Responding to the perceived failure of the city to prevent the death of an abused Brooklyn girl, Mayor Bloomberg yesterday announced sweeping initiatives to reform the city’s child welfare agency.

In broad strokes, the mayor described plans for an increased law enforcement presence in child welfare offices and the appointment of a new family services coordinator who will work under the deputy mayor for health and human services to enhance interagency cooperation. He also announced the infusion of $16 million into the Administration for Children’s Services, in addition to redirecting $9 million from existing ACS resources to support high-risk communities. The changes come in the wake of the death of 7-year-old Nixzmary Brown, whose parents are charged in her murder and are alleged to have abused her for years. In addition to the initiatives announced yesterday, ACS has disciplined a half-dozen employees involved in her case and is currently investigating its 10,000 open cases.

While officials are investigating and fixing the system that failed Nixzmary, Mr. Bloomberg pledged new initiatives to help prevent deaths like hers. City government failed in the “sacred” responsibility of protecting those who can’t help themselves, he said. “But the city must be honest about our failings and take steps to address them.”

Yesterday the mayor outlined different areas for child welfare improvement, including reinforcing child safety, increased supervision of child welfare workers, and decreasing workers’ caseloads. He gave city officials 45 days to establish new guidelines for how police, ACS, and the Department of Education interact with each other, after ACS acknowledged its caseworkers did not alert police instant-response teams.

Regarding specific expenditures, the mayor said $11 million would go toward expanding oversight of families currently “known to ACS.” A new Intensive Family Services Unit will supervise an additional 7,000 cases annually. In addition, $9 million in existing ACS funding will be redirected to the communities most in need.

The mayor also committed to hiring additional staff, including 325 new caseworkers. He said the city would spend nearly $3 million to hire 35 senior managers to oversee frontline staff; $1 million to hire experienced staff to train caseworkers, and $1.5 million to hire 32 attorneys to ensure ACS works efficiently in Family Court cases.

Finally, the mayor announced a new ombudsman’s office to facilitate communication between child welfare agencies and the city, and he announced the hiring of 20 experienced law enforcement professionals to train caseworkers and enhanced investigations in ACS field offices.

The chairman of the City Council’s General Welfare Committee, Bill de Blasio, called the $16 million initiative a “good start,” but said it was up to the council and child welfare advocates to “hold the administration’s feet to the fire” to make sure the changes are implemented. “These are a lot of the right changes to make. Some of them are very much overdue; we’ve got a lot of catch-up to do here,” he said.

The initial reaction of child welfare advocates was largely positive. “It seems to me that ACS is trying to strengthen frontline protective practices, which is exactly the area they need to strengthen,” the executive director of the Child Welfare Organizing Project, Michael Arsham, said.

At least one child welfare provider who commended the mayor’s initiative emphasized that community-based agencies should also receive additional financial support. “I think it’s not just ACS, it also has to be the provider agencies that are taking care of the mayor’s and the commissioner’s children,” the executive director of Concord Family Services, Lelar Floyd, said. Mrs. Floyd said providers like herself who work with ACS and receive some city funding have suffered cuts and staffing shortages.

Meanwhile, state lawmakers also responded to the current child welfare crisis. Yesterday, Senate Republicans introduced a bill backed by Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, called “Nixzmary’s Law,” which would mandate life in prison without parole for parents or guardians who cause the death of a child. Similar legislation is being introduced in the state Assembly, which will convene for a public hearing on the issue on February 9.