Cindy Rodriguez

A new report by the Vera Institute for Justice takes a look at clinical drug trials involving New York City foster children. WNYC reporters Fred Mogul and Cindy Rodriguez take a look at the findings.

Within certain circles, this Vera Institute investigation was long awaited. It was commissioned by the city in 2005 after several stories broke claiming that the Administration for Children's Services had used black and Latino kids as Guinea pigs and was placing them in foster care if their parents would not agree to the drug trials.

The investigation found no evidence of this. It did however find plenty of sloppy record keeping. There were no parental consent forms for 21 percent of the 532 kids in the drug trials. Yes, even if your kids get taken into foster care, you still have a right to make medical decisions for them. Unless of course your parental rights have been terminated, then the Commissioner of ACS has authority. Some of these consent forms may be with the state, but we don't know, because the Department of Health, citing confidentiality concerns, refused to release medical records.

 

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In the 1980s and ‘90s, at the height of the AIDS epidemic, New York City enrolled foster children in experimental drug trials -- at times, without the permission of parents. The issue emerged five years ago, provoking a storm of controversy, including allegations that black ...

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More than 3,000 volunteers are expected to brave the city's freezing temperatures tonight to help count the homeless. It's the fifth time the count will be done citywide. According to statistics, there's been a 25 percent drop in street homelessness since 2005. On WNYC's Brian ...

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Vendors lined 125th street today, hawking t-shirts, hats, sweatshirts and calendars with President Obama's likeness.

At each table, the salesmen and women took credit for original designs. Lawrence Harris, held up his 10 dollar t-shirt and read it's slogan.

HARRIS: Rosa Parks sat so Dr. Martin Luther ...

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A U.S. Airways pilot is being praised for crash landing a plane in the Hudson River. The FAA says a flock of birds may have knocked out both engines. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez was at the site of the crash.

REPORTER: Dozens of fire trucks and emergency ...

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Two tenants and a building owner are currently on trial in the Bronx for dividing an apartment. Prosecutors say illegal walls trapped firefighters, causing them to jump to their deaths during a fire in 2005. As WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez reports, illegal housing remains a serious ...

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The Department of Justice's criminal civil rights division has opened a formal investigation into hate crimes against Latinos in Suffolk County.

The move comes in response to a public outcry following the stabbing death of Marcelo Lucero. The Ecuadorean immigrant was attacked by a group of ...

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Days after a year-end deadline, the city and the state are still negotiating pay raises for more than 27,000 daycare workers. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez reports:

REPORTER: The United Federation of Teachers represents these workers who provide daycare to low income families. Their average pay is less ...

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It's still too early to tell whether a program that pays poor parents cash for taking their kids to school or to the doctor for check ups is working. But as WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez reports, so far, families have received $7.6 million from the program.

REPORTER: ...

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REPORTER: Retailers are hoping that post-Christmas sales will lure in customers who are spending less because of the economic downturn. Prices have been dropping since before Thanksgiving at both big department stores and smaller boutique shops. Michael Robinson, a buyer at a Soho shop called ...

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REPORTER: New Yorkers across the city attended Christmas mass this morning. At St. Patrick's Cathedral, Edward, Cardinal Egan's sermon struck a somber tone as he painted a stark picture of the American economy.

EGAN: Jobs are being lost by the hundreds of thousands, in a culture ...

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REPORTER: Mayor Bloomberg attended the annual Christmas Eve lunch for homeless families at City Hall restaurant today. He made his way around the crowded dining room, shaking hands with mothers and holding babies for the cameras. The Mayor stopped to talk to Bianca Lynch and ...

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The emotional ties a family feels to a home are especially apparent now - when hundreds-of-thousands are having to leave houses they can no longer afford. A foreclosure is devastating for a family whether they'd been there for decades or just a few years. This ...

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At the end of November the number had risen to nearly 10,000.

The Coalition for the Homeless, a local advocacy group, says the number of new families showing up each month started to increase about five months ago, and now it's the highest it's been in ...

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After being threatened by the state, New York City has agreed to give pay raises to about 27,000 daycare workers.

The daycare workers make on average $19,000 a year and care for the kids of low income parents who are getting their childcare subsidized.

About half a ...

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Local housing advocates and developers alike are praising President-Elect Barack Obama's decision to appoint Shaun Donovan to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Donovan has headed the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development since 2004. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez talks to Weekend Edition ...

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Council speaker Christine Quinn helped hand out flyers this morning at a subway station in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

The flyer shows a picture of a young African-American male. The suspect along with several others, allegedly beat 31 year old Jose Sucuzhanay with a baseball bat.

Police say the ...

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A class action lawsuit filed against New York State attempts to raise welfare payments for poor New Yorkers.

It's been nearly 20 years since the state Legislature last increased payments.

Currently, the maximum a single adult on welfare gets is about $137 a month. Plus close ...

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With the city facing a budget deficit that’s expected to balloon to $4 billion over the next two years, city agencies have been instructed to cut 7.5 percent of their budgets. Everything from daycare slots for low income families to dental clinics for kids, have ...