NEW YORK, NY September 21, 2007 —During a City Council hearing, New York's child welfare agency said it's turning things around with more caseworkers, smaller caseloads and more families receiving social services. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez reports.

The administration for Children's Services says it's also substantiating more cases of abuse and neglect committed by parents and also foster parents. ACS Commissioner John Mattingly says this is a sign caseworkers are conducting better investigations.

The number of calls reporting abuse or neglect continues to grow, despite predictions the calls would drop after media attention on several child deaths receded. During the first half of the fiscal year more than 64,000 reports were received. The extra reporting is seen as positive but not all the statistics were good. The number of children re-abused within a year grew by 2%. For WNYC, I'm Cindy Rodriguez.