NEW YORK CITY ACS DEFENSE LAWYER

NEW YORK  -  Nov. 30, 2020  -  PRLog  -- In New York, the Family Court Act gives the parents the right to demand the return of their children if they have been removed by ACS. The actual law is as  follows: Up the application of the parent or other person legally responsible for the care of a child temporarily removed under this part or upon the application of the child's attorney for an order returning the child, the court shall hold a hearing to determine whether the child should be returned (i) unless there has been a hearing pursuant to section one thousand twenty-seven of this article on the removal of the child at which the parent or other person legally responsible for the child's care was present and had the opportunity to be represented by counsel, or (ii) upon good cause shown. Except for good cause shown, such hearing shall be held within three court days of the application and shall not be adjourned. Upon such hearing, the court shall grant the ...

 The matter of H.H. in Queens Family Court involved a four year old boy that was taken into foster care by ACS, without justification. It was time to demand the return of the child to our client. The vehicle for this is a 1028 hearing. The judge must decide wether the parent is an imminent risk to the child. On the day of the hearing ACS, not being able to produce a shred of evidence against our client, backed down and returned the child to our client. This was a joyous occasion for all and child and mother are doing wonderful despite what ACS has put them through. If ACS has targeted your family, call our hotline at 917-519-8417 and let us fight for you. QUEENSACSATTORNEY.COM STATENISLANDACSLAWYER.COM NYCCPSLAWYER.COM

 ACS workers are trained to obtain cooperation from parents. In this endeavor, they have what are called hard and soft tactics. One of the most effective soft tactics that they have is to tell the parent in the beginning of the investigation that they (the acs workers) doesn't even know why they are there and the investigation " should be closed soon."  This has the affect of putting the parent at ease. Then, the ACS worker will return to the home and state that their " supervisor" has told them they must take services from ACS or face a case being filed against them in family court. This scenario can vary a little but the outcome is always the same. The parent cannot understand how the case went from being closed to the parents having to do services. These tricks used by ACS workers are akin to the used car salesman using his "manager" as a higher authority. Unfortunatey, we are dealing with the safety of children and the rights of parents. The goal o...

During child safety conferences, ACS workers will assign a parent an "advocate". This is a person who works for ACS who's job it is to advocate for the parent. In reality, this person will advise the parent to simply cooperate with ACS and the case will beaver soon. They are there to "soften up" the parent so ACS workers can extract more information from the parent and attack them as much as they can. If you are being taken to a child safety conference by ACS, contact an attorney as soon as possible. our hotline is 917-519-8417. FIGHTACS.COM STATENISLANDACSLAWYER.COM

The Family Court Act section 1028 allows parents to have a hearing if their children have been removed by ACS or in many cases if the parent has been excluded from the home. In the vast majority of cases, the Court must begin the hearing within three days. Here is the catch, the Court does not have any time frame in which it must conclude the hearing.  Family Court judges in NYC are swamped to say the least. The demands on their time are severe and ultimately parents and children suffer. So how does one actually win a 1028 hearing? To begin with, the burden is on ACS to show that the parent is an imminent risk. Imminent does not mean possible. The risk must be real and lurking. Each case is unique but here are some things you must do: - Bring witnesses if any - Be prepared to testify on your own behalf. -Use ACS tactics against them. - Read all of the progress notes in the case. ACS has certain tricks and tactics that they use in order to win the hearing. Remember a chi...

PROTRACTED 1028 HEARINGS FIVE CASE STUDIES RAISING STATUTORY AND CONSTITUTIONAL CONCERNS ABOUT NON- EXPEDITED HEARINGS UNDER SECTION 1028 OF THE FAMILY COURT ACT IMPACT LITIGATION PRACTICE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The New York Family Court Act enumerates procedures in abuse and neglect cases that are intended to safeguard fundamental familial rights. These procedures balance the state’s interest in protecting children from harm with the family’s interest in unity free from government interference. The Bronx Defenders represents thousands of parents facing abuse and neglect allegations each year. In this report, we shine a light on operational and structural problems within the Bronx Family Court that routinely result in the prolonged and unwarranted separation of families and which cause the kinds of harm that the Family Court Act was designed to prevent. When the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) temporarily removes children from their parents pending trial in abus...

This is one of the most common questions that parents have. The answer is yes, by court order, here is the law under the FCA section 1034: ( ii) Where a court order has been requested pursuant to this paragraph the court may issue an order under this section requiring that the parent or other persons legally responsible for the child or children produce the child or children at a particular location which may include a child advocacy center, or to a particular person for an interview of the child or children, and for observation of the condition of the child, outside of the presence of the parent or other person responsible. Because most ACS workers are lazy and know very little about the law, they will simply go to the child's school and take the child out of class and speak to them. They work in conjunction with the DOE. Private schools often limit access to ACS and demand court orders. fightacs.com brooklynacslawyer.com

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...

The case of ACS v. A.W was particularly sad. The child had been in 6 different foster homes in 8 months of life. and ACS wanted to continue to put her in another home. The Law Offices of Michael Discioarro, LLC filed for a 1028 hearing on behalf of the father of the child. After a three day hearing, the Court granted the father's motion and the baby was returned to the father. " It is simply outrageous how stubbornly acs tries to hold on to kids in foster care. There is clearly a financial motive behind it. A child in foster care is worth tens of thousands of dollars to ACS" Mr. Discioarro said. If your child has been removed, you should discuss the option of filing for a 1028 hearing to demand the return of the child to the parent. BROOKLYNACSATTORNEY.COM QUEENSACSLAWYER.COM BROOKLYNACSLAWYER.COM

The ACS worker's main goal is to enroll parents into "services" These useless classes run by third party organizations do nothing expect allow ACS to make pretend that they are doing their jobs. In reality, these services are not effective and are only there to suck more funding out of city and state governments. The biggest of these services is a "parenting program." These are classes held throughout the city by social services organizations that rely on ACS to fund them . They teach nothing about parenting and are simply another box for acs to check off. Another big target for ACS workers is to send parents for drug treatment even if they do not have a drug problem. These programs last for years and a are a total waste of tax payer time. Lastly, the favorite service of ACS workers is the "mental health" services. This allows the ACS worker to claim that the parent is not well mentally and needs "treatment" If an ACS worker is trying t...

ACS has different schemes in order to entrap parents. One of their favorite tactics is to allege that the parent has mental health issues and demand that they do a mental health evaluation. They demand that the parents go to the ACS office and do a CSAC assessment. "There are many diagnoses that get used liberally to describe stress and poverty," says Jessica Marcus, a supervising attorney with the Brooklyn Family Defense Project of Legal Services NYC. "Somebody is angry and they are classified as hostile. Well, who wouldn't be angry or hostile if somebody had removed their child from them or threatened to remove their child? It's a way of basically taking someone's poverty and powerlessness and treating it like it's a diagnosis and a disease, when it's really a natural response to a difficult situation."  This is the problem. If a parent is upset at ACS, they will claim the parent has anger management problems. You you need a mental ...

Foster Care as Punishment: The New Reality of ‘Jane Crow’ By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD and JESSICA SILVER-GREENBERG JULY 21, 2017 Continue reading the main story Share This Page Photo Maisha Joefield briefly lost custody of a child who wandered away while she was taking a bath. Credit Kevin Hagen for The New York Times Maisha Joefield thought she was getting by pretty well as a young single mother in Brooklyn, splurging on her daughter, Deja, even though money was tight. When Deja was a baby, she bought her Luvs instead of generic diapers when she could. When her daughter got a little older, Ms. Joefield outfitted the bedroom in their apartment with a princess bed for Deja, whi...