NEW YORK CITY ACS DEFENSE LAWYER

Last winter, Governor Andrew Cuomo engaged Kroll Associates—a premier white-collar investigative firm, renowned for high-stakes snooping in the corporate world—to suggest how to fix the city’s broken child-welfare system. The consultants produced a 31-page report of practical recommendations, including hiring more caseworkers to reduce caseloads, hiring investigators with law-enforcement backgrounds to perform criminal background checks on parents, and increasing the number of ACS staff authorized to see these criminal-history records. Kroll suggested that investigators with law-enforcement backgrounds accompany caseworkers to at-risk homes, and recommended better coordination between the ACS and the Department of Education, as well as other agencies. The consultants also urged the ACS to reduce the “response time” of caseworkers when learning of imminent danger in the home.

Ex-con ACS worker accused of attacking 6-year-old boy in Manhattan Ad Duration 00:00 PLAY PLAY Current time LIVE Duration TOGGLE MUTE Volume SETTINGS PIP TOGGLE FULLSCREEN Candace McCowan, Eyewitness News Updated 39 mins ago KIPS BAY, Manhattan (WABC) --  A child welfare worker is accused of attacking a little boy in Manhattan and Eyewitness News has learned troubling details about his criminal past. Questions remain on how the employee was hired by ACS in the first place after he served 28 years behind bars for second-degree murder. Jacques Edwards, 55, was working Friday at the Nicholas Scoppetta Children's Center on 1st Avenue when the incident happened. EMBED  MORE NEWS VIDEOS NJ Burkett reports on the child welfare worker accused of attacking a little boy in Manhattan. Police say he's accused of pushing a 6-year-old boy in ACS custody into a door, before carrying him to a large metal cabinet

In a recent case in Staten Island, ACS worker Ms. Schiffon Jorge testified about bruises on a child. As in all ACS cases, the ACS workers will allege that any bruise on a child is the result of child abuse by the parents. A scraped knee to an ACS worker in NYC is clear evidence of child abuse.On cross examination, Ms. Jorge stated she had "no" medical training and became defense and said "I am not a doctor.". This did not prevent her from testifying against the parents about suspicious bruises. ACS workers are poorly hired, trained and supervised. The vast majority quit after less than two years. ACS is a highly dysfunctional agency with no real leadership. The most effective tool that parents have against any ACS worker is demand an attorney and not speak to them. Parents have a right to counsel, even though ACS workers will deny this and demand to know why parents obtained a lawyer. FIGHTACS.COM BROOKLYNACSLAWYER.COM

ACS workers will often demand to speak to the children alone outside the presence of the parents. This is a common request by aggressive ACS workers. If a parent does not comply, the ACS worker will go to court and ask a judge for an order directing the parents to do so. Unfortunately, we are seeing this tactic more and more. It is also true that the vast majority of Family Court judges will rubber stamp most ACS requests. It is difficult to find a truly independent Family Court judge. Most live in fear of ACS, Thus granting any motion ACS brings before them. If you are a parent facing such an issues, contact an attorney immediately. You must address these issues in court and make the judge aware what ACS workers have been doing. FIGHTACS.COM

ACS wrongfully accused a mother of harming her sick child. Queens ACS lawyer, Michael Discioarro, was able to prove to the court that the mother was innocent and ACS was trumping up charges against the family. New York, New York, July 3, 2018 (PressRelease.com) -  The case of ACS v. J.H was a difficult one. The child in question was born ine very difficult manner and as a reult sustained childbirth injuries. As a result, the child underwent numerous surgeries to alleviate the injruies to his head. During one of the hospital stays, ACS witness, Dr. Jamie Hoffman-Rosenfeld, determined that the child was being intentionally injured by someone. ACS lawyers then drafted a petition that accused both the mother and father of abusing their child. The child was placed in foster care for 18 months while the court case dragged on. Finally the case was sent to The Hon. J. Caloras for trial. Because of ACS delays the trial dragged on for months. ACS was represented by attorney Dafna Schindler.

