NEW YORK CITY ACS DEFENSE LAWYER

 As we have previously discussed, the goal of ACS is not to protect children but to maintain their funding. A large budget crisis is unfolding in NYC. Layoffs by the Mayor have already started. In recent weeks we have seen a disturbing trend by ACS workers. Workers are more aggressive and are removing more children from their parents even during Covid-19. This is a way to try to protect their budget and jobs. Parents must be very aware of this. FIGHTACS.COM NYCCPSLAWYER.COM STATENISLANDACSLAWYER.COM

 The ACS worker will inform parents that they must attend a Child Safety Conference.(CSC) They are also told that no lawyers are allowed at this conference and it cannot be recorded in any way. The CSC is a vehicle designed to obtain more information from the parent and give ACS a stronger case in court. Nothing will be recorded, thus the ACS workers can tell the Court anything they wish about statements that the parents made. IN the vast majority of cases, after the CSC a court case is filed against the parents. IN order to increase stress on the parents it usually happens the same day. The goal of the ACS worker is to place as much pressure on the parents so that they comply. You will also be provided a "parent advocate" in the CSC. This person is used by ACS to give the parent the feeling that someone is on their side. In reality, this is a person who works with ACS every day and must follow the ACS policy of attacking the parent as much as possible. Often the person works...

The case was as complicated as it gets. F.S. and his soon to be ex-wife were in the process of a hotly contested divorce. She had accused him of domestic violence, had him arrested and ACS brought neglect charges against F.S. in Family Court. After a trial before the Hon. Emily Olshansky, the Court found the client did not commit child abuse. "There was a lot at stake for our client in this case. If he lost this case he would have certainly lost custody," Mr. Discioarro said. The soon to be ex-wife testified how awful and controlling F.S. was and how he was violent and abused her for years. Meanwhile, under intense cross-examination, she admitted to shoplifting, and even lying to her friends and family on Facebook as to her academic achievements. "ACS did a very poor job of investigating this case," Mr. Discioarro said. "They should have known that this woman was lying about almost everything in her life." The judge rendered a verdict from the...

ACS workers will file records with their supervisors as the case progresses. These records are notoriously immaculate and are only used to bolster the ACS worker's allegations against the parents. When we show the parents these records they are often shocked as to what the ACS worker wrote in the report. That is why it is so important to record the ACS worker when they visit your home.

ACS workers abuse the families they investigate in many ways. The include: - Lie about the conditions of the child - Lie about the condition of the home - Attack the parents by being rude and bullying parents into parenting programs. - Base theis petition to the court on false evidence. - Make surprise visits to the hom late at night - Pull children out of the class to speak to them - Place chidlren in several different foster homes because of their mismanagement. - Allow chidlren to be abused. If you have been abused by ACS, contact us at 917-519-8417 and we will end the abuse.

In the words of one ACS workers " There is no penalty for wrongfully removing a child from the home". If you are an ACS worker and receive a complaint about a child being abused you have two options. First, you could conduct a full investigation and actually determine if a child is being abused or you can speak to the parent for 10 minutes, determine that the child is abused and demand that the parent enter parenting classes. The second option is obviously easier. It is much easier for an ACS worker to explain to their supervisors that they have found an abused child than it is to document and explain why the child is not abused. It is also less risky. If an ACS worker reports that a child is not abused, they are essentially stating that the family is a healthy unit. This simply takes too much work. Thus, the vast majority of ACS investigations are quick interviews of the parent that are not recorded in any way, and are done in a way for the ACS worker to try and find...

In New York, if you are charged with a crime, the state has to prove to a jury that you are guilty. If you sue someone for injuries or a broken contract, a jury decides who wins. Why are juries so central to our system of government? The answer is very simple. Unlike judges, juries answer to no one. Juries don't have to explain their decision or worry about what their boss is going to think of the verdict. Once a trial is over, jurors simply walk out and go on with their lives. This is not true in family court ACS cases.  If the state wants to remove a child from a parent all they have to do is convince a judge. Why are juries not able to decide if a parent is a good parent or not? There is no answer. Juries act as an antiseptic to the legal system. They have nothing to gain or lose from a verdict. They are not perfect but much better than the current system. Let the community judge what is a good or bad parent.

ACS regularly asks parents to attend what are called family safety conferences. If you are asked to go, DO NOT ATTEND. Typically what happens is an ACS worker and her supervisor will blame the parent and attack him for anything they can conjure up. Then they come up with a safety plan. Almost always they demand that the parent attend services. If you do not follow their demands, the ACS workers will threaten you with court action. Stand on your rights and speak to an attorney before any meeting with ACS.

If you find yourself in Family Coury against ACS it is because ACS filed a petition against you. In this petition you are being accused of child abuse and neglect in some form. ACS will then have to prove to the judge that you are guilty of child abuse. This will involve a trial known as a fact finding in Family Court. It is extremely important to have an attorney at this point that can help you fight the case. You can also go to fightacs.com for more information.

The very first thing an ACS worker will tell a family is that they want the family to receive services. The ACS worker will never tell the parents how long or what type of services they are and expect the parent to comply. In reality these "services" are useless therapy or anger management programs administered by a third party whom ACS had a contract with. Do not fall for the trick. The agencies that administer these services are not controlled by ACS in any way. The only thing the ACS worker cares about is writing a report that says they helped a family and put them into services. The parents are then left to deal with an agency who wants to keep them in the services in order to keep getting public funds. A family of four in counseling for a year can make an agency tens of thousands of dollars. This applies also to foster care agencies that make millions of dollars a year snatching children away from their parents. We will discuss that in the next post.