They asked the school to look into the 2021 incident and requested a new paraeducator for their child. The classroom aide hadn鈥檛 mentioned the injury, despite messaging them throughout the day, the parents said, erasing their trust in her.

But the family鈥檚 search for answers and solutions brought them head-on into a problem they hadn鈥檛 anticipated: The school pointed the finger back at the Diaz parents, alleging neglect and inadequate supervision of their child. Soon, a caseworker with the Administration for Children鈥檚 Sevices, known as ACS, the New York City agency responsible for investigating suspected child abuse, showed up at their door.

鈥淲e were just trying to advocate for our son and find out what happened like any parent would,鈥� Michelle Diaz said. 鈥淭his is where the retaliation started.鈥�

The school鈥檚 response reveals a startling pattern: Across the nation鈥檚 largest district, parents of students with disabilities who speak up on behalf of their children say they are being charged with allegations of child abuse or neglect 鈥� a tactic advocates say schools use to intimidate parents and coerce them into dropping their concerns.

Though it鈥檚 not clear how many reports may be retaliatory, New York City educators have made more than 3,500 calls alleging suspected abuse or neglect of children with disabilities over the past two school years, according to data obtained by 蜜桃影视 through public records requests. Each one triggers an intrusive process that, at its most dire, can lead to the removal of a child from parents鈥� custody. Yet caseworkers found evidence of parental wrongdoing in only 16% of cases, and fewer still go on to withstand judges鈥� scrutiny.

In more than a dozen interviews, parents, advocates and researchers recounted what they described as a common practice of threats leveraged against families of some of the most vulnerable students in the city鈥檚 school system.

鈥淭hose are intimidation tactics that they do to parents,鈥� said Rima Izquierdo, a Bronx parent leader who supports families of special needs children across the borough.

鈥淭his is a trend. 鈥� All the stories sound the same.鈥�

Neither the Department of Education nor ACS responded to parents鈥� claims of retaliation when asked in an email. DOE spokesperson Nicole Brownstein expressed her agency鈥檚 commitment to 鈥渢he safety and wellbeing of our students.鈥� 

鈥淲e are actively working closely with our partners at ACS to retrain staff and ensure that every possible step is taken to provide support for our families in instances that do not meet the level of making a report to the [state hotline],鈥� she said in an email.

A pattern of coercion

Tension between special education parents and their children鈥檚 schools is common in New York City, a school system for failing to meet the needs of students with disabilities. In 2021, the city had a backlog of roughly as parents escalated worries that their children with disabilities weren鈥檛 receiving mandated services such as physical therapy or counseling. In 2020-21, of New York City鈥檚 roughly 1 million schoolchildren received special education services, compared to a national average of 15%. 

Advocating for individuals with disabilities is a federally protected right. Still, special education parents nationwide recount instances of being punished for speaking up on behalf of their children.

In 2022, the federal Office of Civil Rights received from families of students with disabilities. describe anecdotal cases where schools have used child protective services reports or truancy charges to punish families advocating for their special education children. And the American Bar Association published a on the legal rights of parents of special education students who find themselves facing these allegations.

Previous reporting has revealed cases where schools against parents who aggravate educators or administrators. But families of special education students say they are at particular risk for the unlawful treatment.

It鈥檚 “a very common occurrence,鈥� said Anna Arons, a New York University law professor, that when families have 鈥渟ubstantial back-and-forth with the school about the appropriate services for their child鈥� it can result in educators calling the state child abuse hotline.

School staff are one of several professions legally obligated to report suspected child abuse and neglect. But in New York City and nationwide, educators make a higher share of unsubstantiated calls than any other mandatory reporter category 鈥� meaning families often become needlessly ensnared in a process they describe as invasive and traumatic. 

From September 2022 through February 2023, NYC school staff made over 6,500 calls to ACS encompassing all students, including youth in special education, according to data the agency provided. Some 15% of those investigations revealed evidence of abuse or neglect.

New York City鈥檚 child protective services system disproportionately involves parents of color. Citywide, some of children named in ACS investigations are Black or Hispanic, while, together, those racial groups make up just 60% of NYC young people. Even among neighborhoods with similar poverty rates, those with greater shares of Black and Hispanic residents face higher rates of investigations, shows.

State data, on paper, show that students with disabilities get reported to child protective services by educators at roughly the same rate as their peers. They make up 21% of the total enrollment and 22% of educators鈥� calls to the child abuse hotline. But the latter figure is likely missing some students with disabilities. Allegations against special education parents are only flagged as such if the educator making the call mentions at intake that the student has a disability, an ACS spokesperson explained. 

In other words, some reports regarding special education students might never get recorded that way due to human error.

鈥淚t鈥檚 probably a pretty serious undercount,鈥� Arons said. Educators calling in reports could easily neglect to mention a student鈥檚 disability, she said.

Paullette Healy has two children with disabilities and often assists other parents in meetings with their school to design Individualized Education Plans, known as IEPs, for their special needs children. The IEPs are legally mandated and Healy has joined well over 100 such conferences across all five boroughs over the past decade, she estimates. They can get contentious when schools hesitate to provide services students are entitled to, she said.

鈥淭here鈥檒l be pushback. It鈥檚 like, 鈥榃e鈥檙e understaffed. The particular therapist we have now, their caseload is way more than they can handle,鈥� 鈥� she said.

When parents don鈥檛 back down, that鈥檚 when schools may begin to send threatening signals, Healy said.

鈥淣ot too long after those meetings, behavior letters will come home,鈥� she explained. 鈥淸The school will allege] there鈥檚 not proper documentation for absences. And then eventually, a knock on the door from ACS. That pattern has already been established. We鈥檝e seen it way too often.鈥�

Healy herself was the subject of an unsubstantiated investigation in the fall of 2020. A school staff member reported the mother for educational neglect for keeping her children home out of fear of COVID. 

An ACS spokesperson said in an email that the agency is working with educators and school leadership to reduce the number of families coming into unnecessary contact with the child welfare system, training educators to instead connect struggling families with resources like food or rent support. The agency runs several community centers across the city that offer free resources to families, such as clothing, food and diapers.

鈥淲e will continue to work with stakeholders, like NYC Public Schools, to help reduce unnecessary reports so that we can better focus our child protection resources on those who really need it,鈥� the spokesperson said.

A series of unexplained injuries at school

The Diaz parents recounted a process of escalation similar to what Healy said she鈥檚 witnessed.

The family shared numerous documents with 蜜桃影视 including medical records, photos of their son鈥檚 injuries, the results of the school鈥檚 investigation into possible corporal punishment and official letters from ACS.

In November 2021, Luis and Michelle Diaz had been seeking answers about Tristan鈥檚 injuries for months, worried educators might have harmed their son. But the school鈥檚 internal investigation found no evidence of mistreatment. Through a Freedom of Information Law request, the parents learned one special education teacher on the second day of school had conducted 鈥渏oint compressions and massaging strategies鈥� after Tristan had become agitated in class. The school did not conclude the action amounted to corporal punishment. But, to the Diazes, it was evidence an educator had laid hands on their son.

