Written Testimony re: the Child Welfare System and the Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse or Maltreatment in New York State
New York State Assembly Standing Committee on Children & Families The Child Welfare System and the Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse or Maltreatment in New York State September 27, 2023 Joint Written Testimony of The Bronx Defenders, Brooklyn Defender Services, Center for Family Representation, and the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem Read the testimony here
Statewide Family Defense Advocates Lay Out Legislative Agenda for 2022
Contacts: Mai Tran, The Bronx Defenders: mtran@bronxdefenders.org, (718) 508-3514 ***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*** Statewide Family Defense Advocates Lay Out Legislative Agenda for 2022 Defenders Call on Albany to Shrink the State’s Foster System, Deepen Support for New York Families, and Increase Funding for Family Defense (New York, NY) – In a recently issued letter, 21 family defense…
Joint Family Defense Providers’ Legislative Priorities for 2022
March 28, 2022 Hon. Kathy Hochul Governor of New York State NYS State Capitol Building Albany, NY 12224 Hon. Andrea Stewart-Cousins Democratic Leader, New York State Senate 188 State Street LOB – Room 907 Albany, NY 12247 Hon. Carl Heastie Speaker, New York State Assembly New York State Capitol Room 349 Albany, NY 12247 RE:…
Family Defense Advocates Urge Albany to Reform Family Regulation System
(NEW YORK, NY) – Impacted parents and advocates from across New York State today called on lawmakers in Albany to pass three critical bills that they say will help counter the racial-based surveillance inherent in the family regulation system, and empower Black and brown families. They voiced their demands during a press conference (passcode: %7E5nJ&7)…
New York Law Journal: White Family Court Clerk Suspended After Allegedly Using Racial Slurs During Virtual Proceeding
“A white clerk in New York City Family Court was allegedly overheard during a virtual court proceeding Thursday calling a Black teenage defendant the N-word as well as another slur, according to the state Office of Court Administration and a news report. The Office of Court Administration on Friday afternoon suspended the clerk, Donna Prainito,…
Law360: NYC Names 2 To Family Court, Taps Former Judge As Adviser
“New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio appointed two new judges to family court and tapped former Supreme Court Justice Helen E. Freedman to serve in the advisory committee on the…” Read the full article here
Joint Family Defense Providers’ Legislative Priorities for 2021
Together with 17 other family defense organizations across New York, we wrote to Governor Andrew Cuomo, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and Speaker Carl Heastie outlining legislative priorities for 2021 which seek to shrink the state’s foster systems while offering families and communities the support and resources they need to raise the next generation…
The City: After ‘Horrifying’ Rochester Arrest, City Advocates Call on Cuomo to Keep Kids Out of Cop Hands
“Following the release of body-camera footage that showed Rochester police pepper-spraying a handcuffed 9-year-old girl, New York City advocates are renewing a push to raise the minimum age of criminal prosecution statewide. In a letter sent to Governor Andrew Cuomo and Albany leaders on Wednesday, public defender groups from all five boroughs pushed for passage of legislation that would hike the…
Rise Magazine: Parental Designation: A Way of Planning for the Expected and Unexpected
“Parental designation is a legal option in New York that allows a parent to designate someone you trust to temporarily take care of your child, while maintaining your parental rights and without ACS becoming involved. Here, Jessica Prince, Policy Counsel for the Family Defense Practice at The Bronx Defenders explains how parental designation works and why you…
News12: Woman says joy of motherhood after giving birth was stolen due to miscommunication at Bronx hospital
“Those three hospitals are Montefiore, Mount Sinai, and New York-Presbyterian. This is a probe to see if these practices are discriminatory against Black and LatinX parents and their newborns. Policy Council to the Family Defense Practice at the Bronx Defenders has seen countless cases over the years of families needing legal representation–due to positive drug…
Mother Jones: Do We Need to Abolish Child Protective Services?
