City workers snatched a breastfeeding 11-month-old out of the arms of her “amazing” mother without a court order — despite the agency’s own staff finding “no safety concerns” in the home, a lawsuit claims.
Meredith Trainor filed the bombshell Queens federal court lawsuit on Tuesday, claiming the Administration for Children’s Services “forcibly seized” her baby in early 2024 and held her for five days without stating a reason or obtaining a court order.
“Having my baby taken from my arms without warning was the most terrifying moment of my life,” said Trainor, a 33-year-old psychiatric social worker who was pregnant with her second child at the time.
ACS said they are reviewing the lawsuit.
The ordeal began on New Year’s Eve 2023 when the baby girl experienced shortness of breath while at the park with her dad, Trainor’s then-fiancé, the filing says.
After rushing her to the hospital, doctors said the little girl tested positive for cocaine ingestion, according to the suit, and notified child protective services.
While ACS and the NYPD cuffed the dad — who had an alleged past of drug abuse — and barred him from their Queens apartment, Trainor was seemingly initially cleared by investigators, her suit contends.
Two home inspections by ACS found the house to be “clean, organized,” noting that there were “no safety concerns about the home,” including no signs of drugs, the filing claims. Caseworkers noted the two as having a “good mother and child bond.”
That’s what makes what happened the next day so shocking, the suit contends.
ACS workers showed up on the evening of Jan. 4 and ripped the screaming infant from her arms “without [Trainor’s] consent or a court order authorizing a seizure,” the suit claims.
Workers refused to tell Trainor why or where they were taking her little girl — and even threatened her “with the future removal of her unborn son if she did not comply with ACS’s directives,” the suit claims.
Trainor, who was “crying and begging,” pleaded for a last breastfeed before being separated and asked that they at least take breastmilk to feed her before taking her away, but was allegedly declined, her suit said.
Her baby screamed “mama” as she was taken — and could be still heard wailing a block away, the suit claims.
In a neglect petition filed the next day in Queens Family Court, ACS’ sole allegation cited was the father’s positive drug test, the suit claims.
For five days, Trainor’s baby remained in ACS care until a judge ruled the removal was “not necessary to avoid imminent risk to the child’s life or safety,” and reunited the two, according to the suit.
The neglect petition was dismissed months later, and a year after the incident, Trainor won full custody of her now two children, the suit says.
“Separating a family is one of the most extreme powers the government has. It should only happen when a child is truly in danger — and that was plainly not the case here,” said Trainor’s attorney Max Selver.
Selver notes that out of the 1,400 emergency ACS removals each year, roughly 375 are determined “not justified” by family courts.
“Emergency removals are only considered in circumstances where all other options are ruled out, and teams of highly trained child protective staff determine that a child is in imminent danger and that there is not enough time to get a court order,” said ACS spokesperson Marisa Kaufman.
Trainor says she still suffers from ongoing psychological trauma, including severe anxiety.
“Hearing my baby cry for me as they drove away is something I will never forget.”