Over the next several months, Tristan kept coming home with new injuries, his parents said: scratches, bruises, a bite mark. School staff maintained the nonverbal child鈥檚 markings were self-inflicted, but the Diaz family took Tristan to doctors who disagreed. Eventually in mid-March, the parents reported the injuries to the police, explaining they were concerned their son could be experiencing physical abuse at school.

Tristan missed the next two days of school after getting bitten by mosquitos, which aggravated a tic he had of scratching himself with his fingernails. The Diaz parents said they called to excuse the absences. But still, the school sent home a March 19 attendance letter warning of possible child protective services involvement if the absences continued. Their son returned to the classroom.

Less than a week later came the ACS caseworker鈥檚 knock at the door, the parents said.

The ensuing investigation shook the family to its core.

The Diazes said their son Tristan suffered his first seizure in two years, which they believe was brought on by his stress and anxiety from the case.

Meanwhile, Luis Diaz said he faced stark consequences at work. After spending 18 years in the military, he is now employed by the Administration for Children鈥檚 Services as a child welfare specialist. When he and his wife were reported for alleged neglect, he got locked out of certain workspaces and sensed that his colleagues, who were all notified of the investigation, began to look at him differently. 

When the case closed two months later with no evidence of maltreatment, the family鈥檚 fear and frustration lingered. How could their school wield so much power to upend their lives, they wondered?

鈥淎n allegation can be just like that: 1, 2, 3. And then you ruin 60 days of a family. I could lose my job,鈥� Luis Diaz said. 

鈥楾hey bully me鈥�

Like the Diaz family, Elouise Cromwell-Evans was also reported to ACS by her school after a dispute surrounding her autistic son鈥檚 schooling.

In 2022, Cromwell-Evans said educators sent her and her 13-year-old child in an ambulance to the hospital for a psychological evaluation after the boy said at school that he wanted to kill himself. The doctor concluded the statement wasn鈥檛 worrisome, but rather an attention-seeking response after weeks of being called names by a class bully, the mother said.

But she said the school continued to struggle with her son鈥檚 behavior, which included spitting on the classmate who was taunting him. In early 2023, educators called another ambulance for a second psych evaluation, she said, telling Cromwell-Evans that if she didn鈥檛 show up at school and accompany her son, they would have to report it to ACS as medical neglect.

She complied, but once in the ambulance, said she took the recommendation of a paramedic who thought the hospital visit was unnecessary because he saw her son鈥檚 behavior as normal for a boy going through puberty. So she signed release forms and the family left.

Shortly after, the school reported the Bronx mother to ACS, she said.

鈥淭hey intimidate me. They bully me,鈥� Cromwell-Evans said. 鈥淚f I don鈥檛 do what they say, then I鈥檓 neglectful.鈥�

She suspects her race and class have played into educators鈥� perceptions of her parenting.

鈥淲e鈥檙e a Black family in a poor neighborhood and we were homeless for five years,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e definitely placing us in a box.鈥�

Child welfare experts say living in poverty does not necessarily mean parents are neglecting their children. Provided there is no intentional mistreatment, struggling families need support 鈥� like food or rental assistance 鈥� rather than child protective services involvement, University of Chicago professor Darcey Merritt told 蜜桃影视 in October, then at NYU. Recent advocacy and media attention have prompted possible changes to mandatory reporting laws in New York City and . And ACS itself has worked in recent years to provide support to families, where possible, and reduce unnecessary abuse and neglect reports.

Ericka Brewington narrowly avoided a child protective services investigation at the beginning of the 2022-23 school year, she said. She kept her special needs son Amir home from class for several weeks because the school didn鈥檛 arrange for a paraprofessional to ride on the bus with him, as his education plan stipulated.

She remembers the school calling and telling her, 鈥渨e鈥檙e supposed to call this in鈥� to child protective services. 

But, in response, the mother, who also serves as a board member on the family advocacy nonprofit , provided email documentation, which she also shared with 蜜桃影视, showing the school had promised a staff member on the bus weeks ago and never followed through.

Brewington believes her savvy staved off a possible ACS report. But for parents less educated about their rights, 鈥渢his would have scared the living daylights out of them,鈥� she said. The threat of being separated from their children, in those cases, can be enough to make parents drop any demands they鈥檙e making for educational services, she said.

鈥淵ou throw that in any parent鈥檚 face,鈥� Brewington said, 鈥渢hey鈥檙e going to give in.鈥�

It鈥檚 a threat so potent that many families completely avoid asking for the services their IEPs entitle them to, said Shalonda Curtis-Hackett, a parent advocate in Brooklyn.

A former PTA president, Curtis-Hackett said families often confessed to her during the early stages of the pandemic that their special education students weren鈥檛 getting the help they needed. But parents asked her not to relay the complaints to the school because they were worried about potential repercussions.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to be retaliated against,鈥� the Brooklyn mother said they told her. 

It鈥檚 a calculus likely familiar to parents across the city. A class action lawsuit filed in November 2020 claims early in the pandemic. As of June 2022, city data show were fully receiving the help stipulated by their education plans, up slightly from a year prior.

Curtis-Hackett endured her own unsubstantiated ACS investigation in 2021 and now works as an outreach coordinator with the , which provides community-based legal defense services. 

鈥淲hen parents are trying to get services for their kids and they鈥檙e not just letting the school give them the bare basics of an IEP, 鈥� ACS is definitely used as a retaliatory weapon,鈥� she said.

To Michelle Diaz, the irony is rich. She was alleged to be neglectful while taking every step she knew of to advocate for her child, she pointed out.

鈥淚n a million years, did we think we were gonna have an ACS case?鈥� she said. 鈥淲e go above and beyond for our son.鈥�

Between August 2019 and January 2022, only 24% of investigations prompted by calls from school staff found evidence of abuse or neglect compared to a citywide rate of in 2020 鈥� meaning K-12 workers make allegations that do not get substantiated far more often than most other professions.

Teachers, with whom children spend most of their day, misreport more than any other school staff: Two thirds of their calls to the state hotline are unfounded, according to data obtained by 蜜桃影视 through a public records request.

Meanwhile, families say the investigations plunge their lives into deep uncertainty and inflict lasting traumas on their kids. Parents describe children with recurring nightmares, fearing every knock on the door may be a caseworker looking to snatch them from their home.

Darcey Merritt, associate professor of social work at New York University, regularly engages with families impacted by the child welfare system in her work and research. She also serves on the Child Maltreatment Prevention Committee of the .

Over the years, Merritt has come to see the system as overly punitive toward poor families who love their children but may struggle to meet their basic needs due to lack of resources. 

The expert believes it鈥檚 time to reimagine child welfare to better support those families: 鈥淲e need to start the whole thing over,鈥� she said.

蜜桃影视 spoke to Merritt to learn what issues she sees in child protective services 鈥� and what can be done.

This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

蜜桃影视: What should people who work in schools understand about the child welfare system?

Darcey Merritt: We can’t disentangle neglect from poverty, it’s inappropriate to do so. 