“There are, of course, instances of terrible child abuse, and it’s the mission of ACS and child welfare agencies across the country to intervene. But often the child is not in danger and the caseworker has made a judgment call based only on the way the family is living. “With the vast majority of parents who…
Heroes of New York: Orayne Williams, Bronx Defenders
“Orayne came to the U.S. from Jamaica as a young teenager, and struggled with homelessness while still in high school in Bed-Stuy. Despite living in a homeless shelter, he persevered and went on to become Valedictorian and to obtain his B.A. and M.S.W. degrees. Upon graduating, Orayne joined The Bronx Defenders who provide comprehensive legal…
Gothamist: NYC Will End Practice Of Drug Testing Pregnant Patients Without Written Consent
“Yet advocates say that a drug test is frequently and unfairly used as a kind of parenting test. “Often what we see when there is a positive toxicology with a parent — that is pathologized,” said Miriam Mack, policy counsel for the family defense practice at The Bronx Defenders. “It’s held up as an indictment…
The City: Child Welfare Chief Urges Higher Bar to Launch Investigations Following School-Tech Family Probes
“Teachers in schools are still calling ACS when our clients’ children failed to log on for remote learning,” said attorney Miriam Mack of The Bronx Defenders. “But we know and we’ve seen in the news media that white parents can and do opt out of remote learning without fear of ACS intervention.” Read the full…
News12 The Bronx: ‘Black Families Matter’ march speaks out against Child Protective Services
“The march was organized in partnership with the Bronx Defenders, a group which represents many families going through similar experiences. “It’s shown in data, it’s documented that folks across races use drugs at the same amount of rate,” says Bronx Defenders Attorney, Miriam Mack. “Yet we know that it’s Black and brown folks in hospitals…
Frank News: Systems Built on Good Intentions are the Most Dangerous: Part 2
“This interview with Emma Ketteringham, managing director of the family defense practice at the Bronx Defenders, was conducted and condensed by franknews. Part one of this conversation on the child welfare system can be found here. Emma | If you look at all of the systems that do harm, whether it’s to poor communities or Black and brown communities, they are…
Frank News: Systems Built on Good Intentions are the Most Dangerous: Pt. 1
“This interview with Emma Ketteringham, managing director of the family defense practice at the Bronx Defenders, was conducted and condensed by franknews. The second half of this conversation on the child welfare system can be found here. When I started, I began to talk to my clients about the impact contact with the criminal system had affected their families and I…
The Imprint: The Sad Omission of Child Welfare from Mainstream Discussion on Race
“As thousands of Black people and their allies are protesting the systemic racism and police brutality that have been part of the fabric of this society for centuries, some white Americans appear ready to discuss the damage that oppression has done to Black and brown people. Books about anti-racism are flying off the shelves. There are…
Rise Magazine: ‘I Was Scared for Anyone to Know I Was Pregnant’ – How to Protect Against Removal at Birth
“Parents can be charged with so-called “derivative neglect” of a newborn if a previous child entered foster care. Here, Emma Ketteringham, managing director of The Bronx Defenders’ Family Defense Project, explains how pregnant parents can get support and protect their rights.” Read the full Q & A here
The Marshall Project: Is Child Abuse Really Rising During The Pandemic?
“We have a child welfare system that is particularly, extremely sensitive to the media, so we should be very sure of narratives before we put them out there,” said Emma Ketteringham, managing director of the family defense practice at the Bronx Defenders in New York City, an organization that provides free legal services for low-income…
Aljazeera: Still Here: A story of incarceration and gentrification in the US
“I am the proud mother of four children.” When Tamanika was sent to prison, three of her four children were put in foster care, while her oldest child stayed with her family. “The court tried to terminate my parental rights but I fought hard and it didn’t happen,” she explains. “I had a wonderful team…
The City: Parents Seeking Return of Children First Must Forge Connections On Screens
“At the Bronx Defenders, which is working with the Bronx mother, efforts to reunify families are sometimes cut short by an agency’s insistence that a parent have a longer track record of supervised visits with caseworkers and sessions with therapists and counselors. The pandemic has also had a significant impact on access to services —…
Talk Poverty: Coronavirus Could Cost Parents Custody of Kids in Foster Care
“In some states, like New York and California, there have been no official statewide orders cutting off all in-person visitation; instead agencies have been directed to make decisions on a case-by-case basis. But those on the ground say this is still leaving many parents without a voice in the decision-making process. Despite state-level guidance that…
New York Daily News: Protecting children in the age of COVID: The Administration for Children’s Services must change its approach
The COVID-19 crisis has forced us to rethink every aspect of American life, revealing that many structures damaging in normal times are now downright catastrophic. This is true in the criminal legal system, where policies that prop up mass incarceration have enabled disease and death to ravage our jails and prisons. It is also true…
The Chronicle of Social Change: Parents’ Foster Care Placement Challenges Need Quick Resolutions, New York Appeals Court Rules
“During testimony in Albany in November, Emma Ketteringham, managing attorney of Bronx Defenders’ Family Defense Practice said the problems include too few judges and a lack of evening and weekend courtroom hours. “As a result, families are separated needlessly and kept separated for longer than necessary,” she told lawmakers. Pandemic-related court closures have exacerbated those delays for the foreseeable…