N.Y.C. of BDS' family defense clients were reunited with their children at the conclusion of their family court case. Office of Research & Analysis, How Does High-Quality Legal Representation for Parents Support Better Outcomes? If the study discussions in the previous section show anything, it is that being at the table when the agency fashions the case plan is a critical stage in the proceeding with profound long-term implications for all that follows. One such example involves what should happen when a parent is required to perform a certain service that is covered by Medicaid or other programs when the service provider will not commence the service until the funds are made available to it. Child welfare cases are prosecuted along two tracks: the judicial and the administrative. 382 (2019) [hereinafter Accidents Happen]. The offices also are likely to have expertise in immigration, housing, and criminal court practice, areas of the law in which their clients are likely to become involved. Lauren Shapiro - Managing.. - Brooklyn Defender Services | ZoomInfo Under New York law, the definition of [n]eglected child includes a child less than eighteen years of age (i) whose physical, mental or emotional condition has been impaired or is in imminent danger of becoming impaired as a result of the failure of his parent or other person legally responsible for his care to exercise a minimum degree of care (A) in supplying the child with adequate . A detailed description of strategic uses of court appearances, including the opposition of out-of-court removals; the filing of motions for discovery, for visitation, and for early release from foster care; and the conducting of contested evidentiary hearings, is provided in Accidents Happen, supra note 73, at 40624. Caseworkers visit parents in their homes and talk to them and their service providers on a regular basis. The supervisor denied the request, approved the caseworkers leaving the conference, and explained that the agency had all the information it needed. Beginning that year, the Office funded a new model of public defense for families facing charges of abuse or neglect in three counties in New York City. Judges, Improving Parents Representation in Dependency Cases: A Washington State Pilot Program Evaluation (2003), http://www.opd.wa.gov/documents/0047-2003_PRP_Evaluation.pdf (presenting results of an earlier study of pilot programs in two juvenile courts in different settings and locations). When the agency interviewed her, Ms. Green told the investigators the same thing she told the doctors at the hospital. Commn on Parental Legal Representation Public Hearings 38 (Sept. 27, 2018), http:/nycourts.gov/ip/Parental-Legal-Rep/PDFs/NYCPublicHearing9-27-18_F.pdf (oral testimony of Jeanette Vega, Training Dir., RISE). 59. Immigration. In an effort to settle the case promptly, the defense team requested a court conference where they explained to the agency attorney and caseworker, as well as Eduardos court-appointed lawyer, what transpired since the petition was filed. Within nine months, Ms. Green had completed both the anger management and parenting class, all while working full time and finishing her GED. Such services might include attending parenting skills or anger management classes, or participating in therapy, counseling, or drug treatment programs. But, arguably even more importantly, there is an administrative process that, in many cases, begins before the court proceedings and, in all cases, continues on a separate path during the court process. for Child.s Servs., All Staff Bulletin (July 16, 2019) (on file with the author). 20. This kind of advocacy can only be implemented by multiperson offices. Brooklyn Defender Services jobs in Brooklyn, NY - indeed.com Admin. Judges, Improving Parents Representation in Dependency Cases: A Washington State Pilot Program Evaluation. When the conference took place one day after the babys birth, the defense teams social worker and parent advocate attended with Ms. Barrow. Because of Ms. Barrows concern that continuing her medication during her pregnancy was dangerous for the fetus, she stopped taking the medication that was court-ordered. 32. Nonetheless, Ms. Barrows defense team ensured that it was fully prepared for the conference, having secured letters from Ms. Barrows mental health providers laying out her treatment plan and documenting her increased engagement in services and subsequent progress in her mental health. Brooklyn Defender Services is a company located in Brooklyn, NY, United States. Ct. Act 261, 262 (McKinney 2020). Experienced Attorney, Criminal Defense Practice - Idealist BDS is a public defense office representing low-income New Yorkers in criminal, family, immigration, and civil legal matters. 