Brooklyn Defender Services

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) vetoed legislation late last week that would have expanded due process safeguards for parents accused of abusing or neglecting their children. The bill would have significantly reduced the time parents’ names must remain on a state database of child abuse and neglect claims.

At around nine o’clock on a Tuesday morning, two days after giving birth to her second child, Vanessa left a hospital in Queens, New York, and boarded the subway. She was headed to the borough’s courthouse on a mission: to regain custody of her newborn daughter.

New York State lawmakers approved legislation this week that would allow judges to order contact between parents and children, after the court severs the parent’s rights due to child abuse or neglect.

New York City Councilman Stephen Levin (D) is an unlikely foster care system watchdog. His council district encompasses upscale Brooklyn enclaves like Williamsburg, Brooklyn Heights and DUMBO – neighborhoods that send relatively few children into foster placements – yet he chairs the council committee with oversight of the city’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), one of the largest local child welfare agencies in the country.