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States that there is no way to know whether New York City's strict rules to protect the welfare of the 50,000 abused or neglected children it has placed in foster care are being met. The oversight staff, which was dismantled last year, had drafted reports, but they were never completed. The elimination of the oversight units marks the final unraveling of an accountability system set up in the late 1970s to help change a troubled child welfare system.

Discusses the dramatic increase in the number of single working mothers in recent decades. They often cannot afford housing, health insurance or quality day care, and most of them get no child support from their children's fathers. This year, the federal government has modestly expanded a program to help low-income working families. Gives examples of several mothers who are struggling.

Presents the contents of a report of the Federal Civil Rights Commission, which concludes that Asian-Americans, who make up the fastest-growing minority in the nation, face widespread discrimination in the workplace and are often victims of racially motivated harassment and violence. Widespread failure to provide for their needs; Equal access denied to a decent education and the voting booth; Unfair treatment by police and the courts.

Analyzes the results of a survey documenting that crack use is widespread among the homeless in New York City, and deals with the question of whether releasing those results will set off a backlash against the homeless or prove that society must do more to help them.

Discusses how a New York City mayoral commission found in an recent survey that eighty percent of the homeless men housed in vast armory shelters and 30 percent of adults in shelters for families abuse drugs or alcohol. System's overhaul urged; City's program found unable to help the homeless fight crippling disabilities; First time urine testing added to the survey; Extreme poverty, mental illness, AIDS, domestic violence, lack of education or job skills; More.

Presents a special report on how New York City's child welfare system failed Yaakov Riegler, an 8-year-old retarded boy who was beaten so severely by his mother that he never woke from a coma.

Tells of New York City Mayor David N. Dinkins' efforts to quiet feuding between members of his Administration and of a mayoral commission on the homeless that has called for sweeping changes in the city's shelter system. The outcome of the dispute will determine who controls the homeless system and the more than $400 million that is spent each year on the problem.

Says that a mayoral commission gave New York City Mayor David N. Dinkins proposals to remake the city's homeless shelter system and immediately ran into criticism from major administration officials. The controversy left Dinkins in the awkward position of deciding whether to take the advice of his staff or the commission he appointed in September. Other complications.

States that a mayoral commission is recommending a sweeping overhaul of New York City's troubled shelter system, including introducing rent subsidies to help the homeless pay for housing. The commission would offer the homeless a richer array of services, including drug treatment, psychotherapy and job training, in smaller settings. But it would also require the homeless to take steps like enrolling in a drug-treatment program to qualify for subsidized permanent housing.

Presents a report by a panel of experts, which shows that seven children, whose families had been previously identified by New York City's child protection system as abusive or neglectful, died in 1990 after they were repeatedly beaten over a period of time. Also, at least three children, taken from their parents for their safety, died at the hands of their foster mothers. Weaknesses in the system.

Discusses how New York City needs to provide smaller homeless shelters and group homes for the mentally ill who often have to stay in large shelters that are ill-equipped to properly take care of them and are too frightening for them to handle. City officials acknowledge `the Fort' and other large shelters are threatening to the mentally ill; Efforts to provide smaller shelters for the city's 20,000 mentally ill are in trouble; No one wants them in their backyard; More.

Says that the unwillingness of many unwed mothers to identify their childrens' fathers months or years after the children are born, when anger, guilt and pride can get in the way, is one of the chief barriers to collecting child support and combating poverty among millions of children. How policymakers are trying to get around this problem.

States that New York State leaders are seriously considering ending or sharply curtailing spending to open new group homes for the mentally ill for the next 15 months--a money-saving move that would mean more disturbed people on the streets, in homeless shelters and in hospitals. The proposals are part of an effort to close an estimated $5 billion budget gap through the end of the next fiscal year.

Comments that New York City Mayor David N. Dinkins' plan to scatter 24 shelters throughout the city may be battered, but behind the angry attacks it has drawn lie the seeds of a consensus for profoundly changing the city's despised system for sheltering the homeless. Dinkins, City Council Speaker Peter F. Vallone and others involved in the issue agree that a new approach should include the treatment and training considered essential if the homeless are to get back on their feet.

Presents the second of four articles on life at the bottom, focusing on the Mott Haven neighborhood in the Bronx. Describes what happened when New York City, under pressure to move the homeless out of dangerous and expensive welfare hotels, placed thousands of families in shelters and renovated apartments. Resentment between established residents and the homeless.

Presents the first of four articles on life at the bottom, focusing on Mott Haven, a neighborhood in the Bronx. Describes the poverty, lack of health care, the abundance of drugs and the lack of many of the threads that knit other very poor neighborhoods together.