384-b(7)(f)(1). for Child. We serve the Brooklyn community by providing individual services to thousands of people each year, holding clinics and educational programs in our community office and online, and supporting fellow community organizations. Moreover, in my experience, judges rarely overrule (or reconsider) the agencys assessment of what services are appropriate. The social workers on Ms. Greens defense team tapped into their knowledge of local community resources and helped Ms. Green find accessible services that would fit into her busy school and work schedule. The medications began working after only a few weeks and Ms. Barrow quickly regained her focus. Ct. 2003). Instead, the judge told Ms. Anderson that it would be in her interest for her to agree to undergo a mental health evaluation and to cooperate with the agency over the coming weeks. Similarly, preventing a parent from being removed from the country for an immigration-related reason is also beyond what agency caseworkers do.92 But real-life events such as these must be given the highest possible priority if parents are to achieve their objective of regaining the custody of their children from foster care. 82. Natl Council of Juv. 4. Our Work. Prior to joining the Center, Alice worked as a Staff Attorney at Brooklyn Defender Services' Family Defense Practice, where she represented indigent parents charged with neglect and abuse. Finally, in Part V, the Article clarifies the leading characteristics of successful parent representation in child welfare cases with a particular emphasis on proactive representation out of court. Instead, her lawyers requested that the court order an Imminent Risk Assessment with the courts mental health clinic once the defense team was convinced that Ms. Barrow would be evaluated to present no risk to her newborn. To counter this concern, the team asked that the court order an additional service calculated to provide the best opportunity to demonstrate that Sophia should be in Ms. Greens care. .). Need assistance with an ACS investigation or court case. Press Inquiries. Brooklyn Defender Services (BDS) is seeking an experienced Attorney for the Custody Practice of the Family Defense Team. The hospital then called Ms. Green and asked her what she could tell them. If you are a current client of BDS, contact your lawyer, social worker, or other staff for an appointment. Brooklyn Defender Services (BDS) is seeking Experienced Attorney's for the Criminal Practice's legal team. The offices help parents negotiate all aspects of the process throughout the life of the case. The three officesBrooklyn Defender Services (Kings County), The Bronx Defenders (Bronx County), and the Center for Family Representation (New York County)are each structured somewhat differently.19 The characteristic all three offices have in common is that they are multidisciplinary: they employ lawyers on their staff along with social workers and/or parent advocates (individuals who themselves experienced the child welfare system as a parent accused of neglecting their child).20 Each office spends considerable time on their cases out of court, working closely with their clients and advocating for and with them at child welfare agencies meetings.21 Several years later, a fourth officethe Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlemwas awarded a contract to share the representation of parents in Manhattan with the Center for Family Representation, using their community-based model to represent families living in Harlem zip codes.22 In 2011, the Center for Family Representation was awarded a second contract to provide parental representation in Queens County.23 To date, these four providers handle the vast majority of parental representation in New York, Kings, Queens, and Bronx Counties. See Effects of an Interdisciplinary Approach, supra note 1; see also Understanding the Effects of an Interdisciplinary Approach, supra note 4. . J. Juv. . Emily (she/her/hers) received her J.D. Along the path of the case, courts typically order that parents perform various services63 and ultimately order that children be allowed to remain with their families or be placed in another arrangement. When the meeting ended, the surgeon continued to recommend surgery, but he now acknowledged that there are many children with this hip condition who can participate in sports, live happily, and never receive surgery. Her mother took Sophia to the emergency room. As a result, a second meeting was scheduled with the surgeon, Mr. Sanchezs defense team, and the agency. It would be difficult to overstate the importance of these agency meetings. In that capacity, she also represented parents in a wide range of matters related to family law . Our team works to find temporary custody arrangements, refute false allegations and help inform parents of their rights at early stages of an ACS investigation about their family. Rev. Recognizing that as soon as the baby was born, the agency would conduct a child safety conference at which it would make fateful decisions involving the family, the new team immediately started planning with Ms. Anderson. This case reveals the amount of time and attention the holistic offices give to their clients and reveals what is needed to serve parents well when they become enmeshed in the child welfare system. 40592/88, 1989 WL 1715714 (N.Y. Sup. See N.Y. Fam. Less than a year later, Eduardo sustained another injury in his hip. No case is filed; no court time is taken up; no court personnel are assigned to the matter. Brooklyn Defender Services (BDS) is one of the largest public defense providers in the United States. This destroys the fabric of multiple lives and leaves long-lasting effects on children, parents, spouses, grandparents and siblings. For an excellent recent article describing the sophisticated family defense practice The Bronx Defenders has established when representing parents charged with child abuse based on unexplained serious injuries sustained by children, see Jessica Horan-Block & Elizabeth Tuttle Newman, Accidents Happen: Exposing Fallacies in Child Protection Abuse Cases and Reuniting Families Through Aggressive Litigation, 22 CUNY L. Rev. 91. Once again, Ms. Barrows defense team went into action. Criminal Defense Practice Social Worker. See, e.g., N.Y. Soc. 85. After consulting with an orthopedic surgeon at the hospital, Mr. Sanchez opted for a nonsurgical option to be secured in Mexico. 