NEW YORK CITY ACS DEFENSE LAWYER

 This is the ultimate nightmare of any parent. The most frightening thing about the ACS removal process is that it has no rules, boundaries or protocols. The only one who makes the rules is the supervisor that is on the case at that time. Once a child is removed, ACS workers will say and do ANYTHING to keep the child in foster care. As we have discussed, children in foster care are worth tens of thousands of dollars to ACS annually. So when are kids removed? In our practice we have seen certain cases where kids are removed at a faster rate. The first set of cases is sexual abuse cases. If there is any hint of sexual abuse by anyone in the home, ACS will quickly remove the child. Second, physical abuse cases where there are visible injuries. ACS workers will accuse parents of being responsible for every single injury on a child's body. And if a parent does not know exactly how an injury happened the ACS worker will accuse the parents. Those knee scrapes on your child are all your fa...

 We need to revisit this topic because it comes up so often in our practice and by desperate parents who are involved in ACS cases. To begin with, what is meant by suing ACS is filing a lawsuit against the agency, the worker, and the City of New York. In order to file a lawsuit, you should obtain an attorney. While you can file a lawsuit pro se ( without a lawyer), the laws regarding suing the City and the legal procedures are simply too complicated for a non-lawyer to be effective. Thus the first obstacle is retaining a lawyer who will take your case. This is a major hurdle. Cities and states have whats called, qualified immunity. This makes them more difficult to sue. The kind of lawyer you would need is a personal injury lawyer. This may sound strange, but these are the lawyers that routinely sue NYC in court for violating the rights of citizens. There is also another major obstacle. Because these lawyers are used to suing the NYPD and various public agencies, they have very l...

Elisa W. v. City of New York Plaintiffs:  19 foster children, aged 3 through 16, representing the class of over 11,000 New York City foster children Public Advocate:  Letitia James About the NYC Foster Care System New York City’s foster children are more likely to be harmed while in foster care than children almost anywhere else in the country. Each year, approximately 1,000 New York City children leave the foster care system without a permanent family or connection to an adult upon whom they can depend. Many of them wind up homeless. In New York City, children in foster care spend twice as much time in state custody as children in the rest of New York State and over double the amount of time in state custody as children in the rest of the nation. It takes longer to return New York City children in foster care to their parents than in the rest of New York State and the rest of the nation. Federal data shows that New York City performs worse on this measure th...

It is a shock to most parents. You receive a letter in the mail from the Office of Children and Family Services, stating that you have been indicted for child abuse. What does this mean? The OCFS is an office that handles child abuse cases. If ACS does not have enough evidence against parents to bring charges against them in family court, they will bring a case in OCFS. The office does a "review" and advises the parent if they have been indicted. The vast majority of parents will be indicted by OCFS. The process then involves a hearing before an administrative law judge. These indications have serious consequences for parents who work in child care or healthcare. ACS assigns an attorney that handles the OCFS case and will prosecute the case. usually, ACS does not call any witnesses and relies on the reports issues by the ACS worker. Most ACS workers are poorly trained, and seek ways to attack the parent any way they can. It is important to prepare  a cross examination and h...

PROTRACTED 1028 HEARINGS FIVE CASE STUDIES RAISING STATUTORY AND CONSTITUTIONAL CONCERNS ABOUT NON- EXPEDITED HEARINGS UNDER SECTION 1028 OF THE FAMILY COURT ACT IMPACT LITIGATION PRACTICE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The New York Family Court Act enumerates procedures in abuse and neglect cases that are intended to safeguard fundamental familial rights. These procedures balance the state’s interest in protecting children from harm with the family’s interest in unity free from government interference. The Bronx Defenders represents thousands of parents facing abuse and neglect allegations each year. In this report, we shine a light on operational and structural problems within the Bronx Family Court that routinely result in the prolonged and unwarranted separation of families and which cause the kinds of harm that the Family Court Act was designed to prevent. When the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) temporarily removes children from their parents pending trial in abus...

The Staten Island ACS office is located at: STATEN ISLAND 350 Saint Marks Place, Ground floor Staten Island, NY 10301 Cross Streets:  Hyatt Street, Victory Boulevard Directions:    Trains to Bowling Green. Take Staten Island Ferry at Whitehall Terminal to St. George Terminal in Staten Island. Walk (5 minutes) South-West  Train to South Ferry Station.Take Staten Island Ferry at Whitehall Terminal to St. George Terminal in Staten Island (5 minutes). Walk (5 minutes) South-West Parents are often asked to go to this office for what are known as Child Safety Conferences. These meetings are designed to attack the parents and demand that they agree to "services" or risk going to Staten Island Family Court and having their children removed. IF  ACS HAS CONTACTED YOU CALL US AT 917-519-8417. nycacslawyer.com brooklynacslawyer.com

You may have noticed on the NYC subways, that, like many businesses, ACS has had to start advertising. This is because of the plummeting caseloads in Manhattan and Brooklyn. The campaign is targeting subway riders and bus riders, with friendly reminders that ACS  is here to help. This highly dysfunctional agency will only become more dangerous when, as reported by the NY Times, there are 400 new ACS workers being hired this month. The Mayor should be ashamed of this agency and immediately conduct a top down review of its leadership. The children of this city deserve better. BROOKLYNACSLAWYER.COM ACSATTORNEY.COM

Our sources at ACS have advised us that the average caseload for an ACS lawyer in Manhattan is 60 cases. This pales in comparison with the other boroughs who have well over 100 cases. This is a sign of trouble for parents. ACS has a $3.2 billion dollar budget. The first goal of ACS workers is to keep this budget and their paychecks flowing. But in order to do that ACS workers need "customers" in the way of parents to attack.Because of the high concentration of wealth in Manhattan there is less of a need for social services. Thus, ACS workers must not work extra hard to manufacture cases against parents in Manhattan. This has already lead to abuses and will continue to do so. It had gotten to the point where ACS workers are sharing cases in Manhattan to make it appear that they are doing their jobs. Add to this the fact that 400 new ACS workers are being hired this month and the potential for abuse is enormous. FIGHTACS.COM BROOKLYNACSATTORNEY.COM

As we have discussed, anyone can call ACS on anyone else. There are no barriers for anyone to file false complaints against anyone else. So if a call is made against a parent, the ACS worker will show up at the home an any hour and begin to question the parents. In many cases this is done at 2 am when the children are sleeping and the ACS workers demand to see them. So what exactly is the worker looking for? The answer is, anything that the ACS worker can attack the parents with. Simply because an ACS call was made about a parent not having adequate clothing, that does not mean the investigation will start there. It will mushroom into whatever the ACS worker can blame the parent with. ACS workers will ask you to sign a HIPPA form to allow them access to your child's medical records and be given access to your child's school records.Do not sign any documents over to ACS unless you have spoken to an attorney. BROOKLYNACSLAWYER.COM ACSATTORNEY.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

The most amount of calls that our office receives is from parents who want to file a complaint against the ACS worker. The ACS Advocates Office website claims to help parents, they can be found here. The website actually informs parents of what they will NOT do: Once a parent contacts the office, a recorded message tells them to contact the ACS worker's supervisor. Thus, all parents get from ACS is a recording telling them to call ACS. This is the dysfunction that permeates this entire agency. Understand that the Office of Advocacy cannot Challenge or attempt to influence a Judge’s decision in your case Conduct our own investigation of an active Child Protective case If the Office of Advocacy cannot help you directly, we will direct you to people who can help.   " Thus, if you have an abusive and rude ACS worker, this office will not help you. In fact, this Office which is supposed to help parents tells them to go speak to an attorney. What to do if yo...