Brooklyn Mother Brings Federal Lawsuit Against the NYC Administration for Children’s Services Over Repeated, Traumatizing Investigations Based on False Allegations
Brooklyn Defender Services, in collaboration with pro bono counsel Crowell & Moring LLP, filed a lawsuit on behalf of a Brooklyn mother and her son against the NYC Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York over ACS’s numerous violations of the family’s constitutional rights in its ruthless investigations of baseless reports of abuse and neglect at their home and school.
As reported in ProPublica, Plaintiffs Ms. L.B.* and her young son Kyle* (*pseudonyms to protect the family’s privacy) bring the lawsuit after nearly three years of invasive ACS investigations that all stemmed from anonymous reports of demonstrably false allegations. Despite finding the allegations to be unfounded in each investigation, ACS continues to invade Ms. B and Kyle’s private life without their consent through repetitive home searches, interrogations of Kyle at his school, and examinations of Kyle’s body, causing them severe and ongoing harm, distress, and anxiety.
“Because of ACS, I lost so much. Their relentless investigations made me feel like I couldn’t protect my son like I promised him I would. I’m filing this lawsuit to ensure that other parents know that they have rights and that no other families go through this,” said Ms. B.
Without action from the court, ACS will continue to harass and terrorize Ms. B and her son, in violation of their constitutional rights under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments.
