy. Reports of abuse surged, and a new law was passed in her name. Yet only 7 percent of ACS investigations involve findings of abuse. The vast majority of families—including Dasani’s—face charges of “neglect,” which is more about failure. A neglectful parent has failed to exercise “a minimum degree of care,” according to the law, by not supplying food, clothing, education, supervision, or shelter. It is no surprise that the vast majority of these parents are poor. Many use alcohol or drugs, which is another form of failure: Their addiction has caused them to lose “self-control” of their “actions.”