On any given day, 76% of the children and families that are exposed to child welfare are there because of some form of neglect. And neglect is tethered to poverty: supervisory neglect, physical neglect, which refers to people not having appropriate food, clothing and housing. 

A lot of these issues related to neglect are structural issues that are outside the control of parents. Yet [child protective services] is blaming parents for their unfortunate, involuntary socio-economic statuses. So that’s a problem. 

Teachers are mandated to report out of an abundance of caution if they feel like a child is unsafe for whatever reason. But there’s got to be a way where mandated reporters first figure out how to be more useful in addressing the actual problem. If a child has dirty clothes consistently every day, let’s figure out what to do about that without getting CPS involved. 

I think there needs to be changes in state mandating laws, so [reporters] are encouraged, maybe even required, to first figure out how to address the problem. If they don’t have enough child care, well, then let’s find child care. If they don’t have enough food, let’s find food. Laundry machine is broken and they can’t go to the landlord because they鈥檙e behind on their rent? Let’s figure that out. These are all things that are happening. 

What might those changes look like?

We need to start the whole thing over and reserve child protective services for those kids who have been physically and sexually abused. We need to have a separate institution, a separate agency or organization, working with communities and neighborhoods to provide support for all the other kids so that the go-to response isn’t to report a child who’s poor. It all comes down to money and what our society is willing to do to make sure that people have a standard level of resources and support to be able to raise their families.

We need to really have more respect for these parents because they love their children and they are victims of an inequitable society.

To make sure I’m understanding correctly, are you saying child protective services should not be the ones responding to neglect charges?

I do not think they should be handling neglect charges. I think that some other agency that’s not connected to the stigma of having a CPS case should respond. Whatever support we put in place, it needs to be untethered from the institution of child protective services.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t help these families. I’m saying the child protective services is not the agency to handle neglect cases that have to do with poverty.

New York State law, as of 2021, requires implicit bias training for mandatory reporters. Does that rule go far enough to mitigate some of these problems?

I don’t think it goes far enough. You can’t just do a training and call it a day. You have to have something in place so that when people are making decisions, you can check whether or not this decision was made because of some unseen bias. For example, 鈥極h, this child’s parent has been involved with the carceral system. Go ahead and report this one.鈥� That’s how people continue to cycle in between these harmful punitive systems. 

We have our own Western idea of what safety and family well-being means and it’s all from a deficit lens. Rarely do we look at family dynamics and functioning from a strength-based perspective. I interview a lot of moms for my research and all of them say, 鈥榃e love our children, but we needed help.鈥� 

It’s a really serious problem and the racial disproportionality is going to continue (because impoverished parents have no choice but to rely on the government for welfare). Black children are highly disproportionately involved with the child welfare system and before Black children, Native kids have the highest disproportionality of involvement. People don’t even pay attention to that.

Interesting. I didn鈥檛 know that.

The highest is Native American children, then Black children, then Latino children. White children are not overly represented in the system.

Some parents have told me they can鈥檛 help but know about child protective services, or, in New York City, the Administration for Children鈥檚 Services, because either they鈥檙e personally impacted or they know someone who is. Meanwhile, other families are completely oblivious. Have you seen that difference between communities?

It’s true. Once you’re involved, you know what that looks like. Parents鈥� language is even institutionalized. Have you heard people who are involved with the carceral system say, 鈥極h, somebody caught a case.鈥� These ACS-impacted moms literally say, 鈥榃ell, I caught an ACS case.鈥� That language is a thing. 

And another group doesn鈥檛 have any idea what ACS is.

What are the harms of overreporting and what are the harms of underreporting [to child protective services]? 

The obvious harm of underreporting is that we may miss children who are in actual danger from parents that abuse their children. 

This whole issue of, 鈥榦ut of an abundance of caution, we need to report anything that we suspect might be problematic,鈥� that’s where the rub lies. We have to figure out how to pull out those issues that are related to poverty. 

The harm of overreporting is that when CPS comes knocking at your door, you are immediately traumatized. The very minute a child is taken from your home for any amount of time, you are immediately traumatized. They then have workers coming in on a regular basis, they’re being mandated to do certain groups and therapy, all kinds of things that don’t relate to the fact that maybe they need some money.

I personally renamed CPS the 鈥榗hild poverty surveillance.鈥� That’s my own little term I’ve made up for them.

You have to be subjective when you’re making a decision about whether or not a child is in danger. And one needs to be really, really reflective about their implicit biases, because [the worry is] a poor Black child will be treated differently than a poor white child. 

You live and work in New York City. Do mandated reporters, like school staff, lean more toward over or underreporting? 

They lean more towards overreporting. 

What messages are those people receiving when they get trained? Is it 鈥榃hen in doubt, report?鈥� Is it, 鈥楾ake every precaution before you do?鈥� What are folks hearing?

I think they’re hearing, 鈥榃hen in doubt, report.鈥� I think that’s what they’re hearing. 

For the most part, folks are afraid because if you don’t report something and the child ends up really harmed, then the liability is on the mandated reporter. I think they’re being given a double message: 鈥榃hen in doubt, report,鈥� but on the back end, 鈥楤e careful, because there might not be a need for CPS to be involved.鈥� 

In schools, especially those that are under-resourced, they don’t have the means to help a family with their basic needs and their financial needs. [Instead], teachers are by law required to report to child protective services. It just makes no sense. The solution does not match the problem. And it causes harm in the meanwhile.

Given the system as it stands, if you are a mandated reporter in a school setting, how do you respond in a way that both protects a child in real danger, but also won’t jeopardize a family for no reason? How do you weigh that judgment call?

It’s hard. 

I had this conversation with my partner who teaches in Philadelphia. He’s not a social worker. I’m a social worker. But he [has to play the role of] a social worker, because he has to do social work as a teacher. 

When something’s going on with a child, my recommendation is to find out what’s happening from the family first. I recommend taking more caution before making a phone call [to the state hotline]. See if you can come up with a solution first. 

That puts a greater burden on teachers because then they end up being social workers as well. So it’s a very fine line, finding out what resources one has at the school, if the nurses or the climate officers or whoever the people are at the school [can help]. 

I’m only speaking about cases where neglect is related to poverty. Now, there are other cases of neglect where a parent intentionally left the child with a child abuser. All the neglect I’m talking about is unintentional. 

Child protective services should not be the go-to for cases of unintentional neglect related to poverty. That phone call should not be made to CPS but to another agency that we just don’t have yet.聽

When child protective services investigated Shalonda Curtis-Hackett鈥檚 family for neglect in 2021, the Brooklyn mom could measure the personal toll in pounds lost: 20. 

She tried to fight the clawing thoughts that her caseworker 鈥渃ould try and snatch my kids,鈥� a vision she says she still can鈥檛 escape in her nightmares.

Though the agency eventually found no evidence her children were malnourished 鈥� her husband is a professional chef 鈥� the process of having a welfare worker inspect their Bushwick apartment, check the fridge for food and ask prying questions deeply disturbed her children, who are now 8, 10 and 15.

