Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday said the city needs to examine “if” the Administration for Children’s Services failed little Julissia Batties — who was allegedly murdered by her mother just after being placed back in her care.

The mayor was asked to respond to claims by the girl’s grief-stricken dad that “the system failed her” — referring to ACS deciding to return Julissia, 7, to her mom Navasia Jones less than two months before she was found beaten to death in August 2021.

“We have to really examine exactly if there was a failure,” Adams said at an unrelated press conference.

“Anytime we have cases like this we are in a constant state of analyzing how could we do something better,” he continued, “and so I don’t know if I support what the dad is saying around that.”

The slain girl’s dad, Julius Batties, shot back that the mayor needs to “do his homework.”

“All of this is black and white,” Batties told The Post. “Go look at the records then come back to me.

“You all work for the city and ACS is run by the city,” he said. “It’s a shame on the city and worse shame on the mayor to say that. He should do his homework before he speaks and judge the situation when he doesn’t know what he is talking about.”

The tragic youngster was the subject of a heated custody battle for nearly all of her life. Her paternal grandmother, Yolanda Davis, was temporarily granted custody of Julissia after she was born, and previously has told The Post she “begged” ACS not to send the girl back to her mother.

Jones — who was charged with murder and manslaughter Wednesday — had lost custody of the girl at birth, along with her four sons, due to alleged negligence and physical abuse.

In a heartbreaking audio recording obtained by The Post, young Julissia cried hysterically and begged her grandmother not to send her for a court-ordered weekend visit with her mom.

There was a known history of violence in the home, with police being called to the apartment in NYCHA’s Mitchel Houses at least six times between May 2018 and March 2020 for suspected abuse of the girl, sources have said.

Despite her pleas, Julissia was sent to visit her mother, and, against objections by her grandmother and court-appointed lawyer, ACS placed her there permanently in the spring.

The child’s lifeless, battered body, with evidence of trauma all over, was discovered just a few months later.

Prosecutors alleged Wednesday that the girl’s 18-year-old half-brother, Paul Fine, Jr., assaulted her — physically and sexually — between Aug. 8 and the day she died, Aug. 10, and that their mom did nothing to get her help. He was charged with sexual assault, as well as murder and manslaughter.

Both Jones and Fine Jr. were ordered held without bail at their arraignments.

Julissia’s grandmother said Thursday that ACS “saw the red flag and they ignored it.”

“The child was telling them and they weren’t listening. How can you allow a child to go back to where she’s been abused?” Davis asked.

“I am really hurt,” she added. “I went to the cemetery today. I told her, ‘I’m still fighting for you and I am not going to stop.’ ”

Asked for comment, including on whether an investigation into the case had been opened, City Hall referred The Post to the mayor’s earlier statement and to the ACS.

An ACS spokesman said Thursday that the agency is prohibited by law from commenting on the details of specific cases.

“We conducted an intensive review of this case to do everything possible to keep children safe and families supported,” the spokesman said in an email.

But one city pol said ACS didn’t do enough.

“Obviously the system failed this little girl,” said former city Councilman Stephen Levin, who chaired the body’s General Welfare Committee. “She should never have been in a home with that brother.

“Without knowing the details it’s hard to see where the inflection decisions were made,” Levin added. “But it’s important that ACS as an agency … do a review of what happened.

“This little girl’s future was robbed from her,” he said. “It’s just heartbreaking.”

At a press conference late Wednesday, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said it had taken 10 months to make an arrest in the case because her office wanted to be diligent.

“The medical examiner is not going to rush,” Clark said. “It takes time for them to follow up with whatever leads them to medical evidence, things of that nature.

“So, we didn’t want to rush,” she said. “When we saw things, they take more time to do more tests, to gather more evidence. It just took time. It took as long as it took.”

The autopsy revealed that Julissia was sodomized as she lay dying after suffering fatal blows during the horrific beating, authorities said.

She had 600 millimeters of blood inside her abdomen, the autopsy determined.

Adams on Thursday also defended the delay in the arrests.

“It’s always important,” he said. “You never want to pre-maturely present a case without all the evidence… It must be done correctly.”

Additional reporting by Bernadette Hogan and Sam Raskin