DaMia Harris-Madden, commissioner of the New York State Office of Children and Family Services, is one of three named defendants in the class-action lawsuit. Video still, Westchester County.
New York State’s child welfare agency routinely delays appeals by parents to remove their names from a statewide database of people accused of child maltreatment, often causing them to lose out on employment and kinship caregiver opportunities, according to a federal lawsuit filed Thursday.