Mother Sues City, ACS Workers Who Wrongfully Removed Children on False Accusation of Abuse

Along with co-counsel, KLLF filed a lawsuit this week on behalf of a mother whose children were forcibly removed from her care after an obviously false accusation of child abuse. When Plaintiff Gretha Smart sent her infant to spend the day with the babysitter, he was in good health, smiling and giggling. Later that afternoon, the babysitter told Ms. Smart that the baby was grumpy and could be constipated. Upon the baby’s return home, Ms. Smart noticed that the baby’s arm looked strange, but when she swaddled him up to protect his arm, he promptly fell asleep and appeared comfortable. When his arm still looked odd the next morning, Ms. Smart took him to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with a fracture.

Despite having no evidence, the City, through the Administration for Child Services, filed an emergency petition to remove Ms. Smart’s three children from her care. Even though the law requires ACS to state why an emergency removal is necessary, ACS workers left that part of the petition entirely blank. Similarly, though state law requires ACS to use emergency removal only as a last resort, ACS workers did not specify a single action they had pursued to avoid removal, as required by the petition—because they took no such steps. After more than three months, the Family Court finally ordered Ms. Smart’s children returned to her care. The court found that the infant’s injury most likely occurred when he was under the care of his babysitter, not his mother.

The case was filed in the Southern District of New York. Defendants are expected to answer the complaint in the coming months.