NEW YORK CITY ACS DEFENSE LAWYER

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...

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 Schind...

Given the headlines that a dead child makes and the fact that the Mayor and the state have thrown millions of dollars at ACS, one would think that they could find a way to right the ship and actually protect children. This theory would apply to almost any agency, but not ACS. There is a structural reason for this and after 17 years of handling hundreds of cases and dealing intimately with ACS workers and lawyers, we have some answers. BLAME THE PARENT AT ALL COSTS The major reason that ACS fails and children die is that the focus is not on protecting the child. Once a report of child abuse comes in, the ACS worker will go to the home and immediately star t attacking the parent. The agenda of ACS workers is to make every parent a bad parent and demand that they enroll in services. This does not leave any time to actually focus on the children that are in true need. In fact, ACS workers, the majority of whom are poorly trained and lazy, would rather attack a healthy family then one w...