New York Awards $75K To Bronx Mom After Officials Illegally Took Away Her Baby For Cannabis Use

A Bronx mother who sued NY's Administration of Children's Services (ACS) earlier this year for placing her baby in foster care within days after giving birth because she tested positive for marijuana got closure and some money, reported The New York Times.

The ACS agreed to pay Chanetto Rivers $75,000. 

What Happened

It was August 2021 and marijuana had been legal in New York for months when Rivers gave birth to her third baby. After being asked in the hospital birthing room if she'd consumed any drugs or alcohol recently, Rivers said she smoked cannabis earlier in the day at a family barbecue. Then, without Rivers' consent, she and the baby were tested for drugs; both were positive for marijuana. Two days later, the ACS ordered the hospital not to release the baby to Rivers and that it was opening a neglect case and moving her newborn to foster care, said her lawyers from the Bronx Defenders.

New York’s legalization law bars removing a child due to a parent’s marijuana use alone.

The lawyers argued that the ACS demanded Rivers attend parenting and anger management classes and take drug tests in months following the incident "not because ACS was trying to protect [the baby] T.W." but "because Ms. Rivers is Black."

In a week following the baby's birth, during multiple trips to court per a judge's order,  Rivers finally gained custody of her son.

ACS Abuse

ACS policy stipulates that having marijuana in an infant's system does not warrant removal without evidence that the baby might be impaired, for which the agency did not provide proof, Rivers' lawyers said.

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