“The claim that ACS has no documents on its removal practices is incompatible with the pervasive nature of family separations in New York City and indicates that the agency either failed to conduct a diligent search for documents—a basic requirement of the Freedom of Information Law—or improperly withheld important information on how the agency separates families. FJLC seeks this information in response to community demands for transparency on how, why and when ACS removes children from their parents.”— Anna Belle Newport, FJLC Litigation Fellow
Family Justice Law Center v. Administration for Children’s Services
Date Filed: September 4, 2025
Current Status: The Article 78 Petition was filed on September 4, 2025.
Coverage of the Case: 'Enormous Power to Separate': Advocate Files Petition for NYC’s Child-Removal Info, But Agency Says Data Isn't Easily Retrievable
Relevant Legal Documents:
Verified Petition
Memorandum of Law in Support
The Family Justice Law Center (“FJLC”) filed a lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court against New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services (“ACS”) to compel the agency to provide critical information about how the agency separates children from their families.
Every year, ACS removes approximately 2,000 children from their parents—causing severe and long-lasting trauma to the impacted families. Yet ACS keeps much of the information about child removals outside the public’s view. Impacted communities have been demanding this information for years. Therefore, FJLC filed a New York Freedom of Information Law (“FOIL”) request with ACS to gain information on these harmful removal practices. Because ACS refused to produce most of the requested information, FJLC initiated this lawsuit.
In its response to the FOIL request, ACS failed to provide any information on the racial disparities within the agency’s removal practices; refused to provide underlying raw data; and claimed that it could not locate any memoranda, reports, or other documents regarding these regularly conducted removals.