The thing that strikes me, and I would be concerned for any child sent through this system, is that these two girls were put on an automatic track, rather than being treated as individuals. They must already have been upset to see their mother ill enough to be hospitalised and to be told that they could not stay with her, their only known adult in a foreign country.

To then be taken to an institution and made to strip and shower in front of strangers, split up for a medical exam and asked if they had been abused or were suicidal must have been extremely traumatic. To be told that they could not visit their mother was even worse. Can you imagine just how distressing that must have been for both mother and daughters, given the mother's state of health? To add insult to injury mother then gets a letter from the ACS to say that she is being investigated.

No attention appears to have been taken the the INDIVIDUAL circumstances that applied here and that is the real concern. If this is the case in all placement of minors in New York the whole system needs to be looked at very seriously. How many other horror stories haven't been told?

The fact that the ACS are hiding behind 'confidentiality' does not surprise me. That seems to be the normal last defence of any organisation which has royally screwed things up and has no adequate answer to accusations laid against it.