鈥淢y children are happy-go-lucky kids and I鈥檝e had to adultify them and tell them about the world much faster than I wanted to,鈥� Curtis-Hackett said. 

The mother, who was also PTA president at her younger children鈥檚 school at the time, believes the report came from a K-12 staffer who said her kids鈥� bones were sticking out, an observation made while the children were attending class via Zoom at the time.

If so, the family is among the thousands of New York City households 鈥� disproportionately Black, Hispanic and low income 鈥� subjected to unfounded investigations into abuse or neglect initiated by calls from their children鈥檚 school. 

In fact, between August 2019 and January 2022, city school employees made over 13,750 false alarm reports to the state child abuse hotline, according to data obtained by 蜜桃影视 through a public records request to the Office of Children and Family Services. 

Over that time span, the vast majority of school-based reports were ultimately unfounded, including at least 58% of calls from guidance counselors, 59% of calls from principals and 67% of calls from teachers. Less than 1 in 3 teacher reports led to any evidence of wrongdoing.

鈥淭eachers, out of fear that they’re going to get in trouble, will report even if they’re just like, 鈥榃ell, it could be abuse.鈥� It could be. It also could be 10 million other things,鈥� said Jessica Beck, a middle school English teacher in the Bronx.

Those reports spur investigations that, at their most dire, can lead children to be separated from their parents 鈥� a trauma associated with elevated risks of . Even when closed and dropped, investigations can stay on parents鈥� records for years afterward and erase job prospects in youth-serving fields.

Kamaria Excell is a social worker who has helped dozens of parents recover from the damaging process. She led a 12-week healing program with the community-based organization . The vast majority of participating parents 鈥� 95%, she estimates 鈥� had investigations that were ultimately dismissed. But the shame, anger and eroded trust did not fade.

鈥淔amilies deal with the repercussions of careless [child welfare] investigations for years after,鈥� she said.

When a case gets closed, Curtis-Hackett, the Brooklyn mom, added, 鈥渋t doesn鈥檛 stop the PTSD.鈥�

鈥榃hen in doubt, report鈥�

In total, only 24% of investigations prompted by calls from school staff found evidence of abuse or neglect compared to a citywide rate of in 2020 鈥� meaning K-12 workers, teachers especially, make allegations that do not get substantiated far more often than most other professions. (Another 16% of K-12 calls led to an alternate response for children determined not to be in imminent harm and 59% were dropped outright.) Even that rate likely overstates the true level of maltreatment, family law attorney David Shalleck-Klein said, because it鈥檚 a metric the agency determines 鈥渦nilaterally鈥� and includes cases that may ultimately be dismissed in court.

The issue extends beyond Gotham, with similar rates of unsubstantiated reports from school staff nationwide. Among mandated reporters, K-12 workers are the most likely to report abuse or neglect and the least likely to have their allegations find evidence of wrongdoing, show.

Like most states, New York requires educators, child care providers, law enforcement officers, health care professionals and social workers to call a hotline if they believe a young person may be experiencing abuse or neglect. But, in practice, that decision is always a judgment call, said Beck, the Bronx middle school teacher. And in NYC schools, it鈥檚 a call made by teachers who are mostly white about students who are mostly Black and Hispanic.

鈥淲hat looks like neglect to a teacher who has privilege might actually be poverty,鈥� said Beck, who is white.

For example, educators are trained that poor hygiene can be a sign of neglect. But if a kid in her class smells, the teacher will speak with the parents rather than immediately calling in a report, she said. Some colleagues in the same situation, though, may call the state hotline, plunging that family鈥檚 life into the havoc of a neglect investigation.

The ethos is 鈥渨hen in doubt, report,鈥� said Darcey Merritt, an associate professor of social work at New York University.

鈥淚nstead of immediately reporting a suspected neglect situation, find out how to address that need that’s being unmet first,鈥� she suggests.

That is not what a social worker at a Bronx transfer high school 鈥� small schools designed to re-engage students who have dropped out or fallen behind 鈥� sees on the ground, unfortunately. She asked not to be identified for fear of getting into trouble at work.

鈥淚t鈥檚 totally C-Y-A, cover your ass. If you鈥檙e unsure, just call,鈥� she said.

鈥淭hey never provide information on what happens after the call,鈥� she continued. 鈥淢andated reporters don’t know that, many times after making a call, 24 hours [later] someone’s going to show up to this person’s house 鈥� and start conducting an investigation: a search of their home, checking counters, checking their cabinets, strip searching their young children to check for any bruises or marks, depending on the allegation.鈥�

Instead, the training sessions she has attended have begun by projecting the names and pictures of young people who have died by parental abuse, the social worker said, a tactic she considers 鈥渇ear mongering.鈥�

The Department of Education said it cares deeply about the well-being of students and is committed to providing support and care at the earliest opportunity.

“While every NYC Public School member is a mandated reporter, we are focused on connecting with children and families who may be in need, providing them access to the vital interventions, supports and services they need to stay safe,” DOE spokesperson Suzan Sumer said in an emailed statement.

The Administration for Children鈥檚 Services, the city agency that investigates suspected abuse and neglect, said it is working to cut down on unneeded reports. Overall, school and child care-based reports fell 17% from spring 2019 to spring 2022, it said.

As per a , mandated reporters are required to undergo implicit bias training. And this fall, ACS will hold a series of five-hour trainings in collaboration with the NYC Department of Education to help school staff better understand the citywide resources they can refer families to rather than calling the child abuse hotline, the agency said. Only one representative from each school, however, is required to attend.

鈥淲e take our mandate of protecting children and supporting families seriously, while simultaneously being committed to reducing unnecessary child protection involvement with families, particularly families of color,鈥� a spokesperson wrote in an email.

Of in 2020, 36% found evidence of abuse or neglect and 86 children died, according to the . The large majority of those deaths 鈥溾�嬧�媤ere unrelated to abuse or neglect,鈥� the agency wrote. However, when a child is killed as a result of being beaten or neglected by a family member, the agency frequently for failing to investigate or properly follow through on earlier reports of abuse.

鈥楽chool-to-ACS pipeline鈥�

In New York City and across the nation, involvement with child protective services breaks decisively along racial lines.

Citywide, some of children named in ACS investigations are Black or Hispanic, while, together, those racial groups make up 60% of NYC young people. Even among neighborhoods with similar poverty rates, those with greater shares of Black and Hispanic residents face higher rates of investigations, shows.

Child protective services involvement becomes so normalized in many low-income communities, Merritt has noticed, it changes people鈥檚 vernacular.

鈥淭hese ACS-impacted moms literally say, 鈥榃ell, I caught an ACS case,鈥欌�� as if they鈥檙e referring to the criminal justice system, the social work professor said.

Meanwhile, more privileged communities are often unaware of the disastrous effects that system can have, said her NYU colleague Anna Arons, assistant professor of law.

