New York City sued over alleged racial discrimination in removal of children by protective services

Adria R. Walker, The Guardian

On Thursday, two families filed a class-action lawsuit against the city of New York, alleging that the administration for children’s services (ACS) abuses its emergency removal power to take children from their parents without a court order. The families say that Black people and Latinos are disproportionately affected by the practice.

The “emergency removal” power is supposed to be used only in extreme and urgent situations in which there is not enough time to obtain a court order. Instead, the lawsuit alleges, the ACS is using a racially discriminatory emergency removal policy that allows the agency to bypass judicial review. The policy, which separates parents from their children, can cause lasting harm to the families that are affected.

“ACS has perverted a profound but limited government power into a widespread and unconstitutional policy of extrajudicial family separation – a policy that predominantly and disproportionately harms Black and Latino families,” David Shalleck-Klein, executive director and founder of the Family Justice Law Center, said in a statement. “Because of the bravery of the families leading this landmark class action lawsuit, meaningful change is possible.”

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