After ACS has made their initial visit, the ACS workers and supervisors have a very useful tool which they use to attack parents with. It is called a CHILD SAFETY CONFERENCE. The parents are ordered by the ACS worker to be at their office at a certain time. One they arrive the parents will be meeting with the ACS worker and her supervisor. This can be more aptly called an ambush. At this conference the ACS worker will accuse the parents of wrongdoing and demand that they enter into "services". During the process, the parents will be threatened with the removal of their children and court action. ACS workers often threaten parents with the statement " we will take this to court ". On important fact about CHILD SAFETY CONFERENCES IS THAT ATTORNEYS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE. ACS worker will not even allow the attorney to wait in the lobby. Thus ACS is the only state agency in America who does not allow an attorney to participate in their proceedings. This puts

Mom charged in baby’s death had already lost custody of 3 kids By  Rich Calder ,  Reuven Fenton  and  Tina Moore June 13, 2018  |  5:47pm  |   Updated  Modal Trigger Joann McLeod Wayne Carrington A K2-addict Bronx mom with a history of having her kids taken away by ACS was allowed to keep her baby despite claims of drug use and neglect in her squalid home —  and two weeks later, she allegedly killed him , sources told The Post on Wednesday. Administration for Children’s Services workers visited Joann McLeod’s apartment in the Bronx River Houses on May 20 based on a complaint, but decided that 5-month-old Raymond Porfil Jr. was not in danger, the sources said. SEE ALSO Mom arrested after baby dies from 'extreme abuse and neglect': cops On June 4, McLeod allegedly threw him against a wall and then put him in his crib rather than seek medical help because she feared she would go to jail, authorities said. He died that day, and she was c

You may have noticed on the NYC subways, that, like many businesses, ACS has had to start advertising. This is because of the plummeting caseloads in Manhattan and Brooklyn. The campaign is targeting subway riders and bus riders, with friendly reminders that ACS  is here to help. This highly dysfunctional agency will only become more dangerous when, as reported by the NY Times, there are 400 new ACS workers being hired this month. The Mayor should be ashamed of this agency and immediately conduct a top down review of its leadership. The children of this city deserve better. BROOKLYNACSLAWYER.COM ACSATTORNEY.COM

Our sources at ACS have advised us that the average caseload for an ACS lawyer in Manhattan is 60 cases. This pales in comparison with the other boroughs who have well over 100 cases. This is a sign of trouble for parents. ACS has a $3.2 billion dollar budget. The first goal of ACS workers is to keep this budget and their paychecks flowing. But in order to do that ACS workers need "customers" in the way of parents to attack.Because of the high concentration of wealth in Manhattan there is less of a need for social services. Thus, ACS workers must not work extra hard to manufacture cases against parents in Manhattan. This has already lead to abuses and will continue to do so. It had gotten to the point where ACS workers are sharing cases in Manhattan to make it appear that they are doing their jobs. Add to this the fact that 400 new ACS workers are being hired this month and the potential for abuse is enormous. FIGHTACS.COM BROOKLYNACSATTORNEY.COM

As we have discussed, anyone can call ACS on anyone else. There are no barriers for anyone to file false complaints against anyone else. So if a call is made against a parent, the ACS worker will show up at the home an any hour and begin to question the parents. In many cases this is done at 2 am when the children are sleeping and the ACS workers demand to see them. So what exactly is the worker looking for? The answer is, anything that the ACS worker can attack the parents with. Simply because an ACS call was made about a parent not having adequate clothing, that does not mean the investigation will start there. It will mushroom into whatever the ACS worker can blame the parent with. ACS workers will ask you to sign a HIPPA form to allow them access to your child's medical records and be given access to your child's school records.Do not sign any documents over to ACS unless you have spoken to an attorney. BROOKLYNACSLAWYER.COM ACSATTORNEY.COM

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All ACS workers tell parents they do not want to be on camera, Why not have a full and accurate record of what was discussed? ACS will record children when it suits them, the police record suspects on a daily basis. Why can't a citizen record an ACS worker? FIGHTACS.COM

