We asked if the girls returned to the home of their own volition or if any criminality was involved, and the spokesperson said, “No criminality suspected.” As one teen was still missing on June 23, a male resident of the block who had been unaware of their disappearance spoke to Norwood News about his perception of the group home. “I know which house you’re talking about; that’s a disgrace to the community to be honest with you.”

 

Asked what his problem was with the home, he alleged, “The kids are out in the road late in the night, until 1 to 2 o’clock in the morning. It’s really a nice community. I’ve lived here for seven years now and there’s always a problem here.” The resident alleged the teens come and go as they please, adding, “They have fights on the road and the police are always there. I mean every week the police are here.”

 

According to its website, the home is called “Rosalie Hall” and provides support to expectant teens or teens who have recently given birth and are currently in the foster care system. “They have kids, some of them,” the resident continued. “I see little kids and babies and stuff like that.” The resident concluded, “They have boyfriends, and they come over there in front of the property.”

 

On June 11, Heather Guerino of Crusaders for Children’s Rights said she has been complaining to local elected officials about foster agencies since 2023. She alleged, “These foster agencies that are getting millions of dollars in funding and they’re not providing the proper mental health services for the children and for the teens that are in their care.”

Guerino, who owns her own daycare center, “Just Like Home Daycare,” since 1993, explained, “The problem is that when you complain about the children in your care, that they are not getting the services that they’re entitled to, the agency sets you up.”

 

She continued, “The agency will not just set me up, but they’ll set up the foster parents. If a foster parent complains too much about why the child in my care hasn’t been to the dentist, why is this 8-year-old’s teeth rotten, the excuse the case worker will tell you is, ‘Oh, we haven’t had time to take them to the dentist’.”

 

According to its website, Catholic Guardians, founded in 1887, which currently runs Rosalie Hall, with the assistance of the Archdiocese of New York, had a budget of $83 million in 2023.

On Wednesday, July 24, we contacted a female manager at Rosalie Hall by telephone and asked if the five missing teens had returned to the home. The manager responded, “You have to call our main office because we don’t have anything to do with that.”

 

On Tuesday, July 23, Norwood News contacted the communications department at the Archdiocese of New York and asked about the five missing teens. “Caroline” replied saying, “You’ll have to speak to our director; he’s out of the office at the moment.” We did not receive a response from the Archdiocese of New York to repeated requests for comment while the teens were still missing back in June.

 

On July 23, we contacted Catholic Charities, the foster care arm of the Archdiocese. The call went straight to voicemail. On July 23, a representative at the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) said, once again, current laws prohibit the agency from sharing information on specific cases. The representative shared that ACS currently has 120 investigative consultants who are retired NYPD detectives who work closely with law enforcement officials who help to locate missing and vulnerable youth and teens who are reported missing.

An ACS representative previously told Norwood News it recently investigated the neglect of 79,000 children and provides preventive services to 27,000 children daily. The representative said ACS also provides contractual services to 17,000 children through 44 foster agencies citywide.

 

A number of other people have been reported missing in the North Bronx in recent weeks. Click here, here, here, here, here, here,  here, here, here, here, here, here, here here, here, here and here for more details.

 

In November 2024, a supervisor at a Bronx juvenile detention center, Horizon Juvenile Center, located at 560 Brook Avenue in the South Bronx, pleaded guilty to false reporting and to beating a 16-year-old resident. In April 2024, as reported, various Bronx elected officials reacted to allegations of the sexual abuse of youths at the same Bronx Juvenile Detention Center.

As reported, in June, the body of a missing 2-year-old boy from the South Bronx was found in the East River in recent weeks and the little boy’s father has since been arrested and charged in connection with his death. The man is deemed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law.

 

More recently, last week, as reported, the mother of newborn twin boys was recently arrested and charged in connection with their deaths in the Claremont section of The Bronx in November 2020.

 

No child abuse was reported in the context of this story.

 

Anyone who suspects child abuse is urged to call the New York State Central Register Child Abuse & Maltreatment Hotline 24-hours a day at 1 (800) 342-3720.