鈥淚t is really easy to be a person with money in this country, 鈥� particularly white, and not have any sense of child welfare services as anything more than people who are genuinely helping children,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou might never know there are 50,000 investigations every year in New York City, which is really an astronomical number.鈥�

Curtis-Hackett, for her part, has taken the situation into her own hands. After being reported to child protective services, she no longer wants her family to participate in a system she calls the 鈥渟chool-to-ACS pipeline.鈥�

Last year, she pulled her kids from the public school system. Now, they homeschool.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 trust the [Department of Education],鈥� she said. 鈥淚 will not allow my children to be collateral damage.鈥�

Correction: An earlier version of this story stated national figures for the number of children in 2020 who had died, suffered abuse or neglect, and been reported to CPS by any source, not just educators. Those contextual data have been corrected to reflect New York City’s rates.

Having worked for five years as an attorney at , he would repeatedly see the Administration for Children鈥檚 Services, NYC鈥檚 child welfare agency, 鈥渂latantly violating family鈥檚 rights,鈥� he said. 

They would intimidate families to gain entry into their homes, he said, conduct intrusive searches, including asking children to take off their clothes to look for bruises and, in the most dire cases, separate youth from their parents without judicial approval by acting under what鈥檚 known as emergency removal powers. Yet in hundreds of instances each year, according to city data, judges would then deem the agency鈥檚 use of those emergency powers unlawful.

The attorney last week launched what he says is the nation鈥檚 first civil rights organization dedicated to fighting back against such violations: the . 

There鈥檚 a long tradition of groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union or the NAACP Legal Defense Fund bringing lawsuits against alleged government wrongdoing, but 鈥渢here’s no comparison to the child welfare system for when families鈥� rights are violated,鈥� said Shalleck-Klein.

鈥淭his is the first organization in the country that is going to be dedicated to going on the offense and suing government agencies when they violate families鈥� rights,鈥� he told 蜜桃影视. 鈥淲e’re filling a gaping hole in advocacy for parents.鈥�

The Center will bring cases against ACS including alleged Fourth Amendment violations for illegal searches and seizures, he said. It will seek financial penalties to compensate families for their damages and will request injunctions against ACS practices it says are illegal.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e not going to just get a slap on the wrist. They鈥檙e very literally going to have to pay for their mistakes,鈥� said Shalleck-Klein.

鈥淭hese types of lawsuits are hard,鈥� he admits, but said he鈥檚 confident that 鈥渨e鈥檙e going to be able to have not just success for individual clients, but also transformative systems change success.鈥�

As many as are the subject of ACS investigations each year, 87% of whom are Black or Hispanic. Although 23% of youth in the city are Black, they make up removed from their families and placed in foster care. 

In 2019, out of more than 1,750 emergency family separations, were immediately rejected by a Family Court judge and still more were thrown out in the days and weeks to come 鈥� meaning hundreds of children were unnecessarily put through the trauma of family separation, which studies show is associated with .

鈥淲hen ACS removes a child from a parent without a court order, if they did not have legal justification for that [removal], that is a constitutional violation,鈥� said Shalleck-Klein. 鈥淲e know that it is happening routinely.鈥�

鈥淎CS follows federal, state and city laws, and respects the constitutional rights of parents and children,鈥� an ACS spokesperson said in an email to 蜜桃影视, adding that the agency 鈥渋s committed to being responsive to the needs of children and families.鈥� ACS is required by law to investigate all reports it receives, the spokesperson said, noting that the total number of children entering foster care since 2017 has dropped by more than a third. 

Fewer than 2% of ACS investigations in 2021 resulted in child separation, the agency said.

鈥淚t is deeply concerning to us,鈥� the spokesperson added, 鈥渢hat, year after year, there are dramatic racial and ethnic disparities in the reports ACS receives from the state.鈥�

The agency is working to provide child care professionals with implicit bias trainings and education on ways to support families without calling the state鈥檚 child abuse hotline, it said.

Across the country, Black youth are to experience a child welfare investigation, with 53% of all Black Americans undergoing the experience before they turn 18. Even if the investigations find no evidence of abuse or neglect, charges can remain on parents鈥� records for years, jeopardizing job prospects in fields like education and child care. 

Meanwhile, many white families hardly feel the presence of child protective services at all. A former ACS caseworker spoke with in 2020, relaying that, once, when she was looking for an elusive parent, she saw a white woman nearby and asked if she knew the parent鈥檚 whereabouts. The neighbor had never even heard of the caseworker鈥檚 agency.

鈥淚 never met one single Black family that asked me, 鈥榃hat鈥檚 ACS?鈥欌�� the caseworker reflected. 鈥淭here鈥檚 one group of people walking around not knowing that ACS exists, and there鈥檚 another group of people walking around living in fear of ACS.鈥�

In fall 2020, Harlem community advocate Joyce McMillan interviewed New York City residents in majority-Black, Hispanic and Asian-American neighborhoods about their experiences with the agency and turned their responses into posters that now hang throughout the city.

鈥淭hey tore my family apart,鈥� one parent said.

鈥淚 felt like the police had come to my house once ACS came because they investigated my household like the police,鈥� said another.

Out of the 500 residents to whom McMillan spoke, all but two or three, she said, knew about the agency. Youth and parents alike were haunted by their experiences, she said.

鈥淔or children, ACS is like the boogeyman. They run and hide when ACS knocks on the door. They think they’re going to be taken away from their parents,鈥� explained McMillan, who is executive director of . Her organization seeks to abolish what it calls the 鈥渇amily regulation system鈥� and calls for the government to support rather than punish families living in poverty. She now sits on the Family Justice Law Center鈥檚 community advisory board.

The new legal organization, she told 蜜桃影视, will be a game-changer for families, finally giving them the opportunity to fight back when they believe their rights are violated.

鈥淔amilies will have resources to deal with the harm,鈥� she said. 鈥淎CS, we call them the family police for a reason. 鈥� Until the cameras started rolling, people didn’t believe that Black people got shot in the back and weren鈥檛 actually carrying a gun. And it’s the same thing with ACS. So I hope that this work that’s being done will bring out the truth.鈥�

Attorney David Bloomfield, who represented NYC as an assistant corporation counsel, said 鈥渙n a case-by-case basis, I think there are winnable situations of improper separation,鈥� but system injunctions against ACS might be a 鈥渉eavier lift.鈥�

Still, the Brooklyn College and CUNY Graduate Center law professor said 鈥渋t can have a chilling effect on improper conduct if there鈥檚 able counsel for the families.鈥�

The Family Justice Law Center has been selected for in-kind funding and guidance from the Urban Justice Center鈥檚 program. Legal scholars from Stanford, Harvard, New York University and other institutions sit on its academic advisory board.

ACS obtains court permission to enter homes in of all investigations. In most other searches, parents give the caseworker verbal permission to enter their space. But if a caseworker bangs on the door saying that they will return with the police if the family doesn鈥檛 let them in, and if the parents don鈥檛 know their legal rights, 鈥淲as that really a voluntary entry into the home?鈥� asks Shalleck-Klein.

鈥淸Child protective services] may seek the assistance of the police if CPS determine that immediate protective measures are necessary,鈥� the agency said.

