The Bronx Defenders, Brooklyn Defender Services, Center for Family Representation, and the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem submitted joint testimony on racism within the family policing system to the New York Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, which is conducting an investigation of “the New York Child Welfare System and its impact on Black Children and Families.”

New York County Defender Services, The Bronx Defenders, Brooklyn Defender Services, Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, and Queens Defenders issued a joint statement regarding the ongoing humanitarian crisis on Rikers Island.

Brooklyn Defender Services and New York County Defender Services released the following joint statement following reports of the death of William Johnstone, a client of Brooklyn Defender Services and New York County Defender Services, who was the sixth person to die in Department of Correction (DOC) custody this year.

"In June, families across the country are honoring National Family Preservation Month, recognizing the importance of the work being done to keep families together. To keep the city’s children safe, we must support — not tear apart — their families and communities."

New York City’s leading public defender and civil legal services organizations called on Mayor Eric Adams to support increased funding in the City’s Fiscal Year 2024 budget to address insufficient funding levels, wage inequality, and rising costs which jeopardize low-income New Yorkers’ access to critical legal services.

A coalition of families impacted by the foster system and advocates for parents and young people hail the passage of the Preserving Family Bonds Act (A5394 - Joyner / S6720 - Brisport) in the New York State Legislature. The bill passed in the NYS Assembly on June 21st and in the NYS Senate on May 22nd. The Preserving Family Bonds Coalition urges Governor Hochul to immediately sign the act into law.

“One missed day of work may mean the difference between having a job and continuing to move forward and being able to support oneself, being able to support one’s family, being able to support one’s pets."