NEW YORK CITY ACS DEFENSE LAWYER

 ACS workers have a very powerful tool against parents in child abuse investigations. When an ACS workers interviews a child and is not given the answers that will allow him to charge the parents with child abuse, they will conduct a Child Advocacy Center interview. The process is as follows. The child is taken to a CAC center, where an "expert" interviewer will browbeat the child into admitting that the parents did something. As soon as a child says anything negative about the parent, the interview stops and the parent will be charged with child abuse. This is done to children as young as four. The interviews are recorded and presented in court. The interviewer is usually a recent college grad who has been given clear instructions to try and get "something" on the parents. To view some of these interviews is truly shocking. If a child says nothing happened he is not believed. If a child lies about various issues its put down as kid talk. The only thing that matters...

There are certain rules that apply to all ACS cases no matter what the charge. These are things that parents must do in order to win the case; 1. Document who all the players all. ACS workers like to hide their identity so make sure to ask for id. 2. Gather all of the evidence that you need and present it to ACS and make sure they acknowledge receipt . 3. record any and all ACS conversations. 4. Make sure you and your attorney are on the same page. 5. Line up your witnesses. 6.Be respectful of Judge. These are some of the basic rules that you must follow. Remember that ACS workers will lie about your case at every chance they get so stay on top of their lies. Keep in constant contact with your attorney and make sure he understands your point of view. STATENISLANDACSLAWYER.COM FIGHTACS.COM BROOKLYNACSLAWYER.COM

One of the most common questions we receive is, Can I sue ACS? The answer is it depends and will you be successful? The first thing you must do is file a notice of claim. This puts the city on notice t hat you plan to sue them. You will have to doe a deposition that the city will take and try to assess your case. ACS has something called qualified immunity that means that they can get away from a lot of abuse against parents. It is vitally important to contact a civil rights lawyer if ACS removed your kids or has abused you as a parent. STATENISLANDACSLAWYER.COM MANHATTANACSLAWYER.COM

One of the most frightening thing that a parent will face is a knock at the door by an ACS worker. ACS workers do not have badges or guns, many don't eve carry id or business cards. They are a highly untrained and unprofessional group. However, they do have the power of the state behind them. Once an ACS worker receives a case they must, by their own regulations, see the child within 24 hours. This is something they take very seriously. They want to see the child as soon as possible. So what should you do? If you refuse to open the door, the ACS worker will return with the police to try and intimidate you into opening the door. If that fails, the ACS worker will go to court and ask a judge for a warrant. Because of the vindictiveness of how ACS workers operate, they will ask a judge to order you to bring the child to ACS offices within a specified period of time. As soon as you hear an ACS worker contact you, contact an attorney as soon as possible. The ACS worker will say you ...

Officer Charged in Murder of Son, 8, Kept in Freezing Garage, Police Say “Get your hands off his mouth”: Audio was captured hours before the boy’s death at the hands of his N.Y.P.D. father, officials said. Officer Michael Valva was arrested and charged on Friday with killing his 8-year-old son. Credit... Johnny Milano for The New York Times By  Rebecca Liebson Jan. 24, 2020 The voices were captured by household surveillance equipment. “Get your hand off his mouth,” a woman says. “There’s people everywhere.” The woman, Angela Pollina, was talking to her fiancé, Michael Valva, a New York City police officer. The mouth she was urging him to remove his hand from belonged to his son, Thomas, an 8-year-old with autism, officials said. Not long after the recording was made, the authorities said, Thomas Valva was dead. He had been kept overnight in the couple’s unheated Long Island garage as the temperature outside plunged t...