ACS workers will often tell parents that the investigation will be open for 60 days. This gives the parents the false hope that of ACS does not find anything in 60 days that the case will be closed. The reality is that this is simply a lie to put the parents at ease. ACS does not follow any timeline or protocol for any of its investigations. For example, in one of our recent cases the parent was visited and threatened with court action by four separate ACS workers. By telling the parent that there is a 60 day window, ACS workers are attempting to induce the parent into "cooperating" in the investigation. As we have discussed, an ACS worker has two goals. The first and most coveted for an ACS worker is the removal of the children from the home into the foster care system. Once a child is placed in foster care, ACS is rewarded with more state and federal funds to care for that child. As well as getting credit for "saving" the child from an abusive parent. The seco

One of the biggest complaints we hear from parents is that the ACS worker barged into their home and demanded to speak to they child outside the presence of the parent. This is a common ACS tactic that allows the ACS worker to claim that the child made statements in order to prosecute a case against the parent. ACS workers rely on the fear and unfamiliarity of parents with the legal system to force parents into useless services that are completely ineffective. In addition, these services are run by third party providers who's only interest is to obtaining new clients and increase their budgets. The ACS budget for this year is a little over 3 billion dollars. It is staggering how ineffective this agency is and how wasteful the senior leadership are with all of the money. Where does it go? Who decides? Why are caseloads still so high? Why is there such high turnover at acs? No one in the upper management has ever answered these questions. This is an agency where failure is the norm

ACS workers will now have former NYPD cops to help them in investigations. As the video states, " they will help parents open the door". This means that the officer will be used to intimidate parents into following ACS orders. This will lead to an attack on the rights of parents. BROOKLYNACSLAWYER.COM

The latest ACS Commissioner to promise reforms. The truth is that the real power at ACS rests with the upper management team. These are career bureaucrats who show up, and cash their checks. They have no interest in any reform. Despite all of the child deaths, not one has been fired. The Commissioner is a figurehead that cannot effect reform. Thus, the children of our great city will keep dying. FIGHTACS.COM QUEENSACSLAWYER.COM QUEENSACSATTORNEY.COM

The city Administration for Children's Services (ACS) announced a new heightened protocol for critical and serious child abuse investigations. The new protocol ensures a review of any maltreated child, who is three years old or younger, and there is a fatality report or a report filed that alleges serious injury and/or sexual abuse. ACS Commissioner David A. Hansell announced the new Heightened Oversight Protocol (HOP), which is a two-step process combining the expertise of ACS' investigative consultant supervisors -- who are retired NYPD detective supervisors and ACS' child protective specialists. "Protecting children is the core of our mission," said Hansell. "This new, heightened protocol will bring more investigative expertise into our highest-risk cases throughout the course of the investigation." Hansell said over the last nine months, ACS has instituted reforms based on evidence, data and best practices in child protection. ACS has increa

According to this article , the NY Times reports that ACS will add 400 ACS workers in June. If true, this will simply be chaos. The article, which is a PR stunt by ACS also states that ACS is tearing away children from their parents at a higher rate than before. This is of little concern to the ACS Commissioner who simply sees it as the way ACS does business.ACS workers are very poorly trained, or not rained at al. Recently, we asked an ACS worker if she knew what the Family Court Act was and she had no idea. To add 400 new ACS workers with the power to remove children from their homes is irresponsible and will lead to more broken families. This new Commissioner is of the opinion that all you have to do is take children away from their parents and they will be fine. This is a very bad sign of things to come. FIGHTACS.COM BROOKLYNACSATTORNEY.COM

ACS receives an anonymous call to their hotline stating that a parent uses drugs around their children. The ACS worker will within 24 hours go to the parents home and demand that they take a drug test. What should you do? To begin with ACS workers do not have the legal power to order you to take a drug test. Only judges can do that.  All the ACS worker will do is threaten you if you don't take the test. Also, ACS will hide the results if they are negative and come back and demand that the parent do parenting classes to resolve the case. If you are contact by an ACS worker and told to take a drug test, refuse and contact an attorney as soon as possible. LAW OFFICES OF MICHAEL S. DISCIOARRO 11 BROADWAY SUITE 615 New York, NY 10004 FIGHTACS.COM

