2y ago

New York City Children’s Services pays $75,000 settlement for removing newborn from home because black mom smokes marijuana — which is legal in New York

NYC children's services agency to settle with parent allegedly targeted for marijuana, race

    “Even after a judge required ACS to reunite Ms. Rivers with her baby, ACS continued to subject Ms. Rivers to needless court proceedings and a litany of conditions that interfered with her parenting of TW for months, while the unlawful removal of her baby was ratified by senior ACS leadership,” the complaint reads. “This was not because ACS was trying to protect TW; this was because Ms. Rivers is Black.”

110 comments

People who work in Child Protection aren’t doing it because they’re power hungry sociopaths. They’re people who do an absolutely horrible job for shit pay because they feel compelled to protect children.
I’m not in NY, but I have a friend who works in Child Protection. The shit her and her friends see is fucked up.
In the case here, the baby was born with measurable levels of THC in their system. It’s not illegal to smoke weed while pregnant, just like it’s not illegal to drink alcohol while pregnant - but both can fuck up a child for life before they’re even born.
- If it's not illegal to drink alcohol and smoke marijuana, I'd like to understand why she and the baby were tested for pot in the first place.
  
  Because legal or not smoking pot WHILE PREGNANT is bad. Alcohol is legal, would you have a problem with them testing the mother or babies BAC?
  
  They do a workup on every child born in a hospital. That shit is going to come up on a blood test. Please stop defending someone who gave brain damaged to their child.
- The recommended maximum amount of alcohol while pregnant isn't zero. 12g a day is what I'm seeing in a quick search. I'm sure Marijuana can be safe for the child below a certain level. This article doesn't state any levels besides above zero, and it also doesn't stare any defects caused by it. It does seem to imply no complications though.
  
  I would love to meet these pregnant women responsibly consuming 12g of alcohol and nothing more. Wouldn't be surprised if it was some dumbass religious "but it's communion so it's ok" bullshit.
- The people who work in child protection don't necessarily need to be power hungry in order to be racist. There are tons of people in shit jobs getting shit pay who are as racist as it gets. In fact I would argue that most people who are racist are working shit jobs for shit pay. And just because the person you know in that job position is a good human being doesn't absolve others of being racist pieces of shit who look down on black women and use whatever excuse they can use to take their kids from them.
- Please cite a single piece of evidence on the negative effects of fetal exposure to THC. Fetal alcohol syndrome is well documented, but I've never heard anything comparable regarding marijuana.
Child was born with measurable levels of THC in its system. So all of you outraged folks are ok with women who smoke cigarettes, drink and cheef up while pregnant right? Smoking weed when you have a kid, whatever fine. Even if it's illegal. This kid is damaged because the mother couldn't quit smoking weed when pregnant. That's not something you should be defending.
- Are they taking kids born with FAS or nicotine levels away too?
  
  Yes, they do.....
- There is a recommended maximum amount of alcohol to be consumed whole pregnant. It isn't zero. I'm sure the same should be true for almost any other substance, but as far as I'm aware the guidelines for Marijuana don't exist, though they may. I don't really know. The article does not state how much she used or if it was above or below any recommendations, or that the child had any birth defects related to Marijuana use. In fact, it seems to imply that there wasn't any complications besides legal ones.
  
  Research on using marijuana during pregnancy is limited, but to noone's surprise, it's assumed to be harmful and recommended against.
  Using drugs during pregnancy is not okay. Nice to hear this child apparently was lucky.
  
  If you don't have the fucking self control to stop smoking, drinking or taking any potentially harmful substances during pregnancy, you shouldn't have kids. There shouldn't even be a debate here.
- Oh, piffle. This kid was damaged by being taken from his mother. That’s not something you should be defending.
  
  Both of these statements are true and should be evaluated separately.
  
  You’re a fucking idiot.
- THC? so what. We all have microplastics in us and that's just the tip of the iceberg. I bet the air quality in NYC is hurting that baby vastly more than a little pot smoke.
  
  You are saying to ignore one problem because of another problem, which is stupid. The first problem still need to be fixed as well.
"The woman, Chanetto Rivers, will receive more than $75,000 and payment for legal fees after she accused New York City and its child welfare agency of separating her from her son when he and Rivers tested positive for marijuana in August 2021."
Newborn tested positive for marijuana. Looks like the agency originally believed there to be an abuse issue. Makes sense. Alcohol is legal, but if a child is being exposed to alcoholic abuse, best to take them away from the environment.
And it appears the settlement was more about the difficulties in getting her child back due to systemic racism in the courts.
- In her lawsuit, Rivers claimed that hospital staff tested her for drugs without her consent in August 2021, when she was “overwhelmed with happiness and drained by the birth” of her son, TW.
  Rivers and her newborn tested positive for marijuana, and the agency told hospital staff to hold the child “indefinitely,” according to the federal lawsuit.
  I see nothing in the article indicating any problem except racism.
  
  And the article is omitting information such as why there was a drug test to begin with and if it was breach in privacy, why is the hospital not being sued?
  Here's why: "claims from a hospital worker that she smoked marijuana in the hospital room". Mother also had previous interactions with the agency in regards to her older children.
  So, hospital has cause to run a drug tests, drug test comes back positive on mother and newborn. Hospital reports to ACS who tell hospital to hold baby. Mother goes to court to get baby released, but this whole issue greatly affects an existing case she has with ACS in getting her older children back.
  The lawsuit claims racism and falls flat when evidence suggests she is a neglectful parent and willingly endangering the unborn child by smoking marijuana while pregnant.
  This is not a hill to die on when it comes to police problems. Not when there are more clear cut examples of systemic issues than this.
  
  Am I reading it wrong or does it imply she smoked it while pregnant?
  Even heavy weed smokers would agree you don't take that shit while pregnant. Most people try to avoid shit like Tylenol, let alone weed.
- Who the fuck is even testing babies for drugs?
  
  An un-named New York hospital, apparently, and then they turn the results over to ACS. I'd like to know which hospital did this, in case I ever need medical care in NYC.
  
  Most hospitals do if the mother discloses any kind of drug use. Likely a bit antiquated if testing for thc but laws are slow to catch up to things
So, not necessarily a police problem as much as a systemically racist ACS problem?
- Different flavors of the same poison. Cops, prison guards, probation officers, agencies like this, shitty judges, etc — they all have the authority to fuck over people's lives with minimal or no oversight.
  
  There's a great book that highlights the systemic nature of these enforcement systems called The Poverty Industry.
This was clearly racial discrimination
Shame on NYC, CPS is for real cases of abuse, not when a mother loves her child
I'm curious about the wording here? Was her skin color a factor?
- Read the article maybe?
  It seems to be that only black people are having issues like this. While race isn't specifically stated as a reason, race is one of the correlating factors between all people this has happened to in NY.

110 comments