Comments on the victimization of the elderly by grown children or grandchildren who are addicted to drugs or alcohol--a disturbingly common phenomenon. Case of Tracey Bowe, a crack addict accused of murdering her grandmother Mary Bowe; Research on abuse of the elderly.

Analyzes the child welfare system in New York City. Cites the cases of 8-year-old Tiesha Carter, found beaten, burned and locked in a closet, and 8-month-old Ashlei M. Orellane, who died from a beating. Questions how well the city is balancing the goal of keeping troubled families together with its responsibility to protect children. Inadequacies in the child welfare system; Difficult decisions.

States that the Dinkins Administration has changed a strategy of quickly placing New York City's welfare mothers in mostly low-paying jobs in favor of a more expensive--and as yet unproven--investment in education and training. The aim is to eventually lead the women out of poverty into higher-paying jobs, improving their chances of staying off welfare and thus saving taxpayers money in the long run.

Says that the only day care center in New York City dedicated solely to children with AIDS is scheduled to close on January 1. The fate of the center is part of a larger debate about how best to care for poor families affected with AIDS. The center's administrators say some families need the `cocooning' provided there. Other city officials say children with AIDS are best helped in mainstream programs.

Says that New York City's shelter system for homeless families has become so livable that hundreds, if not thousands, of families who could stay elsewhere are flocking to shelters so they can move to the top of the list for permanent subsidized housing. They are distorting the shelter system's original purpose and are raising questions about the city's strategy for aiding homeless families.

Reports that a federal court judge in Manhattan ordered that ten of the adopted children of Kodzo Dobosu, a man who won prominence as an exemplary father willing to take on troubled children, be taken away from him. The ten children will be placed in foster care.

Describes Homebuilders, a program model used in Detroit, aimed at preventing thousands of children from going into foster care. New York City is about to begin a similar multimillion-dollar program.

Discusses New York City's multimillion-dollar prevention effort aimed at keeping troubled families together. Details of the plan. Expectations.

Discusses the impact of the New York City budget cuts on many of the city's social programs. Hardest hit were some of the most innovative programs that were intended to break the cycle of poverty for children. Examples.

Says that finally, after a lawsuit, horse trading and months of meetings, New York City will install six self-cleaning European public toilets as an experiment next spring. Opposition; Obstacles; Handicapped issue.

Profiles Kodzo Dobosu, 51-year-old former civil rights worker who adopted 35 hard-to-place youngsters over the last 20 years and has been the subject of television tributes and national honors. He is accused of sexually abusing his 14-year-old daughter and, if convicted, faces seven years in prison.

Says that a Family Court judge, expressing concern for the safety of 17 adopted children living with Kodzo Dobosu, 51, of Harlem, who is charged with sexually abusing his daughter, ordered the city to place a homemaker in the man's house 24 hours a day.

Tells about 51-year-old Kodzo Dobosu of Harlem who has 18 adopted children and has single-handedly raised dozens of unwanted children over the years. He faces charges of sexually abusing his 14-year-old adopted daughter. To some neighbors he is a personable, caring role model. To others, he is peculiar.

Explains the hold-up in installing five streetside public toilet kiosks in New York City for use by homeless people, tourists and ordinary citizens--two laws may have to be changed and interest groups will have to compromise cherished positions.

Says that the homeless people in New York City are writing to Mayor David N. Dinkins, urging him to keep open the drop-in centers. Those centers are one of Dinkins' pet programs, but they are in danger of being closed due to the fiscal crisis.

Comments on infant mortality in New York City, which has fallen for the first time in four years. It is attributed to a decline in the use of cocaine by pregnant women and improved prenatal care last year. Statistics.

Says that New York City has spent two and a half years and $25 million trying to turn a decrepit rooming house into a model residence for 300 homeless people, but no one lives there yet because the city has been unable to pick someone to run the place. Holland Hotel is a case study of creative social policy stalled, not by lack of money, but by bureaucratic fumbling.

Discusses the case of a 7-month-old baby who was found dead of starvation by his mother, Jane Scott, 28, after she returned home from a six-day crack binge. She and the child's father, Jose Valdez, 26, were arrested and charged with manslaughter and abandonment.

Discusses the laws protecting the privacy of families, which often make it difficult for anyone outside the child-welfare system to find out how the system works in child abuse cases, even after a child has been murdered. Increasingly, these laws are being questioned as some advocates for children charge that the laws too often shield bureaucracies that function poorly and make dreadful mistakes.

States that New York City Mayor David N. Dinkins effectively rejected the sweeping overhaul of the city's troubled shelter system recommended by a mayoral commission, saying that his Administration would study its major proposals. But he endorsed some of the commission's ideas, including a pilot rental subsidy program for 200 homeless families and a heavier reliance on nonprofit groups to develop and run shelters.