This lawsuit was originally filed by Lansner & Kubitschek on behalf of two kinship foster parents and three minor children seeking damages and injunctive and declaratory relief from the New York City Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) and its contracted social service agency for the removal of the children from the home of their kinship foster parents without due process of law and in violation of their right not to be seized illegally. The Legal Aid Society was appointed to represent one of the three minor plaintiffs. J.C., a child who had lived in foster care with her great aunt and great uncle for nearly her entire life and has since been adopted by them. J.C. was removed from their care by ACS’s contract agency for almost nine months during 2006.

In 2011, a federal trial court held that ACS’s emergency removal of J.C. without notice and the agency’s post-removal policies did not violate due process. Our joint motion for reconsideration based on manifest errors of law and fact was denied in 2012. In 2014, we were relieved as counsel at J.C.’s request.