‘I just miss him,’ cries tot’s mom
Pandemic prolongs fight to regain custody
After more than a year apart, a city mom was finally on the verge of regaining custody of her 20-month-old son who’d been removed by children’s services as an infant and placed in a foster home.
Maria — who asked not to use her real name so as not to jeopardize her open case — had taken the mandated counseling courses and moved into a bigger apartment. Earlier this year, she was approved for unsupervised visits with her boy — a sign that permanent reunification was close, according to Maria’s lawyers. She filled her home with toys and bought a new crib in anticipation.
Then coronavirus hit, shuttering the family courts, delaying a long-awaited visit, and stalling Maria’s case, her lawyers say. Maria’s son remains in foster care, while she watches the precious days tick by.
“I look around and I see all his little things, and it hurts with him not being here,” the distraught mom told the Daily News through tears. “I just miss him. I really want to be able to spend time with him. I’ve missed all this time already,” added Maria, who is in her 40s.
Maria’s case is caught in a pandemic-related reshuffling of the city’s system for deciding when and how to reunify the roughly 8,000 kids in foster care with their birth parents.
Normally, parents like Maria must pass through a series of carefully orchestrated in-person visits with their kids to show a judge they’re ready to safely take over custody of their children. But many of those visits have been canceled or postponed during the pandemic.
On top of that, the family court system moved operations online and restricted hearings to essential matters — a move lawyers say limits their ability to force along slow-moving cases.
“Normally our biggest hammer is that we file motions,” said Julie Suh, a lawyer at the Center for Family Representation, the group representing Maria pro bono. “Without the recourse to that, our tool kit is really diminished.”
The News couldn’t get direct comment from the Administration for Children’s Services on Maria’s case because she fears retaliation if identified. But officials say they’re scrambling to find alternate ways to reunify families amid the lockdown — encouraging virtual visits and allowing some in-person visits.
Agency officials have also sent home 768 foster kids through a “trial discharge” program, in which both the child’s and parent’s lawyers agree to a temporary release from foster care and a judge gives a quick signoff. “We’re proactively reviewing cases of children in foster care who are on the path to reunification to speed that along,” said Children’s Services Commissioner David Hansell.
But those efforts haven’t yet reached Maria, who was flagged by the agency testing positive for marijuana during her 2018 pregnancy. Officials opened an investigation and found the room where Maria was living in her shared apartment unsuitable for an infant. The agency placed the weeksold baby with his dad, and eventually in a foster home.
Maria set her sights on winning back custody. She entered mental health and substance abuse counseling and got approved for a NYCHA apartment last August — a bittersweet victory without her son there to share it. “I didn’t want to move in here without my son,” she recalled, but took the apartment, knowing it would help her custody case.
She hosted her son for home visits whenever Children’s Services allowed — a prerequisite to winning back custody.
But every time reunification drew close, something seemed to get in the way. During an unsupervised visit last Thanksgiving, the toddler tripped and banged his lip. Maria immediately applied ice and called the agency, but officials still opened an investigation.
Even though officials ultimately found Maria wasn’t at fault, the investigation forced Maria to return from unsupervised to supervised visits and delayed the reunification by months, her lawyers say.
The case turned a corner in early April, according to Maria’s lawyers. As the toll of the virus was mounting, Children’s Services approved Maria for an extended, unsupervised visit — a victory in itself, and a sign permanent reunification was close.
But when Maria’s lawyers reached out for details on the extended home visit, they were met with silence. They later learned the toddler had been exposed to someone with coronavirus in his foster home. Officials decided the boy should isolate in his foster home for two weeks.
Maria asked if the boy could quarantine with her instead.
Agency officials denied the request.
Maria finally had the extended visit in early May.
After 10 days, she had to say goodbye again.
Her lawyers’ options are limited. Even if they do get a judge to hear a motion to compel the agency to speed up reunification, Maria won’t be able to testify in person because of courtroom restrictions.
They’re hoping a motion won’t be necessary. The agency recently notified Maria she’s being considered for a trial discharge.
But Maria isn’t ready to celebrate yet, given the many close calls and disappointments she’s endured. She’s also still grieving the days and weeks without her child that she’ll never get back as her case stalled.