NEW YORK CITY ACS DEFENSE LAWYER

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...

As with any bureaucratic organization, ACS has goals. But these are not the goals that they politely post on their website. They have nothing to do with "healthy families" and community based approaches to helping parents. ACS workers attack parents in hopes of obtaining one of two results. SERVICES, SERVICES,SERVICES- The main goal o f ACS workers is to enroll every parent they come into contact with into "services". What are these services? Mainly, they are useless parenting classes that are run by third party organizations that make large amounts of money off of parents. The reason for this is simple. At the end of the fiscal year, ACS files a report with the city, state and federal officials and gloats about how many parents they have helped, then ask for more funding. This ensures that the money keeps flowing to the ACS workers and the supervisors who make well into six figure salaries. The favorite family is the one that has no issues. This is a win win fo...

ACS routinely takes advantage of medical "experts" to attack parents in court. They follow the same process every time. A child will go to a hospital with an injury, the attending physician will contact ACS and ACS will accuse the parent of abuse. Despite the parents explanation, ACS will say that the injury could not have happened that way and they will obtain a medical expert to back them up. The interesting thing is that ACS always uses the same two experts. One of a nurse and the other is a medical doctor. If the injuries are so apparent, you would expect many experts to have the same opinion. This is allowed to happen time and time again. The judges are aware that ACS uses the same expert over and over again and simply do nothing. In most cases, the parents cannot afford an expert to contradict what the ACS "experts" are saying. We have highlighted one expert witness who has already been sued by parents who were falsely accused. It is time for judges to put ...

When ACS does not have the evidence to take a parent to court, the will find them "indicated" for child abuse in the central registry. The parent must then do a hearing at the OCFS in Harlem. The New York Office of Children and Family Services ( OCFS) conducts hearings at their office at the state office building at 125th Street in Harlem. These hearings determine if a charge of child negelect will remain in the state registry for outside agencies to view in the future. It is very dangerous to have your name listed with this agency. Potential employers may view this registry and decide against hiring someone who's name is in it. There are certain government positions that do not allow for job applicants to have prior charges of child abuse.

St. George & Port Richmond Crime & Mayhem Teen Escapes From ACS Custody in Staten Island, Police Say By Nicholas Rizzi | January 11, 2017 4:27pm @nickr15 Twitter Facebook Email More ST. GEORGE — A teen escaped from custody while awaiting trial on attempted assault charges, according to police and reports. The 16-year-old escaped from Administration for Children's Services custody outside of Family Court in St. George, Staten Island, shortly after noon on Wednesday. Police were helping to hunt for him, according to the NYPD . "In Family Court today, a young man left the care of ACS ," a spokeswoman for ACS said in a statement. "We’re in touch with his family, and are working with the NYPD to ensure he is foun...

The ACS worker uses the home visit as the first tool of intimidation. They will appear at your front door at any hour. Their goal is to catch the parent off guard. This allows them to move on to the next phase of the process. Once the ACS worker is allowed in, they will usually not show any identification nor will they give you a business card. The ACS worker's goal is to remain as anonymous as possible, while making demands of the parents. The first demand they will make is to claim that you MUST speak to them about your family. These conversations will not be recorded in any way, so as to allow the ACS worker to claim a parent has made certain admissions. It is at this point that parents should be the most on guard. The most important thing to do is to RECORD, RECORD, RECORD. Cell phone cameras are perfect for this. Advise the ACS worker that they will be recorded and that the law allows you to do this. As soon as possible, contact an attorney for help and make no statements t...

The first tools that an ACS worker learns to use against parents is threats and intimidation. This is a very effective strategy. ACS workers can remove a child from a home based on their opinion alone. It is with this threat, that parents are attacked with and demanded that they comply with ACS directives. There are two very important rights that ACS workers are most afraid of. First, in New York state, you , as an individual, have the right to record your conversations as long as you're part of the conversation. With the rise of cell phone cameras this is now easier then ever. As soon as an ACS worker begins to contact you, record all of the interactions. Let the ACS worker know you are recording all of the interactions. You will be threatened and attacked for doing so. Many of our clients have been told by ACS workers that it is illegal for them to be taped. This is simply not the law. State and federal police agencies record criminals on a daily basis.  Record, record, record!! ...

