One of the constant complaints that parents and legal guardians of children in New York City have been reporting for years has to do with the way in which the Agency for Children’s Services (ACS) investigates reports of alleged abuse and neglect. which, depending on those affected, often become disproportionate and even abusive and intrusive.
And this Tuesday, several families affected by what they define as coercive practices and degrading tactics against infants and adults, took their complaints to court and filed a class-action lawsuit against the City of New York, which if successful, would force the agency to do so. changes in the way it investigates complaints, which exceed 40,000 cases each year.
“ACS leaves in its wake real fear, real trauma and real consequences that must be taken into account,” said David Shalleck-Klein, attorney for the nine families who filed the lawsuit and founder and director of the organization Family Justice Law Center, who clarified that the measure does not seek to stop the investigative work of ACS, but rather to put an end to illegal and abusive records.
The lawsuit alleges that ACS caseworkers frequently pressure parents to allow them into their homes, with lies and threats to call the police and take their children, even when these are not credible emergencies.
Likewise, in the 49 pages presented to the court, the plaintiffs, who demand monetary damages and an end to what they define as unconstitutional practices, warn that ACS officials search private spaces and even naked minors, which leaves entire families, mostly Latinas and blacks, at risk of developing depression, anxiety and other disorders.
Ebony Gould, one of the mothers who filed the lawsuit, who has three children and claims to have been investigated by the Children’s Services Agency on 12 occasions, all of them unfounded, said that given the actions of ACS, parents feel that they do not They have no choice but to allow investigators into their homes.
“I felt forced. “I almost felt like I was being abused again, but by a stranger,” the woman commented in the lawsuit, which also warns that researchers show invasive behavior such as opening refrigerators, inspecting medicine cabinet labels, asking children to that they lift their shirts and lower their pants, on repeated visits.
And although the legal action ensures that the three legal justifications that investigators can use to enter homes are court orders, emergency circumstances or voluntary consents, the agency “decides almost never to request” court orders. Additionally, the lawsuit alleges that thousands of searches occur each year under non-emergency circumstances, with coerced consents and in violation of constitutional protections against baseless searches.
After learning of the lawsuit, an ACS spokesperson assured that they will review it and added that ACS is committed to keeping children safe and respecting the rights of parents.
“We will continue to advance our efforts to achieve safety, equity and justice by improving parents’ awareness of their rights, connecting families to critical services, providing families with alternatives to child protection investigations and working with key systems to reduce the number of families experiencing an unnecessary child protection investigation,” concluded the representative of the Children’s Services Agency.