8 Brooklyn Defender Services jobs available in Brooklyn, NY on Indeed.com. Compare Child Welfare Watch, Tough Decisions: Dealing with Domestic Violence 15 (2003), https://static1.squarespace.com/static/53ee4f0be4b015b9c3690d84/t/54138debe4b037d2d5803f6b/1410567659179/CWW-vol9.pdf [https://perma.cc/P79M-8T6A], with N.Y.C. This dedicated team works closely with parents to achieve family reunification even when their children have been in the foster system for a long time. Brooklyn, NY 11201. Martin Guggenheim, New Study Shows Providing Parents with Multidisciplinary Legal Representation in Child Welfare Cases Furthers Everyones Interests, 20 Child.s Bureau Express no. Mr. Sanchez brought Eduardo to a public hospital for medical attention. The plan was to update the judge on Ms. Andersons progress and to request that the court schedule a formal hearing to determine if it still was necessary to keep the baby in foster care. in Political Science. 2 (. Among jurisdictions other than New York City that have been national leaders and innovators in parent representation is Washington State under the leadership of Joanne Moore. 27. The family defender office assigned to represent Ms. Green handles many of these cases each year and has become expert both in cross-examining medical experts called by the agency and at engaging and communicating with knowledgeable physicians able to provide their expert medical opinion on whether an injury is more likely to be the consequence of abuse or an accident. 26 days ago. See also id. Ms. Anderson grew up in foster care, moving through over 20 foster homes as a child. The social worker helped facilitate a more complete understanding between Mr. Sanchez and the hospitals medical team. The agency then filed a neglect petition in family court charging Mr. Sanchez with failing to provide his son with medically necessary treatment and seeking an order that the agency be granted permission to consent to the required surgery. Without the offices housing advocacy, Ms. Barrow would have had no home for her newborn to return to. See Mark E. Courtney & Jennifer L. Hook, Evaluation of the Impact of Enhanced Parental Legal Representation on the Timing of Permanency Outcomes for Children in Foster Care, 34 Child. Mr. Sanchez was charged with medical neglect after the agency learned that he refused to consent to surgery to fix his sons hip disorder. Codes R. & Regs. $65,000 - $87,880 a year. 93. Rev. Ms. Shapiro oversees an interdisciplinary staff of over 90 attorneys, social workers and administrative staff and directs the litigation and policy activities of the practice. Until such assistance is available, the CPS or case planner must ensure that appropriate services are provided, including payment for such services. N.Y.C. This may contribute to unwarranted requests by the agency for the hospital to place a social hold on the baby, preventing the mother from taking the baby home.78 This practice is opposed by the family defenders in New York as causing inappropriate disruption of parentinfant bonding and imposing unnecessary stress and anxiety on parents and families at a precious moment in their lives, often resulting in the needless and wrongful separation of children from their families.79. Brooklyn Defenders provides a wide range of services, including assisting people who are facing an investigation, providing legal representation to people who are brought to court and helping to clear the records of people from databases that impact employment. If you are not a current client and need assistance, click here to get help. Brooklyn Defender Services | LawHelpNY Since it began, the Brooklyn Defender Services Family Defense Practice has represented nearly 11,000 parents involving more than 20,000 children.24 The Center for Family Representation represents approximately 1,300 new clients each year in child welfare cases and between 2007 and 2018 has represented more than 7,000 parents with more than 15,000 children.25 Between 2007 and 2017, the Bronx Defenders represented more than 11,000 parents and, as of 2018, had a staff of more than 50 attorneys, social workers, and parent advocates. Experienced Staff Attorney for Custody Practice Every administrator of New York Citys child welfare system in this century has been committed to the principle of eliminating the unnecessary placement or retention of children in foster care. It is used whenever the office is representing a mother who becomes pregnant during the course of the case, whether she already is court-involved or not. Homicide Unit Mitigation Social Worker . Generally, two of the most important factors in securing the return of a child to parental custody are participation in agency-recommended services and favorable foster care agency reports about parent visits with the child. In late 2016, Ms. Barrow, the parent of a ten-year-old child and a one-year-old child, was charged in family court with neglect resulting from her struggle to manage the challenges of mental illness and a cognitive disability.68 The petition was filed shortly after she was discharged from a short-term hospitalization for mental health treatment. All of this was reported to the judge at the status conference. 