This is the ultimate question we receive from parents. ACS has the power to remove a child in an " emergency" under the Family Court Act. ACS can also ask a judge to remove a child from a parent during the pendency of a case. Some of the major reasons that ACS would remove a child are: - sexual abuse - excessive corporal punishment - alcohol or drug abuse by parent - disobeying court order Once a child has been removed from a parent they can either go into the care of a relative, known as kinship care, or into the foster care system. The foster care system in New York City is rife with abuse and neglect and is expressly poorly managed. It is one of the major failures of ACS. While their are many well-meaning foster care parents, ACS is highly dysfunctional in supporting them. This has been a problem for decades and ACS refuses to fix the issues in the foster care system. FIGHTACS.COM BROOKLYNACSLAWYER.COM QUEENSACSLAWYER.COM

Opinion: City is Spinning Child-Welfare Stats By   Richard Wexler  |   March 28, 2019 RECOMMEND TWEET   EMAIL PRINT MORE NYC MMR Were there a hotline to which one could report statistics abuse, the leaders of  New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services would have their rights to their spreadsheet software terminated. ACS Commissioner David Hansell’s  recent column  for  City Limits  is only the latest example.  The agency regularly cherry-picks data to disguise the fact that, under Hansell’s leadership, ACS has retreated from reform and subjected more children to the enormous trauma of needless foster care. Consider the matter of time frames.  When it suites him, Hansell is willing to go back decades, in effect taking credit for the accomplishments of others in reducing the number of children in foster care on any given day. But when it comes to the number of children torn from their families in the mos...

ACS Commissioner, David Hansell stating In an interview that ACS workers have "tablets" in the field. This is simply not true. In our 20 years we have never seen an acs worker with tablets. ACS workers could easily record parent interviews but refuse to do so because they can later claim that parents made statements that they did not make. FIGHTACS.COM BRONXACSLAWYER.COM NYCACSLAWYER.COM

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...

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

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...

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

ACS receives thousands of calls a day about child abuse. IN many cases, they will forward the case to the New York Office of Children and Family Services for a hearing. This is a two step process. First, there is a conference. At the conference an ACS attorney will tell the judge about the case against you and how they would like to proceed. The second step is an actual hearing. There are many jobs that you cannot hold if you have an ACS indication. Such as, nurse, child care, elderly care, nursing home. Thus, an indication can have a real impact on the future of any parent. It is imperative that you have an attorney present with you. Without legal help, the ACS lawyers will dictate the terms and may demand that you plead guilty. DO NOT plead guilty. These cases must be tried in the courtroom and you must confront the ACS allegations. When you receive a letter of indication, you must contact an attorney right away. You only have 90 days to prepare a defense. The Law Offices of Michae...

The ACS worker has a very powerful tool in her arsenal. In order to obtain secrets access to your children, they will pull your child out of class in their school. This happens most often at NYC public schools. The DOE has a policy that gives ACS free reign over your children. Thus, the ACS worker will interview your child in private and ask her or him all sorts of questions. This can be very upsetting to a child who has never met the worker and has no way to defend themselves. WHAT CAN YOU DO? Once you are aware that ACS has been called on you, realize that they will go to your school. The first thing is to advise your child, not to speak to strangers. Second, you must advise the school officials in writing that you do not want anyone speaking to your child without you present. NYC DOE will not help you.

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

We are often asked, how does ACS physically take the parents out of the parents home. The first and most blunt way is that the ACS worker will show up with police officers and physically remove the children and take them away. This of course is devastating tot the parents and causes children to be traumatized. ACS does nothing to try to help the children cope with this situation and callously transport the children to a processing center where they languish for days until a home can be found. The most common way that ACS removes kids is by tricking the parents to come to a meeting at the ACS office. The ACS worker and her supervisors will concoct some story about how they need to see the children. Once the children arrive they are separated from their parents and taken into foster care. Another way, is the ACS workers and the police will go and pick up the children at school,WITHOUT WARNING the parents. This may be the most devastating of all because the parents are called at work ...

This is the worst time for parents. ACS workers will show up at your door without notice and demand to be let in. The most important thing you can do when they arrive is to record the entire episode. The ACS worker will object and some tell parents that it is illegal to record them. This is imply not true. You need a record of what occured when ACS workers start to tell their lies. Record, record, record! Protect your rights. ACSATTORNEYS.COM QUEENSACSLAWYER.COM BROOKLYNACSLAWYER.COM BRONXACSLAWYER.COM