ACS workers have two options if they file a case against a parent. They can either file a petition in Family Court or an indicated case at the Offices of Children and Family Services. If there is little evidence against the parents they will only file at OCFS. This can be real trouble for parents that work with children or in the healthcare field. The first thing you must do is respond to the allegations right away. The law limits the amount of time that you have to appeal. Once an appeal is granted you may have to actually go to a hearing. The Law Offices of Michael S. Discioarro, LLC  will review all of the evidence in your case. We will contact OCFS and demand that the case be dismissed or in the alternative demand a hearing. We will discuss the case with you and appear with you at the hearing is necessary. At each step of the way the goal is to have the case dismissed and you removed from the registry. We will seek all legal avenues to make sure your rights are protected.  If

ACS workers will make home visits at any hour of the day.  They will knock on your door and demand to be let in. So what happens if you don't? Usually, the ACS workers will return with the police and try to intimidate the parents into letting them into the home. This is a common problem. We advise parents as soon as they hear about ACS seeking access, to contact an attorney as soon as possible. The police may not enter your home without a warrant. FIGHTACS.COM BROOKLYNACSLAWYER.COM NYCACSLAWYER.COM

This is a common question that we receive from parents. The answer in most cases is yes. Once you allow an ACS worker into your home, you can record and not tell the worker. If you ask the ACS worker, they will lie and tell you that it is not legal in order to intimidate the parent. ACS workers do not record parent interactions in any way. This allows them to claim that the parents made statements that they did not make. Acs workers will also claim that the investigation will end in 60 days. This is also untrue. The ACS investigation ends when the ACS worker says it does. Be mindful that most ACS worker are extremely rude and unprofessional and very poorly trained. Always stand up for your rights as a parent. FIGHTACS.COM BROOKLYNACSLAWYER.COM

Dr. Jamie Hoffman-Rosenfeld, an expert witness that routinely testifies against parents on behalf of ACS has moved from Queens to Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx. This now means that she will be attacking Bronx parents. Dr. Hoffman-Rosenfeld has been sued in Federal court by a Long Island family after she wrongly accused them of harming their child. Parents of the Bronx should be aware of her presence at Montefiore Medical Center. BRONXACSLAWYER.COM FIGHTACS.COM

Governor Cuomo moved to defund a useless and badly managed program run by ACS to manage juvenile delinquents. There have been hundreds of escapes and the program replay highlights the incompetence that has become the hallmark of ACS. At each step of the child protection process, ACS fails. They fail the children who are really in need and they attack good parents who have done nothing wrong. However, ACS is never held accountable. ACS workers are rarely fired and the Mayor keeps bringing in one commissioner after another to appear as of he is doing something. We, as the people of NYC deserve so much better.  Read the story here. BROOKLYNACSLAWYER.COM BROOKLYNACSATTORNEY.COM

We are asked every day how to sue ACS. The biggest challenge is that ACS holds certain state given immunities. Thus suing ACS and winning is very difficult. Many attorneys will not take an ACS lawsuit case in most instances. We only defend parents and do not bring suit in court. An effective way to hold ACS accountable is to file suit in federal court. The courts have offices that a assist pro-se litigants. ACS has much less power in federal court. They must adhere to the judges schedule or face punishment. If you believe you have a lawsuit against ACS, but no attorney will take your case, consider filing pro-se. You will have to pay all of the associated fees and costs of a lawsuit which can run into the thousands of dollars. Contact federal court today. Click on the links below. http://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/prose?contact https://www.nyed.uscourts.gov/pro-se-office

Parents that have dealt with ACS workers tell horrific tales. How does ACS conduct an investigation?First, the ACS worker will appear on your doorstep without an warning or advance notice. Second they usually do not show id or provide business cards to parents because they do not want to be identified. They will then tell the parent that someone called and ACS has concerns. Any anonymous phone call to ACS will start an investigation. The worker will not tell the parent the exact charges but will only state that ACS has concerns. The ACS worker will then try to speak to your children alone. The most important part of the investigation and what ACS workers are fearful of doing, is recording the interviews in any way. In an era where digital recording is cheap and easy, this is a nightmare for the ACS worker. By not recording the interviews, ACS workers will claim that the parent said things that they did not say. Remember, the ACS worker has two goals. First, is the removal of the ch