30+ days ago Full Time. 8. Each of the four family defender offices in New York City has created specialized projects of one sort or another. In response to persistent advocacy, the agency agreed to permit the visits to take place in a more hospitable environment so long as the visits were supervised by Ms. Greens mother. I had never been so scared in my life. If Mr. Sanchezs lawyer had been a very good solo practitioner from the court-assigned panel, he would have advised Mr. Sanchez to get the surgeon to write a letter saying that Mr. Sanchezs preference to take his son to Mexico for another try at nonsurgical treatment was reasonable. mediarequests@bds.org. After waiting two additional months, the team filed a motion for enhanced, unsupervised visits, arguing that the agencys refusal to grant unsupervised visits was arbitrary and damaging to the long-term purpose of child protection. There is no question that the in-court advocacy engaged in by the family defender offices is of a much higher order than that practiced by the panel lawyers, as the qualitative study attests. But the team was unable to secure the agencys support for unsupervised visits. Once Ms. Barrow was living in an apartment too small for her children to live in with her, a new barrier to the childrens return would be to secure suitable housing, which would certainly extend the childrens stay in foster care. 22. Even when the outcome of cases like this do not involve termination of parental rights or placement for an extended period in foster care, these cases should be viewed as an extremely important example of a clash between the right of parents to make the important decisions regarding their childrens upbringing and the states independent power to make decisions for children over a parents objection. Although the agency does not permit lawyers to attend these conferences, it does allow parents to bring anyone else to be present. When this happened, not only did she visit her children regularly, her defense team succeeded in persuading the judge (over the agencys objection) to permit unsupervised visits, commonly a necessary interim stage before courts will return children to a parents custody. Effects of an Interdisciplinary Approach, supra note 1, at 45. The practice was recently the focus of a critical report issued by the New York City Commission on Human Rights. At this appearance, Ms. Andersons lawyer presented the arguments supporting the application that the baby be allowed to remain in Ms. Andersons care, highlighting all the work she had done and providing the court with stacks of supporting documentation. Effects of an Interdisciplinary Approach, supra note 1, at 53. Simultaneously, Ms. Greens attorneys and the social work staff worked closely together to help Ms. Green navigate the agencys service and visitation policies. Brooklyn Defender Services - Employees, Contact info, Overview - Wiza . Even worse, when parents are unrepresented, the plans may fail to identify services the agency should be providing for the particular needs and circumstances of the family. In sharing some of these accounts, the reader should pay particular attention to the frequency with which investigators from the child welfare agencies make mistakes, get facts wrong, fail to show up for critical meetings, or base recommendations on faulty information that is either flatly wrong or materially incomplete. The defender offices employ a wide range of professionals on each clients legal team, including social workers, parent advocates, interpreters, specialized attorneys, experts, and investigators. In countless cases over the past decade in New York City, pregnant parents have had the benefit of representation by one of the family defender offices before any case was brought against them. Effects of an Interdisciplinary Approach, supra note 1, at 5253. For better or for worse, preventing a parent from becoming homeless is not within the portfolio of the agency caseworker (even if it should be). Alice Wang | Columbia Law School Brooklyn public defenders seek to form union - nydailynews.com The family defender offices organize themselves around the real-world needs of their clients and continue to work closely with them even when the next court appearance is not scheduled in the immediate future. For most panel lawyers, if a matter is continued on the court calendar for six weeks, the lawyer is able to put the case in a folder and reopen it one or two days before the next court date. Lawyers Assn, 763 N.Y.S.2d at 407 (finding that because of the rate levels assigned counsel do not . Brooklyn Defender Services 4.2. . With the housing crisis abated, the rest of the family defense team could keep its focus on the family court case. Are you or someone you know being investigated by the police or ACS? 7. Although impressed by all the work Ms. Anderson and her team had begun, the agency nonetheless was unwilling to allow Ms. Anderson to go home with her baby. Rev. & Lauren Shapiro, Dir., Family Def. Even these remarkable efforts would have been insufficient. As we will see, the lack of anyone in that office with substantive knowledge of family court or child welfare deeply disadvantaged parents and families for the next forty years. The investigator also met with Eduardos primary care physician, but not with the orthopedic surgeon. N.Y. Soc. At the end of the nine-month period, the case was dismissed. It is here, at the exquisite level of facts, that the defender offices make their greatest difference. 