Six days after Mr. W. brought his son, K.A., home from the hospital to their Bronx apartment after his birth, the New York City Administration for Children’s Services (“ACS”) took him away in what ACS calls an “emergency removal,” without a judge’s order and without even allowing Mr. W. to say goodbye. Although ACS filed a neglect petition against his son’s mother, ACS never alleged that K.A. was unsafe in Mr. W.’s care and never charged Mr. W. with mistreating his son. ACS sent K.A. to live with strangers for the next two years and eight months, before the family court returned him to Mr. W.’s custody. Mr. W. never had the chance to give K.A. bottles and change his diapers, missed his first steps and first words, and was deprived of providing loving support to his son.

Representing Mr. W. and K.A. on appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, FJLC, along with co-counsel WilmerHale, Brustein Law, and Risman & Risman, argue, inter alia, that ACS’s “emergency removal” of K.A. violated his Fourth Amendment right to be free from unconstitutional seizure. The appeal also contends that ACS violated Mr. W.’s and K.A.’s due process rights to being together as a family over the next three years.

Read the Second Circuit brief here.