The videotaped arrest of mother Jazmine Headley last week has focused attention on how the city’s social service and law enforcement systems treat women of color and their children. While the incident in Brooklyn last Friday gained singular attention for the disturbing image of police officers forcibly ripping Headley’s child out of her arms, there are other ways in which the system separates parents from their children.

Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.

ACS Commissioner David Hansell.

Last fiscal year, just under 4,000 children were removed from their families and placed in the city’s foster-care system, which exists to protect kids from neglect and abuse but has long been criticized for over-reaching in communities of color.

City Limits’ Harry DiPrinzio wrote recently about one troubling aspect of the foster-care system. The number of foster-care cases in New York City has dropped substantially over recent years. But what has risen over the same period is the number of children who suffer abuse while in foster care.

On Tuesday, DiPrinzio appeared on the Brian Lehrer Show to discuss his findings. Listen below: