A federal judge today ordered New York City and its child welfare agency to identify case workers involved in monitoring a 7-year-old boy who disappeared last year from a foster home and has never been found.
The boy's mother, Jennifer Rodriguez, had filed suit against the city and its child welfare agency last fall, saying they failed to properly care for the boy and ignored complaints about his substandard foster care.
Judge John Gleeson in Brooklyn federal court threw out the suit against the city and its Administration for Children's Services agency, but ruled that Rodriguez now can bring a new lawsuit against individual workers from ACS and St. Vincent's Children's Services, whom she blames for not supervising her boy's foster care.
The boy, Patrick Alford, Jr., disappeared on Jan. 22, 2010, after he slipped away while taking out the trash with his foster mom at her East New York home around 9 p.m.
The 4-foot-8, 65-pound boy was last seen on that winter night wearing a red T-shirt, blue jeans, black sneakers -- and no jacket. He has never been found.
Rodriguez, who in October had filed her suit in Brooklyn federal court, claimed that Alford was placed, along with his young sister, with a foster parent, Librada Moran, "who did not speak English and the child did not speak Spanish."
The boy became extremely upset with his circumstances, and started "trying to run away from the 'day' he came into foster care," the suit alleged.
It also said that witnesses claimed that the boy had threatened "to commit suicide."
"It's clear that the child did not want to be there," Osuna said at a press conference last fall. "The child was extremely distraught - he wanted to get back to his mother, like a normal child."
Given the boy's unhappiness, the city and ACS should have taken additional measures to safeguard his well being, the suit charged. The child welfare agency also should have investigated claims that the foster home was poorly run and the boy neglected, the suit said.
Before Alford disappeared, Rodriguez made a Jan. 7 visit to see her son and daughter, Jailene, at a meeting supervised by ACS. Rodriguez claimed in the suit that her children appeared messy, her daughter had scratches on her face, and her son was so agitated that he began crying, begged to come home, and "was trying to break a window."
Rodriguez claimed that her civil rights were violated and is asked for unspecified damages in the suit.
The judge ruled today that the city and ACS could not be held liable, but a new suit could be brought against individual agency employees who allegedly failed to follow procedures or were arguably derelict in their duties.
Judge Gleeson also dismissed Rodriguez's claim against the Starrett City development where the boy was living in foster care.
The judge's ruling is the latest development in a complex case that began when Rodriguez lost custody of her children after being charged with neglecting them.
Back in January 2010, a ACS caseworker suspected that Rodriguez might be involved with her son's disappearance because Rodriguez's aunt, Blanca Toledo, passed her a note during a supervised visit with Patrick and his little sister, Jaleen, claiming Rodriguez was planning to abduct the children.
"Mommy trying to take them," the Post-it note said. "Caution."
Then a Family Court judge ordered that Rodriguez should be locked up on contempt charges for refusing to divulge the boy's whereabouts, even though the mother insisted that she didn't know where he was.
Rodriguez has denied that she has anything to do with the boy's disappearance
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