Similarly, of emergency child removals get immediately struck down by a Family Court judge. While the emergency removal power is vital when youth are in imminent danger, said the attorney, its abuse can represent an unconstitutional seizure.

鈥淎CS knows there’s no consequence for them doing something illegal,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f they violate families鈥� rights, what happens is that the child is returned home. But there’s nothing in the moment stopping them or giving them any pause from conducting an emergency removal when there’s not just cause.鈥�

鈥淲e hope that the [Family Justice Law Center] will inject more accountability into the process,鈥� he continued, 鈥渂ecause they are now put on notice that they can’t act with impunity and their illegal actions will be challenged in court.鈥�

Shalleck-Klein hopes the Center鈥檚 work will lead to fewer children in the foster care system and shorter durations for those who are, while not worsening, or even decreasing, the rates of child maltreatment. 鈥淚n other words, keeping as many children home safely with their parents as we can,鈥� he said.

The goal parallels the impacts of other changes in the Family Court system. When the legal team representing defendant parents includes social work staff and parent advocates, foster stays were significantly reduced with no change in child safety outcomes, a 2019 NYU found. And similarly, pilot programs that boosted legal defense for families led to major savings for municipalities by avoiding costly foster care when poverty-induced issues might otherwise have been mistaken for parental neglect, a 2020 from Casey Family Programs revealed.

McMillan hopes the plan succeeds, not just for the children who might avoid unneeded family separation, but also for those who indeed are suffering from abuse at home.

If ACS spends less time mistaking poverty-related issues for abusive parenting, 鈥渢hen maybe they will focus on children who actually need help,鈥� said the advocate.

The updated total represents a 16 percent jump over the original figure, which a state agency provided to 蜜桃影视 via a public records request in late December. 

Based on those records, 蜜桃影视 reported in January that school staff had made over 2,400 calls to the state鈥檚 child abuse hotline in the first three months of the 2021-22 school year and over 9,600 since the start of the pandemic 鈥� many of which, advocates say, were harmful to families and possibly the result of racial bias.

But according to the corrected counts, city school personnel made even more reports than previously known: 2,822 between September and November 2021, and 11,560 between August 2020 and November 2021. 

In late February, the New York State Office of Children and Family Services sent 蜜桃影视 its amended tabulation, noting that reports made by teachers were 鈥渋nadvertently excluded鈥� from the initial record it had provided in response to a November 2020 freedom of information request.

鈥淲hen the report was initially run for 鈥榮chool personnel,鈥� teachers were accidentally not included as a source,鈥� OCFS Records Access Officer Tracy Swanson wrote in an email. 鈥淥nce our data people realized the error, they reran the report and included the accurate data.鈥�

Having left out teachers was a 鈥渉uge oversight,鈥� said parent advocate Paullette Healy, who herself was subject to an investigation that ultimately found no evidence of neglect.

Gabriel Freiman, head of education practices at the legal nonprofit said the sheer number of reports of abuse and neglect made by school staff 鈥� over 11,500 from August 2020 to November 2021 鈥� 鈥渄emonstrates to me that our school system is really intertwined with the family regulation system.鈥�

Roughly 16 percent of all reports made by school personnel during that time period were from teachers, a comparison of the original and updated records reveals. The vast majority of calls came from other staff in the nation鈥檚 largest school district. School personnel are mandated by New York state law to report suspected cases of child abuse and neglect to a central hotline.

鈥淭he way that this gets recorded, it鈥檚 the person who actually is 鈥� making the call to the [],鈥� said Freiman, who works with families navigating child welfare investigations. 鈥淚f a child discloses something to a teacher about what’s happening in the home and the teacher immediately goes and talks to the principal, it could be the principal that calls in the report or the counselor that calls in the report.鈥�

Healy doesn’t believe it was her child’s teacher who reported her and thinks it may have been a school psychologist with whom she had previous conflicts. Her child鈥檚 Brooklyn school did not respond to 蜜桃影视’s request for comment. 

Reporting done by The Hechinger Report and HuffPost in 2018 showed that school officials in select cases as a retaliation tactic against parents they find to be bothersome.

The new numbers matter because child welfare investigations disproportionately impact poor families of color and can cause devastating impacts for children and parents. Charges can stay on parents鈥� records for years, erasing job prospects in fields like child care. Most dire, children can be separated from their parents 鈥� a trauma that studies show is later associated with elevated risks of .

In New York City, some of children named in investigations are Black or Hispanic, while, together, those racial groups make up 60 percent of the city鈥檚 youth. Even among neighborhoods with similar poverty rates, those with greater shares of Black and Hispanic residents face , research shows.

Such disparities are 鈥渄eeply concerning,鈥� a spokesperson for the Administration for Children鈥檚 Services, the New York City agency tasked with looking into suspected cases of child abuse and neglect, said in mid-January. 

蜜桃影视 previously reported that many families investigated this school year by ACS say they were not neglecting their children, but rather keeping them home from school as a COVID precaution. Under the city鈥檚 own guidance instructing schools to have leniency in such cases, they say, they should never have been reported to the agency.

Mayor Eric Adams鈥檚 Sunday announcement that he plans to lift the city鈥檚 school mask mandate March 7 may add yet another reason for COVID-wary parents to fear returning their children to in-person learning 鈥� signaling the issue may be far from over.

鈥淓nding the mask mandate in @NYCSchools is a [middle finger] to Black, Latino, underrepresented Asian, disabled & immunocompromised kids & staff,鈥� parent organizer Tajh Sutton on Twitter.

But while the total reports from school staff was higher in the fall of 2021 [when NYC schools were in-person] than the fall of 2020 [when classes were online], the share of calls that included an allegation of educational neglect dropped significantly over that span, the state’s data show. Some 63 percent of the 1,996 reports made by school staff between September and November 2020 included an educational neglect charge, while just 31 percent of the 2,800 reports filed over the same span a year later raised the same claim.

ACS data provided to 蜜桃影视 also showed a decline in reports of educational neglect from NYC school staff. From Sept. 1, 2020 to Jan. 31, 2021, school personnel made 2,708 reports alleging educational neglect compared to 1,926 over that same time window in 2021-22, according to the agency鈥檚 numbers. 

鈥淎 large reason for the difference would be the guidance ACS and DOE worked on together with regard to when to call in a report, and the significant training and messaging that was done with teachers,鈥� an ACS spokesperson told 蜜桃影视.

The City reported in 2020 that during remote learning, some children who missed Zoom classes because their family lacked devices or home internet were , which could have also driven those numbers in the first year of the pandemic.

Healy鈥檚 ACS report came in early November 2021, after schools reopened without a remote option. The Brooklyn mother remained unconvinced it was safe to send her two children back into classrooms, having lost several relatives to COVID. So she filed home instruction applications for both kids and stayed in communication with school staff, she said. The whole time, her children accessed and submitted classwork via Google Classroom.

