Readers sound off on improving child welfare, Daniel Penny’s charges and the WNBA

Old mistakes won’t make vulnerable kids safer

Manhattan: Re “The death of Jahmeik Modlin” (editorial, Oct. 18): The Daily News calls for new efforts to reduce child deaths from abuse and neglect, but advances faulty solutions that have already been shown not to work.

The first suggestion is to place New York City under court-mandated monitoring, which helped overhaul the New Jersey child welfare agency. However, data shows that 10 years of monitoring had no effect on child maltreatment fatalities. Second, while noting that “no one should want the government to engage in overzealous removals of children,” the Editorial Board asks, “But when does the pendulum swing back?” This falsely implies that increasing foster care removals would reduce child deaths. In fact, New York City data shows that reducing foster care has not put children at greater risk.

What is known about child safety is that heightened news coverage of rare and horrific outlying cases causes “foster care panics” that traumatize children through unwarranted family separation but do not reduce fatalities. In addition, research suggests what can help: bolstering broad anti-poverty strategies. When states reduce child poverty, according to dozens of studies, child maltreatment, foster care entries and fatality rates all drop. With a high child poverty rate, New York City is overspending on investigations because it is under-investing in children.

As the Daily News notes, New York City has seen “too many families torn apart for insufficient cause over the years.” The city should not go backward using tools that sound like common sense but have proved to fail. Nora McCarthy, executive director, NYC Family Policy Project

Where were they then?

Commack, L.I.: How is it possible that this woman (Nytavia Ragsdale) has four children and, according to her family, has mental health issues, yet not one of them physically visited her? Yet, on page 5 of Tuesday’s paper (“Ma blames child services,” Oct. 22), the podium is packed with family members blaming ACS. John Flanagan

Different defense?

Lindenhurst, L.I.: Why is Daniel Penny being raked over the coals for defending himself and a subway car full of people while Jordan Williams had charges against him dropped when he defended his girlfriend against Devictor Ouedraogo, who was bothering her. Williams had a concealed weapon (a knife), which he used to kill the other man. He brought a knife to what should have been a fistfight (proudly proclaiming, “I just stabbed that [n-word], you see him leaking?”). Penny did not have a weapon, only his training as a U.S. Marine. He wasn’t just defending himself, he was defending everyone on that train. No weapons, just making sure the situation didn’t escalate. Williams pulled out his knife and killed someone in defense of his girlfriend. No indictment. So, what am I missing? L. Pastore

Not a crime

Whitestone: I don’t believe that Daniel Penny will be convicted of any crime. Some jurors may even recommend that he get recognition for taking action to protect straphangers who were threatened by the psychotic Jordan Neely. Penny wasn’t trained in the dangers of chokeholds, so he shouldn’t be held accountable for a tactic that has been used forever to restrain violent people. I believe he was acting as a Good Samaritan, and I think it’s a disgrace that nonsensical political correctness (following the George Floyd case) has led prosecutors to treat him as a criminal. Dorothy Lyons

Mail thieves

Manhattan: I was on my early morning walk while it was still dark, on Third Ave. in the 90s, when I came upon two young boys in dark clothing standing in front of two mailboxes. At first I naively thought they were mailing things, then realized they were stealing mail. They were wearing masks, and one had a thin strap he was shimmying down the mail chute that must have had some adhesive at the end. I watched him pull up a large envelope the way you’d retrieve coins from a grating. They turned and saw me. “What are you doing? You’re stealing, aren’t you?” I brazenly or stupidly said, the longtime New Yorker that I am. “God forbid you get caught. It’s the United States Postal Service. You’ll go to jail!” Before leaving, I said, “What would your mothers say?” I later realized they could have shot me in the back. When did the Upper East Side become dangerous? Susannah Bianchi

Shunned league

Brooklyn: The New York Liberty wins the WNBA championship after a season of spectacular games, yet the team doesn’t rate a backpage photo or headline in the Daily News in my edition of the Monday paper. Instead of celebrating a New York team that actually wins, there’s a picture of Saquon Barkley, who doesn’t even play for New York and whose team decimated the N.Y. Giants on Sunday! The only mention of the Liberty was on page 36. It’s bad enough that all season long, fans had to scour the back pages for WNBA stats, unlike the baseball, football and basketball information that is printed on a full page in bold letters. The WNBA is here to stay, and I suggest you start showing the proper respect. Vera Badamo

Free agent

West Orange, N.J.: I’ve been watching the WNBA since the first tipoff. Every year since, the league has gotten better and more competitive. This past season was one of the best. Now that the NBA is starting its season, is there any chance Courtney Williams can run point guard for the Nets? Lonnie Bond

Doesn’t compute

Carle Place, L.I.: Voicer Maria Bonsanti suggests the Yankees are close to a three-peat against the Dodgers, though in different millennia, overlooking the 1981 World Series won by the Dodgers in six games. Thus, her reasoning is specious, null and void. Rudy Rosenberg

Terminal condition

Stanfordville, N.Y.: Voicer Wendy Jackson has eloquently and accurately portrayed the Gaza/Hamas issue. I have to add that I have been thinking the problem closely resembles my mother’s brain cancer diagnosis: When we heard simultaneously that her cancer was inoperable, we immediately asked why. The doctors described the glioblastoma as “sand in Jell-O.” That’s exactly how I view Hamas with the Palestinians. My mother died. Gaza is also dying. Sand in Jell-O. Marcie L. Waterman

Enigmatic loyalty

Bronx: I don’t understand how people can still be supporting Donald Trump for the presidency. The man lost the 2020 election and refused to acknowledge it. His own advisers told him he lost. He tried to take over the country by force — the exact definition of an insurrectionist. These people who support him are not taking into account that he was ignoring the will of the people of the United States. Not only that, but have we forgotten that he is a convicted felon? Every time I see a Trump flag on someone’s front porch, I wonder what’s going on in that person’s head. David Gonzalez

Mind control

Itasca, Ill.: Our COVID-19 lockdown had an eerie “The Twilight Zone” feel to it. I feel that way about Trumpism. I’ve wondered how I’d explain Trumpism to people like my parents, who died long before Trump’s rise to the White House. Today, I’d simply direct them to “It’s a Good Life,” a 1961 “Twilight Zone” episode about an evil 6-year-old boy, Anthony, who has incredible mental powers but absolutely no sense of humor. He uses these powers to keep his family and neighbors in line and only think “happy thoughts.” No one can think for themselves lest they incur dreadful punishment from the mean — some might say narcissistic — boy. Their well-being depended on them obeying his every command. I’d advise my parents to watch the episode, imagining in place of Anthony, a caustic 78-year-old man in perpetual tantrum mode. “That, mom and dad, is Trumpism.” Jim Newton

Reckless surrender

Brooklyn: If Trump is elected again, it will be because Americans have lost their sense of belonging to a society where people lean on each other in hard times and when crises call. When the wannabe dictator is re-installed with the help of the greedy GOP, he will finish his quest for autocracy and give the spoils to the billionaires to whom he’s beholden. Once his goals are realized, the GOP and the Supremes will remove him via the 25th Amendment and put the young JD Vance in charge to preside over the total fleecing of freedom in America. Ed Temple