NEW YORK CITY ACS DEFENSE LAWYER

THE SHOCKING NY TIMES STORY IS BELOW: Shantell lifted her 11-month-old daughter onto her right hip and looked into her eyes until she smiled. Then, she locked her long arms as if to make a swing and swayed the toddler back and forth. It was the kind of daily interaction that her lawyers say was unfairly stripped away from Shantell, who is intellectually disabled and a mother to two other daughters, ages 2 and 3, and parents like her. Child welfare workers have removed Shantell’s three children from her care at various times, beginning in July 2016, following reports from hospital staff and social workers that her “developmental delays” and “mental delays” could hinder her ability to parent. With the help of lawyers, Shantell’s children were returned to her by November 2016, but the ordeal spurred her to join a class-action lawsuit filed last week against New York City for violating the rights of parents who have intellectual disabilities. Shantell, ...

This is not a political blog. This office takes no position as to the political choices of NYC. However, when we see a public official acting against the interest of children, we must speak. Mayor Deblasio http://www.fightacs.com has simply failed to protect the children of this city. How many more children have to die until we are given an agency that is able to protect them. ACS needs to rebuilt from top to bottom. The ACS workers that are currently there cannot do the job. ACS has been trained for decades to attack parents, not to protect children. This can only happen if the entire agency is gutted and rebuilt. This must happen now.