鈥淚 was in constant contact [with the schools],鈥� Healy told 蜜桃影视. 鈥溾�嬧�婣ll of the things that needed to happen were still happening.鈥�

Yet in early November, an ACS caseworker knocked on the door of her apartment. The agency had received a report of suspected educational neglect from a staff member at her younger child鈥檚 school.

Healy is an organizer with the advocacy group PRESS, , and was familiar with her rights as a parent. But still, the visit was jarring to the whole family. After the caseworker left, her 14 year-old son, who has autism, paced back and forth for an hour, worried that the unfamiliar woman would return with law enforcement, Healy said. Her 13 year-old child, who identifies as non-binary, had continued nightmares, fearing they would be taken away from the only home they knew. Even Healy couldn鈥檛 avoid creeping thoughts of the worst-case scenario.

鈥淵ou automatically think someone鈥檚 here to take my kids away,鈥� she said. 

Since November, the most recent month for which data are available, Freiman said that several clients have continued to navigate new child welfare reports 鈥� especially during the Omicron surge when the sheer volume of COVID cases often complicated school attendance.

鈥淲e were working with people where the parents had COVID so [were] required to quarantine, but their children didn’t and so the school was expecting them to come to school. But the parents didn’t have a way to get them there,鈥� explained the attorney. 鈥淲e have had situations where those kinds of problems have resulted in a call to the state central register.鈥� 

ACS has said it is trying to avoid such scenarios. 鈥淲e are 鈥� working together (with the Department of Education) to make sure that families are not reported to the state鈥檚 child abuse hotline solely because of [a] child鈥檚 absences from school,鈥� a spokesperson wrote in a Jan. 13 message to 蜜桃影视. The agency is providing training to professionals working with children on ways to support families without calling the hotline, they said.

But Healy says there鈥檚 still a long way to go. Her own case was closed in December after uncovering no evidence of neglect, but she鈥檚 still going through a time-intensive and costly legal process to clear her record of the investigation. She hopes that the Adams administration, including schools Chancellor David Banks, works to ensure that other families don鈥檛 have to endure the same hardship.

鈥淭he whole punitive measures that ACS has been delivering up until now still needs to be addressed,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e definitely want to make sure that this gets nipped in the bud under this particular chancellor before more parents are unfortunately held to this repercussion.鈥�

From early November through Jan. 1, the Bay Ridge, Brooklyn family was under investigation by the Administration for Children鈥檚 Services, or ACS, the New York City agency tasked with looking into suspected cases of child abuse and neglect. Healy had been reported for educational neglect for not sending her children to school amid COVID fears, even though she says her kids kept up with their work remotely. 

The report that spurred their investigation was one of more than 2,400 that New York City school personnel made to the during the first three months of the 2021-22 school year, according to data obtained by 蜜桃影视 through a public record request 鈥� about 45 percent more than were reported over the same time span a year prior when most of the city鈥檚 . From August 2020 to November 2021, records show NYC school staff made a total of 9,674 reports. 

The highest monthly tally, 1,046, came in November 2021, the same month that ACS and the Department of Education issued 鈥嬧�媔nstructing schools to have patience with families keeping their children home due to COVID-19 concerns, and to avoid jumping to allegations of educational neglect when students don鈥檛 show up.

About a third of the reports from NYC school personnel from September through November 鈥� 839 out of 2,412 鈥� included an allegation of educational neglect. Of that total, just over half named educational neglect as the sole allegation, according to an ACS spokesperson, who pointed out that the rate was actually higher pre-COVID in the fall of 2019, when about 40 percent of reports from city school personnel alleged educational neglect.

Many of the families caught up in COVID-related investigations this school year, including the Healys, say that given the DOE’s statements and guidance, their ACS reports should never have been made.

Child welfare investigations, which disproportionately involve low-income families of color, can have devastating impacts. Charges can stay on parents鈥� records for years 鈥� even in cases like Healy鈥檚 where the agency ultimately found no evidence of neglect. Job prospects in fields like child care and education can be erased. And most dire, children can be separated from their parents 鈥� a trauma that studies show is later associated with elevated risks of .

ACS has clarified that, on its own, missing class should not be a reason for educators to suspect neglect. 鈥淲e are 鈥� working together (with the DOE) to make sure that families are not reported to the state鈥檚 child abuse hotline solely because of [a] child鈥檚 absences from school,鈥� a spokesperson wrote in a Jan. 13 email to 蜜桃影视, adding that the agency is providing training to professionals working with children on ways to support families without calling the hotline.

But now, after New York City student attendance rates plunged in early January amid surging Omicron cases, and with over how the Adams administration will approach remote learning, questions swirl over whether even more families may get entangled in the child welfare web.

鈥淚’m 鈥� worried about who’s going to be asked to answer for the decisions that they made in the wake of Omicron,鈥� said Gabriel Freiman, head of education practices at the legal nonprofit .

Healy echoed the concern, adding that families who kept children home amid the surge may be 鈥渧ulnerable to possible investigation.鈥�

How did we get here?

Rewind to the fall: New York City announced that schools would open in-person with no option for remote learning, and Healy was terrified. She had suffered massive personal losses through the pandemic 鈥� more than a dozen of her relatives had died of the virus, she said, ranging in age from 36 to 87 鈥� and the Brooklyn mother remained unconvinced that sending her children into crowded buildings was a good idea. She quickly submitted applications for home instruction for both of her kids. 

Meanwhile, just before classrooms reopened, the nation鈥檚 largest school district made a vow to parents: 鈥淭he only time ACS will intervene is if there is a clear intent to keep a child from being educated, period,鈥� then-schools Chancellor Meisha Porter said during a September . 鈥淲e want to work with our families because we recognize what families have been through.鈥�

Even while remote, Healy鈥檚 kids were still learning, she said. Both were accessing and submitting coursework via Google Classroom. She had even met with school staff to update both children鈥檚 Individualized Education Programs, the plans that spell out their special needs and mandated school services.

鈥淚 was in constant contact (with the schools),鈥� Healy said. 鈥溾�嬧�婣ll of the things that needed to happen were still happening.鈥�

So it caught Healy off guard when, in early November, an ACS caseworker knocked on her door. The agency had received a report of suspected educational neglect from a staff member at her younger child鈥檚 school.

Healy had understood that a visit from ACS was a possibility. As a member of the advocacy group PRESS, , she knew of numerous other parents keeping their children home from school due to coronavirus concerns who had been investigated. She had even put together informing parents of their rights when ACS shows up. But her own investigation still took her by surprise. If anything, she was over-involved in her children鈥檚 education, she thought, not neglectful. 

鈥淚鈥檝e always inserted myself into the schools whether they wanted me there or not,鈥� Healy joked.

Familiar with her rights as a parent, Healy did not let the caseworker inside their house. But despite being armed with strategies to navigate the situation, the visit was jarring to the whole family. After the caseworker left, her 14 year-old son, who has autism, paced back and forth for an hour, worried that the unfamiliar woman would return with law enforcement, Healy said. Her 13 year-old child, who identifies as non-binary, had continued nightmares, fearing they would be taken away from the only home they knew. Even Healy herself couldn鈥檛 avoid creeping thoughts of the worst-case scenario.