A wonderful group that advocates on behalf of pregnant women released a document that advises mothers o how to protect their children from ACS. It is wonderfully written and easy to understand. You can read the it here. If your finances allow, we strongly suggest that every parent obtain their own private attorney as soon as they are contacted by ACS.   Most importantly, is to never speak to ACS workers without an attorney. ACS workers are trained to attack parents in any way they can. Stand up for your rights. ACSATTORNEY.COM

ACS Commissioner Gladys Carrion is stepping down   Finally, Gladys Carrion is stepping down as ACS Commissioner. Her lack of leadership leaves two dead children in its wake. This is not enough. All of the ACS bosses need to be replaced and an entire  retraining of all ACS workers needs to be done if we are to save the children in need. 

ACS workers have the power to remove children from their parents home without a court order. This is the power they threaten every parent in NYC with and force them to comply. The vast majority of parents will be so frightened that they will do whatever the ACS worker demands. Here are some of the most common ACS worker lies that parents are told: 1. YOU MUST SPEAK TO US 2. YOU MUST LET US INTO YOUR HOME 3. YOU MUST TAKE A DRUG TEST. 4. THE INVESTIGATION WILL ONLY LAST 60 DAYS 5. IF YOU DO NOT COMPLY WE WILL GOT TO COURT Do not fall for these lies. Fight back. Call a lawyer as soon as an ACS worker contacts you. The Law Offices of Michael S. Discioarro, Esq. is here to help. Call 917-519-8417.

We have touched on ACS and the Public Schools in New York City many times. In this post we will go a little deeper. To begin with, both are large multi-billion dollar agencies that are trusted with our children. Both are highly dysfunctional and both are often criticized in the media. Both have highly paid and ineffective administrators who are in charge of their own little fiefdoms and they protect it at all costs.  DOE has one huge advantage over ACS. As soon as school officials see a problem child they quickly call ACS on the parent. Why? It is very simple. By opening an ACS case against the parents , the school has gotten itself off of the hook. So instead of trying to teach children and providing the education that they have a right to, the DOE protects their turf and attacks the parent. Remember the most important thing to ACS and DOE is to keep the funding coming in and keep their inflated salaries and power. Many officials in the DOE and ACS would have a very difficult tim...

The Family Court Act and the New York Civil Procedure Law spell out exactly how a parent should be notified to appear in court. These are legally mandated rules that must be followed by anyone in the court system. Well, here is how ACS attempts to serve parents of a legal notice. Our clients found this under their door. The name of the client is wrong, it does not give any information about the case and is absolutely not acceptable as a form of legal service. This is yet another example of the dysfunction at ACS. This agency has the power to remove children and cannot even properly serve a parent. It is a disgrace. brooklynacslawyer.com

After years of handling ACS cases, one piece of advice stands the test of time. No parent should engage the ACS worker in discussions about the case without an attorney. There are some basic and very important reasons for not doing so. First and foremost, the ACS worker is trained to look for anything that they can blame the parent for. They will dig into your life, speak to teachers and even harass your neighbors. Second, ACS workers do not record the conversations in any way. If you notice any trial, the courtroom has a court reporter that writes down everything that has been said. This is very important because words matter. In fact, ACS workers are in constant fear of being recorded given the ease and wide spread use of cell phones today. Once you tell them you are recording, they will become agitated and scream that they don't want to be recorded. Lastly, if you speak to the ACS worker they can claim you made statements you did not make. This is crucial when handling cases of...

Routinely, ACS lawyers need exert witnesses to testify in court against parents.  These experts need to be nurses or medical doctors. In order to advance their agenda, ACS has a few medical professionals on call for court testimony.  These are not doctors and nurses in the traditional sense. They are part of the ACS apparatus that accuses parents of child abuse. They do very little research in any of the cases and will gladly swear under oath that the child they have examined is being abused by their parents. In  the most outrageous cases, the child psychologist will testify about a child, without ever speaking with them. In our practice we routinely see ACS use the same "experts" over and over again. The ACS lawyers count on the fact that most parents in New York City accused of abuse cannot afford to hire their own experts. In one recent child abuse trial, the ACS experts were easily discredited and the client was found NOT GUILTY of all charges. Child abuse should not ...

