Shawn Inglima | New York Daily News
“DOE repeatedly failed to provide an appropriate education for my child with disabilities. Rather than provide that education or remediate the situation, DOE resorted to retaliatory tactics against my family. Unfortunately, my story is not unique. It’s happening to countless other families across New York City. This needs to end.”— Ms. Fraser
Fraser v. New York City Department of Education
Date Filed: January 22, 2026
Current Status: The complaint was filed in the Eastern District of New York on January 22, 2026
Co-Counsel: Peter Romer-Friedman Law PLLC and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
Coverage of the Case: Lawsuit accuses NYC schools of using child protective services to coerce ‘difficult’ Queens mom
On behalf of parent Michelle Fraser, the Family Justice Law Center filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the New York City Department of Education (DOE) and two DOE staff for violating Ms. Fraser’s civil and constitutional rights by falsely reporting Ms. Fraser to the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) in retaliation for her advocacy for her disabled son’s educational needs. As Ms. Fraser’s complaint alleges, this false report set off an investigation that involved an intrusive search of the family’s home, humiliating communications with schools and doctors, and intense questioning of Ms. Fraser’s younger daughter.
Ms. Fraser spent years repeatedly—and successfully—challenging DOE's refusals to provide appropriate services for her son, who is autistic and has epilepsy. Every year since 2015, an Impartial Hearing Officer has ordered DOE to provide funding for her son's educational services. In 2023, DOE officials decided they had had enough, and they reported her to the SCR with a knowingly false allegation that her son had not attended school for years. ACS's intrusive investigation caused lasting trauma to the family.
Ms. Fraser's story is not unique. DOE has acknowledged that staff have been over reporting to the SCR (and educators' reports to CPS agencies are consistently the least reliable compared to other mandatory reporters). What's more, parents of disabled children are likely overrepresented in educators' reports. Ms. Fraser's complaint alleges that instead of engaging with parents to resolve disputes over disabled children's educational needs, DOE has enabled a pattern in which staff regularly use ACS as an instrument of coercion and intimidation against parents like Ms. Fraser. The lawsuit hopes to end these retaliatory practices.