62. The examining doctors asked Ms. Greens mother what may have happened to Sophia and her mother was unable to provide them with a satisfactory answer. The parent organization employs a large number of poverty lawyers who represent clients in a broad swath of legal matters, including housing, immigration, social security benefits, and custody and divorce, among others. 96. Brooklyn Defender Services (BDS) advises clients about the immigration consequences of criminal charges and helps clients apply for citizenship, green cards, visas for domestic violence or trafficking victims, deferred action, and other immigration benefits. 98. Among the reasons it is crucial that parent defenders actively participate in these conferences is that when an inappropriate case plan is developed, that plan may be in place for many months even before a court might review it. Family defense has been transformed in New York City. Because the agency caseworker failed to attend this medical conference, however, the agency continued to insist in court that the surgery was required and assert that the surgeon considered Mr. Sanchezs refusal to consent to the surgery as placing Eduardo at serious risk of harm. 25. Brooklyn, NY, US. But no one in the court administration or local government positions in New York had any experience designing or maintaining a legal services delivery system for parents in the child welfare field. See generally Subha Lembach, The Right to Legal Representation at Service Plan Reviews in New York State, 6 U.C. L. & Soc. Her defense team at first consisted of a family court lawyer and a social worker. If I hadnt had the support of BDS, I wouldnt have been able to stop ACS from removing my kids. Rts., Your Rights While Pregnant, Breastfeeding, or Caregiving: A Report on the 2019 Commission Public Hearing on Pregnancy and Caregiver Discrimination, N.Y. State Admin. The cases described in the previous section go well beyond demonstrating the importance of helping shape the services parents will be required to complete as a condition to regaining the custody of their children. That is what it prepared for when it represented Ms. Anderson. Instead of the family being reunited, the case might have resulted in a termination of parental rights. Hochul's Budget Pads Prosecution Without Match for Public Defense It turned out the agencys support for releasing Ms. Barrows newborn did not last one week. When Mr. Sanchez met with his lawyers and social worker, he provided the fuller picture. See N.Y. Cty. They then returned to their permanent residence in New York. At the current time, BDS physical offices are open by appointment only. Martin Guggenheim is the Fiorello LaGuardia Professor of Clinical Law at New York University School of Law. Ms. Anderson began therapy that was designed to address her history of physical and sexual abuse in foster care and her previous relationship, helping her to understand how those experiences had shaped her adult life and her approach to parenting. Lawyers Assn, 763 N.Y.S.2d at 40102, 407. Additional data from The Bronx Defenders presented in testimony to the New York State Commission on Parental Representation indicated that of the 81 children born to clients who already had children in foster at the time they gave birth to the newborn, the office was successful in ensuring that 58 (72 percent) remained at home with their mothers and 17 (20 percent) were placed with caretakers of their mothers choosing. They communicate frequently with caseworkers to rearrange meetings and services, to plan for the next steps, and for many other reasons. See N.Y. Fam. In this case, the office was assigned to represent Carlos Sanchez, after a petition was filed by the local child welfare agency accusing him of neglecting his son by failing to consent to what the agency asserted was necessary surgery. Res. Full-time. 71. These plans are routinely included in the reports agencies are required to submit every six months whenever children remain in foster care. All names used throughout this Article are fictitious. Full-time. Altogether, Ms. Anderson was separated from her baby for less than nine weeks. Brooklyn, NY. As impressive as the results of the quantitative findings are in showing a significant deduction of unnecessary days children spend in foster care in New York City, this Article strongly suggests that the defender offices have a far greater impact on the reduction of foster care.94. Consider this: In 2003, there were over 28,000 children in foster care in New York City; at the end of 2019, there were approximately 7,800.99. Bar Assn, https://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_interest/child_law/project-areas/parentrepresentation/ (last visited Oct. 19, 2020). Ms. Barrow disclosed to her defense team that she was pregnant. The national family defender movement is based at the American Bar Associations Center on Children and the Law under the leadership of Mimi Laver. N.Y. Unified Ct. Sys. The teams social workers worked with Ms. Anderson to identify what she needed to support her child and advised her on what the agency and family court judge would want to see. The Article proceeds in five parts. The notes of the interviews are on file with the author. The agency was unwilling to accept the defense teams claims without doing its own investigation. The true meaning of the findings in the quantitative study that these offices secure the return of children to their families significantly sooner than would happen without them is that child welfare practice without the kind of oversight accomplished by the offices wrongfully separates children from families in a significant percentage of cases.