Under the Family Court Act ACS has the power of Emergency Removal of a child from a parent, the law states: A peace officer, acting pursuant to his or her special duties, police officer, or a law enforcement official, or a designated employee of a city or county department of social services shall take all necessary measures to protect a child's life or health including, when appropriate, taking or keeping a child in protective custody, and any physician shall notify the local department of social services or appropriate police authorities to take custody of any child such physician is treating, without an order under section one thousand twenty-two of this article and without the consent of the parent or other person legally responsible for the child's care, regardless of whether the parent or other person legally responsible for the child's care is absent, if (i) such person has reasonable cause to believe that the child is in such circumstance or condition...

When ACS workers do not have enough evidence to take parents to Family Court and accuse them of neglect, they file a case with the OCFS, The New York Office of Children and Family Services. Here are the basic steps in that process. 1. The parent is given a letter with a case number, indicating that a case has been open. The letter states the agency has 60 days to investigate. This is not true. ACS will keep cases going as long as they want. 2. The parent will then be sent another letter stating that they have been, "indicated" for child abuse. They are then given instructions how to have a hearing. 3. A preliminary conference is held before a judge. A hearing will then be scheduled. 4. A hearing will take place. The judge issues a written decision in about three weeks. This is not a process parents should go through alone. Most at risk are parents who have jobs in the medical or child care field. Retain an attorney as soon as you have been notified that there is a...

While Staten Island is often called the forgotten borough, ACS is very active in attacking parents in court. Because of the small size of the county, there are only a small number of family court judges and  this allows ACS greater freedom in charging parents. The ACS legal department knows they simply have to cater to the desires of these judges and that makes it easier to create cases against clients. Fortunately, for the parents of Staten Island, the judges in Family Court are very balanced and are good at challenging ACS when cases are brought. If ACS has called you, you must call us!You must find a lawyer that is a skilled negotiator and also has powerful ability in a courtroom setting. With the exceptional legal qualifications of NYC Child Abuse Defense Attorney Michael S. Discioarro, your case will be fully reviewed and evaluated to determine the best course of defense to protect you. In any ACS case, all evidence against you must be thoroughly investigated and all a...

In a recent case, the parents obtained medical care for their child and ACS was involved. The ACS worker assured the parents that this case was of no concern. Then the parents received a letter in the mail saying they were indicated for child abuse. When the parents tried to obtain an explanation from ACS, the ACS worker would not return their calls. This is a classic ACS case. They assure the parents that nothing is wrong and then hit them with a indication. What this means is now the parents will have to file for a hearing if they want to be removed from the indicated list. This is simply a way to attack parents without any actual proof .Brooklynacslawyer.com

This is a common question asked by our clients . The answer is very complicated but we will try and simplify it. ACS is a state agency and because of that they have certain immunity. Than means they can only be sued for certain things. The best way to sue ACS is to hire an attorney that practices in suing state agencies like police departments. These types of lawyers know how to effectively sue these state actors and will be able to best tell you if your case has merit or if its worth pursuing. ACS will try to hide as much evidence as possible and you should have a lawyer who can attack them in effective ways. You can learn more at brooklynacslawyer.com

Often ACS workers will run into parents that do not allow them to speak alone with the child. ACS workers have a very easy way of getting around this. They simply go to the child's school and pull them out of class and speak to them without the parent present. School officials are so terrified of ACS workers that they quickly hand the child over to them and the workers talk to the chile alone. This allows the worker to claim that the child made certain statements. If ACs workers meet resistance from school officials they simply threaten them with being arrested for interfering with an investigation. As soon as an ACS worker contacts you, you should contact at attorney as soon as possible. Stand up for your right, or go to BROOKLYNACSLAWYER.COM