Every day, ACS workers go to the NYPD and demand help in accomplishing their work. Usually this involves going to a parents home and by force, remove the children. This is the very last thing that a New York City Police Officer signed up for. They NYPD is fully aware how dysfunctional ACS is and they would rather not deal with ACS workers. However, they are mandate to by their commanders. NYPD detectives also don't like to work with ACS workers because of the sloppiness and baseless of cases that they bring. ACS workers will also involve the NYPD in lawsuits because of the cases that they chose to take to court.  The rank and file police officers do not want to knock on a parents door and remove a child from their custody. The removal of a child from the home is traumatic and can scar a child for life. This has no bearing on ACS workers. To them, its another child they can throw into the foster care system and obtain tens of thousands of dollars a year for funding. QUEENSACSLAW

Fiscal 2018 Preliminary Budget Highlights The City’s Preliminary Fiscal 201 8 Budget is $84.7 billion, $2.6 billion more than the Fiscal 2017 Adopted Budget of $82.1 billion. The Fiscal 2018 Preliminary Budget includes $61.6 billion in City tax-levy funding and $23.1 billion in non-City funds. The Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) Fiscal 2018 Preliminary Budget totals $3.03 billion (including City and non-City funds); this represents approximately 3.5 percent of the City’s total Budget. ACS’ Fiscal 2018 Preliminary Budget is $55.6 million more than the Fiscal 2017 Adopted Budget of $2.97 billion. *The difference of Fiscal 2017 Adopted Budget compared to Fiscal 2018 Preliminary Budget. When compared to the Fiscal 2017 Adopted Budget, personal services (PS) in the Fiscal 2018 Preliminary Budget increases by $37 million. Of the $37 million increase in PS spending, $26 million is for protective services. Other Than Personal Services (OTPS) spending increases by $18.6

To falsely report a crime or event to a public entity is a crime in New York State. See Penal law 240.50(4). ACS receives thousands of calls a day about suspected child abuse in New York City. Many of them are demonstrably false. In fact in once case, our client's accuser told the ACS worker that she lied and would continue to make false calls. So what does ACS do about these false reports? The answer is absolutely nothing. ACS has one agenda- to accuse as many parents of child abuse and keep their funding and make it appear as they are protecting children. They fail at every step. The children who are in real need are ignored and good parents are attacked in order to  pad the ACS statistics. The names of the dead children still haunt us today. If ACS contacts you, do not speak to them. Contact an attorney as soon as possible. WWW.NYCACSLAWYER.COM WWW.BROOKLYNACSLAWYER.COM WWW.BROOKLYNACSATTORNEY.COM

Its 2 am and your doorbell rings. You look outside and you see uniformed police officers, You have no idea what this could be. This is actually a ACS home visit. That is correct. ACS had an emergency unit called ECS that visits families at all times of night. But recently one of our clients received one of these visits after we had gone to court and there was absolutely no emergency. The reason for the search was to make sure my client's husband was not in the home. So ACS will wake up children at 2am with police officers and call this child protection. We have heard many stories like this and have represented many parents whose homes have been invaded by ACS workers. This is how you treat drug dealers not parents. ACSATTORNEYS.COM BROOKLYNACSLAWYER.COM

ACS divides their cases into two very separate groups. The first group is the ACS investigation cases. These are cases where no court action has been taken yet and ACS is simply "investigating" the parents. This is where true lawlessness occurs. The ACS workers are fond of telling parents " you don't need a lawyer, this is not a court case". What the workers skillfully avoid telling parents is that everything that has occurred during this phase will be used against them in court. It is the equivalent of the detective who tells a suspect he doesn't need an lawyer, then walks into court and claims the suspect confessed to him to the crime. At this point, the lawyer is not very effective. Despite state law, ACS workers do not believe parents have a right to an attorney at every stage. The power differential is too great. A parent vs. an ACS worker is not en even match. The next group of cases are the ones where a petition is actually filed in court against th