Social Services Law § 419

The First Department reversed the motion court and dismissed the complaint, in Chapdelaine v. Administration for Children's Services, which was decided on February 21, 2008. Plaintiffs had alleged that the city had improperly taken the child from her parents and that the child had been sexually abused by the foster parents with whom she had been placed. The court noted that the case had originated with a hospital's call to ACS, and that the case was given high priority because there had been at least four other complaints about the family's treatment of the child.

During the investigation, it was established that the mother had pushed the child, and the mother herself related certain incidents to the ACS child protective specialist concerning her boyfriend and the child. The child protective specialist confirmed that the boyfriend had a prior arrest for domestic violence. The court concluded that ACS justifiably believed that, in the absence of any changed circumstances, the mother was placing the child at risk by continuing to allow her boyfriend to have access to the child.

Plaintiffs' claims that ACS failed to adequately supervise the foster parents so as to prevent the alleged sexual abuse were not barred by statutory immunity, but plaintiffs failed to raise an issue of fact whether defendants had sufficiently specific knowledge or notice of the dangerous conduct which caused the alleged injury.

New York practice points: (1) A showing of willful misconduct or gross negligence is required to defeat the statutory presumption that ACS acted in good facility in investigating the hospital's complaint, and in filing the petition to temporarily remove the child from her home, pursuant to Social Services Law § 419. (2) Plaintiffs' claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress is not available against a governmental entity.