Category: Client Stories

Client Stories The “child welfare” system doesn’t protect kids — it punishes poverty By: Emma Ketteringham, Managing Director of The Bronx Defenders’ Family Defense Practice When I first met Ruth, she was a young mother of two boys. Both were born after difficult pregnancies and with developmental challenges; her two-year-old in particular struggled to gain […]

Client Stories From Persecution to Pride: How John Fled Violence, Found Support, and Built a New Life in NYC A Journey That Began with Fear In Nigeria, being gay or bisexual isn’t just stigmatized — it’s criminal. For John, that meant living in constant fear. He was attacked by vigilantes, imprisoned, and forced to flee […]

Client Stories Chanetto Rivers Stood Up to ACS—and Forced Them to Answer for their Racial Discrimination She Was a New Mother. ACS Took Her Baby Anyway. Chanetto Rivers had just given birth when everything started to unravel. At the hospital, she was honest with her doctors: she had occasionally used marijuana to manage stress and […]

Client Stories Shamika Crawford’s Fight for Justice Changed the Law for Everyone A Call, an Allegation—and Everything Changed It took just one phone call — one allegation, without evidence — to turn Shamika Crawford’s life upside down. When police showed up to her door, Ms. Crawford was told she had to leave her Bronx apartment […]