鈥淵ou automatically think someone’s here to take my kids away,鈥� she told 蜜桃影视.

鈥楢CS is like the police鈥�

Just like doctors and nurses, school personnel are mandated by New York state law to report suspected cases of child abuse and neglect to a central hotline. But even before COVID-19, alike have critiqued the practice as potentially harmful to families and prone to racial bias.

In New York City, some of children named in ACS investigations are Black or Hispanic, while, together, those racial groups make up 60 percent of the city鈥檚 youth. In 2019, according to , the lower-income, mostly Black and Latino neighborhood of East Harlem saw over six times as many investigations as the nearby Upper East Side, which is mostly white and affluent.

Even among neighborhoods with similar poverty rates, those with greater shares of Black and Hispanic residents face , research shows.

鈥淎CS has long been used to criminalize our families,鈥� said Tanesha Grant, a New York City parent leader who formed the group for mutual aid throughout the pandemic. Many Black parents, she told 蜜桃影视, see child protective services as a form of racialized surveillance and punishment. 

鈥淎CS is a curse word in our community. ACS is like the police,鈥� she said.

鈥淚t is deeply concerning to us,鈥� said a spokesperson for the agency, 鈥渢hat, year after year, there are dramatic racial and ethnic disparities in the reports ACS receives from the state and is required [by law] to investigate.鈥� 

As per a 2021 state , mandated reporters are now required to undergo implicit bias training intended to keep reporters鈥� assumptions from coloring their assessments of parental fitness.

But just how much of an impact it will make in the K-12 setting remains to be seen. Nationwide, school staff report more allegations to child protective services than any other category of reporters, yet school reports are or lead to family interventions, research shows. In New York City, approximately 1 in 3 calls from school personnel ultimately lead to evidence of abuse or neglect, said ACS. In cases where no evidence is found, families often report that the investigation process can be .

There鈥檚 often a mismatch, said Freiman, of Brooklyn Defenders, between the typical impacts of child protective services investigations and the purpose they are meant to fulfill.

鈥淣eglect is supposed to cover a category below which we don’t expect any parent to go,鈥� the legal expert explained. 

But the parents keeping their children out of classrooms this school year, from what he has seen, tend to be highly involved and caring, like Healy. Some are even former PTA heads at their children鈥檚 schools. 

鈥淭hese aren’t people who are trying to hurt their children. They’re trying to protect their children,鈥� he told 蜜桃影视. 鈥淎CS is just the wrong tool to employ.鈥�

Even the softer guidance that ACS and DOE offered in November was not enough to sufficiently blunt that tool, advocates said. Healy said she worked with 50 families accused of educational neglect through PRESS and was only able to use the updated guidance to dismiss cases against two of them. 

Miranda rights for child welfare

As a way to mitigate some of the worst effects of ACS investigations, state Sen. Jabari Brisport, a former educator from Brooklyn, is that would require a Miranda-style reading of parents鈥� rights at the outset of every child welfare investigation. 

鈥淧arents of color are more likely to be unaware of the rights they have when dealing with [child protective services],鈥� Brisport told 蜜桃影视. 鈥淭he bill seeks to address the disparities in the CPS system.鈥�

When, without warning, ACS showed up at the door of Melissa Keaton鈥檚 Flatbush, Brooklyn apartment in late October, the mother was taken by surprise. Having lost her father, who was a caregiving adult to her 9-year-old daughter, in April 2020 during the city鈥檚 deadly first coronavirus wave, Keaton chose not to return her traumatized child to her sought-after dual language school in Manhattan鈥檚 Lower East Side when classrooms reopened. The family was not ready for a two-train commute to and from school each day, Keaton decided. Unlike Healy, she was in the dark about how to navigate the interaction with her caseworker.

鈥淭here’s no paperwork. There’s no way of, you know, finding out what is this process? How does it work? What is expected of me?鈥� Keaton told 蜜桃影视.

Parents are not legally obligated to allow caseworkers to enter their homes unless ACS has a warrant. But many parents assent without realizing they have a choice. If caseworkers find evidence of drug use or other outlawed practices, it can lead to compounding charges and increase the likelihood of child separation. 

鈥淪ometimes our families actually find themselves in a deeper hole 鈥斅爊ot because they’ve done anything wrong 鈥斅燽ut because ACS comes into the home looking for a problem,鈥� said Tajh Sutton, a PRESS organizer. 鈥淭hey’re going through your refrigerator, your cabinets 鈥� asking these really invasive and inappropriate questions of your children.鈥�

鈥淭his bill doesn鈥檛 create new rights,鈥� explained Brisport. 鈥淚t literally tells parents what their rights are.鈥�

鈥楢CS should not have been called鈥�

Despite the lasting psychological impacts of the neglect investigation upon her children, Healy also acknowledged that her caseworker was kind and actually quite helpful. The staffer fast-tracked her children鈥檚 applications for home instruction, helping her younger child recently gain approval for the program. Healy hopes her son will also soon be approved.

But her example, she believes, is an outlier. Not everyone is so fortunate. 

On Dec. 23, Keaton was preparing to lay flowers on the gravestone of her late father. The day marked what would have been his 63rd birthday 鈥� and because her dad鈥檚 December birthday used to be a part of the family鈥檚 holiday rituals, Keaton was feeling his absence even more acutely.

But before she left, she was contacted by her caseworker, who relayed what the mother thought was good news: She was ready to close the case. Keaton told her to come by.

When the caseworker arrived, she told Keaton that the investigation had been completed, but the agency had indeed found evidence of neglect. The news hit her like a thunderclap, Keaton said, stirring fears for how she might appeal, what the findings might mean for her future employment having previously worked at a children鈥檚 summer camps, and, most of all, whether it opened the possibility of her daughter being taken away.

The message, Keaton said, was 鈥渋mprinted in my mind throughout the holidays, along with the thought of, 鈥榃hat happens next?鈥欌�� 

The caseworker instructed her to appeal, Keaton said. When pressed on the evidence behind the finding of neglect, Keaton said, the caseworker explained that her daughter鈥檚 school had taken weeks to respond to requests, and when they did, they cited her elementary schooler鈥檚 inconsistent 2019 summer school attendance as a strike against the family 鈥� data that Keaton said is 鈥渃ompletely false.鈥�

Staff at the elementary school did not respond to requests for comment and ACS said that it cannot disclose the details of individual cases. Keaton is awaiting paperwork in the mail that will provide insight into the exact reasons the educational neglect allegation was substantiated by ACS. 

Keaton believes her case was unproductive at best, and inappropriate at worst. She was trying to keep her daughter safe and had been putting together educational assignments for her despite, she said, not being provided materials by her school. She was also applying for medically necessary home instruction 鈥� a process through which the November ACS and DOE joint guidance instructs schools to support parents wary of COVID rather than reporting them to child services. 

鈥淏ased on the guidelines,鈥� said Keaton, 鈥淎CS should not have been called.鈥�

Lead Image: Paullette Healy at the front door with her younger child, Kira. (Asher Lehrer-Small)