CPS Harms Domestic Violence Victims socialworkhelper/2014/10/22/saying-victim-failed-protect-children-another-form-victim-blaming/ ---------- NICHOLSON v. SCOPPETTA (October 26, 2004), citing: In January 2002, the District Court granted a preliminary injunction, concluding that the City “may not penalize a mother, not otherwise unfit, who is battered by her partner, by separating her from her children; nor may children be separated from the mother, in effect visiting upon them the sins of their mothers batterer” (In re Nicholson, 181 F.Supp.2d 182, 188 [E.D.N.Y.2002]; see also Nicholson v. Williams, 203 F Supp 2d 153 [E.D.N.Y.2002] [108-page elaboration of grounds for injunction] ). The court found that ACS unnecessarily, routinely charged mothers with neglect and removed their children where the mothers-who had engaged in no violence themselves-had been the victims of domestic violence; that ACS did so without ensuring that the mother had access to the services she needed, without a court order, and without returning these children promptly after being ordered to do so by the court; 2 that ACS caseworkers and case managers lacked adequate training about domestic violence, and their practice was to separate mother and child when less harmful alternatives were available; that the agencys written policies offered contradictory guidance or no guidance at all on these issues; and that none of the reform plans submitted by ACS could reasonably have been expected to resolve the problems within the next year (203 F.Supp.2d at 228-229). The District Court concluded that ACSs practices and policies violated both the substantive due process rights of mothers and children not to be separated by the government unless the parent is unfit to care for the child, and their procedural due process rights (181 F.Supp.2d at 185). The injunction, in relevant part, “prohibit[ed] ACS from carrying out ex parte removals ‘solely because the mother is the victim of domestic violence,’ or from filing an Article Ten petition seeking removal on that basis” (Nicholson v. Scoppetta, 344 F.3d 154, 164 [2d Cir.2003] [internal citations omitted] ).3 caselaw.findlaw/ny-court-of-appeals/1145205.html
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 22:29:34 +0000
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