Press Releases

Our media team is available to field journalist inquiries. Members of the press can schedule an interview with FJLC by emailing info@fjlc.org.

See our press releases below:

February 26, 2026

Parents Sue New York Over Unconstitutional Delays In Process To Challenge Their Harmful Listings On Child Maltreatment Registry

NEW YORK CITY - Today, three  New York parents filed a federal class action lawsuit against the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) for violating due process by forcing families to endure extreme delays while appealing their reports on the Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment (SCR), leaving many unable to work in a wide range of jobs or care for relatives. 

January 22, 2026

Mother Who Advocated For Disabled Son’s Educational Needs Sues NYC Department of Education for Retaliating by Falsely Reporting Her to ACS

NEW YORK CITY – Today, on behalf of parent Michelle Fraser, the Family Justice Law Center, Peter Romer-Friedman Law PLLC, and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP 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.

September 4, 2025

The Administration for Children’s Services Refuses to Give Community Information About How it Separates Thousands of Children From Their Families Each Year

NEW YORK CITY – Today 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.

February 5, 2025

New York Appellate Court Finds ACS’s Widespread Surveillance of Families Illegal

NEW YORK CITY - Appellate Division ends longstanding ACS practice of forcing parents who are not accused of anything—often survivors of domestic violence—to allow searches of their homes and strip-searches of their children, simply because the other parent of their child has been charged with wrongdoing.

February 20, 2024

First-of-Its-Kind Civil Rights Lawsuit Shows How Administration for Children’s Services’ Widespread Practice of Searching Homes and Children’s Bodies Without Court Approval or Emergency Circumstances Traumatizes Families and Children

NEW YORK CITY – Today, on behalf of nine named plaintiffs and a proposed class of tens of thousands of parents and other caretakers, the Family Justice Law Center, Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, and the NYU School of Law Family Defense Clinic filed a major, first-of-its-kind class action lawsuit against New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) for having a pervasive and unnecessary practice of using highly coercive tactics to illegally search tens of thousands of families’ homes every year.

December 6, 2023

Domestic Violence Survivor Files Appeal to End Unnecessary, Unconstitutional, and Traumatic Surveillance by the Administration for Children’s Services

NEW YORK CITY – Today, Ms. W., the mother of a one-year-old baby, filed an appeal in the New York Appellate Division, Second Department to vacate an order from Kings County (Brooklyn) Family Court that requires her to comply with ongoing and limitless surveillance of her home and her child’s body by the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS).