A Snapshot of New York’s Broken CPS System UPDATED

Shanel Nadal, 28, fled with her seven sons and infant daughter during a supervised visit at a Queens foster-care agency on September 19, 2011. At the privately-run Forestdale agency, they slipped away unnoticed with the children during a trip to a vending machine. The seven boys, all with the first name Nephra, had been in foster care since 2009. The infant girl, Nefertiti was taken by CPS after she was born last year.

This is one messed-up case and it got weirder when the family was found in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on September 26, 2011–all children were unharmed. The parents claimed that the children had been horribly abused, even sexually abused in care and that this was the only way to save them. They waited for the first opportunity to take the kids.

Are their actions justified or are they liars?

That is the question that we will be trying to answer as this case goes on.

“The siblings – who range in age from 11 months to 11 years old – appeared to be in good condition, police said. Their parents, 28-year-old Shanel Nadal and 34-year-old Nephra Payne, were taken into custody in Harrisburg.

“The children showed no signs of physical abuse, he said. They were placed with a child services agency until they can be returned to New York.

The parents are charged in New York with custodial interference. Hodges did not think that any additional charges had been filed in Pennsylvania.”

“Barbara Emanuel, a foster mother who had been caring for the girl, Nefertiti, and was apparently the first to notice that the family had fled, told reporters that she couldn’t understand how it happened.

“It’s like they just vanished,” she told the Daily News of New York shortly after the disappearance.

“How does a woman escape with eight kids? I was there and I don’t know how she did it.”

Lawyer: NYC parents feared foster care abuse
[Huffington Post 9/27/11 by Mary Claire Dale]

Protecting the kids?

“Any mother who’s going through this—do what you got to do to protect your kids. I love y’all so much. You know what mommy doing. Mommy did this for y’all,” and said, “Make sure you don’t abuse them no more,” later explaining that “foster care” was abusing them “and I’m tired of it.”

Nadal, 28, and her husband, Nephra Payne, 34, were arrested in Harrisburg, PA after being tracked down by police, who had been monitoring their cellphone calls. One of Payne’s relatives lives in Harrisburg, and cops found the couple plus their seven boys—all named Nephra Payne, ages 4 to 11—and daughter, 11-month-old Nefertiti Payne, in what the Post says was a “smelly, Ford cargo van littered with fast-food boxes and dirty diapers.” A U.S. Marshal said, “The conditions were not of the highest hygiene. It appears to us that they were living out of the van.” Still, the children seemed to be in good condition and were taken into the custody of NYC Administration for Children’s Services.

The eight children were split among three foster homes in New York; they were initially removed from their parents’ care after accusations that Payne was abusing his sons. One of the foster mothers said that before the kidnapping, she received a text from Nadal saying, “I cannot live without my children. I cannot breathe without my children,” suggesting she had been plotting to kidnap the kids.

Nadal’s lawyer told the Daily News, “The children were sexually molested while in the care of the city. You can’t blame the parents for acting in the children’s best interest. It’s a shame the city failed them.”

Mother Who Kidnapped 8 Children From Foster Care Claims They Were Abused
[Gothamist 9/28/11 by Jen Chung]

“The Daily News has reported that a joint police effort between NYPD, South Carolina State Police and the FBI were able to track the family through their cell phone and swipes on their welfare benefits card.”

“While the eight-child escape from a supervised visit with foster parents and Forestdale officials was dramatic enough, Norman Steiner – the parent’s attorney – claims that while in the city’s custody the children were abused. He states that the planned abduction was in the best interest of the children.”

“Steiner did not release any details regarding the alleged abuse but says he fully expects his clients to be exonerated from any crime.

An attempt to visit and interview Riverdale officials was refuted by workers at the agency who said the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) would speak on their behalf. They issued two statements regarding the apprehension of the family and the allegation of abuse on the city’s behalf:

“It is wonderful that the Payne children have been located and are now safe. Specially-trained staff from ACS will bring the children home to New York City. . . An investigation by ACS is already underway into how the children could have been abducted from the foster care agency during a supervised visit. ACS is reviewing with the foster care agency the protocols it has in place for supervised visits and its campus security system. We will share the results of that investigation once it is completed . . . We are aware of the allegations currently being made by the parents and we take all allegations of abuse seriously. Our immediate concerns are for the well being of the children. We have appropriate mental health professionals working with the children, including experts in trauma and a range of other disciplines.”

The parents will be charged with kidnapping, custodial interference and child endangerment, according to Associated Press reports. Nadal was arraigned and bail was set at $200,000.”

Abducted children found, claim city abuse
[Queens Courier 9/28/11 by Bob Doda]

Kids Back with Original Foster Parents

So CPS didn’t seem to care about the serious allegations that the original foster parents were molesting the kids, because they sent them back to the same foster parents.

“The sudden changes in their lives — going from foster care to being abducted by their biological parents, and going back into their foster parents’ homes — have been difficult for the children, a source with the Administration for Children’s Services tells NBC New York.

Making the situation more traumatic, the Payne boys had just started unsupervised weekend visits at home with their mother, Shanel Nadal, and will likely not be able to see her at all anymore, the source said.” Yea, not to mention that they may have placed them back with child molesters!

“Before they were taken, five of the children were in the care of Linda Mitchell, who told NBC New York last week that she loved them and wanted them back in her home.

The kids’ mother claimed she took her children to protect them, alleging that there was abuse going on in their foster care.

“Any mother who’s going through this — do what you got to do to protect your babies,” she said after she was arrested.

The agency source confirmed the Queens Child Advocacy Center looked into a March 2011 allegation of abuse and examined all the children in Mitchell’s home, finding no evidence of any abuse.

The agency said it believed Mitchell was an “outstanding” foster parent and planned to keep the children in the same homes so as not to disrupt their lives any further, said the source.”

8 Abducted Kids Back With Foster Parents
[NBC New York 9/29/11 by Melissa Russo]

DA: “This is a sad story of a mother and father who have jeopardized their children’s safety by allegedly kidnapping them and taking them out of state,” Mr. Brown said in a news release. “These parents have now also put at risk the very relationships they were supposed to be building with their children during their supervised visits.” The children were placed in foster care in 2009 after charges of abuse and neglect were made, two people with knowledge of the case said. ”

Defense: “Norman Steiner, a lawyer for the couple, said he expected they would waive extradition. “I expect them to be fully exonerated and cleared of all charges,” he said. “Their actions were not only justifiable, but expected; it is exactly what any biological parent would do in the same situation.”

Abducted Foster Children Found in Pennsylvania, Police Say
[New York Times 9/28/11 by Al Baker]

Separation of Kids in Care

“The parents lost custody of the children amid serious allegations that Payne abused his sons, authorities said. City officials placed the children among three foster homes after the allegations surfaced, splitting the boys into two foster homes. Nefertiti was placed in a third home after her birth in September 2010, authorities said.

Both parents made frequent visits with the children at the foster-care agency, arriving on time and abiding by rules established by the agency, authorities said.

The baby’s foster mother was at the Forestdale Agency on September 19, during the parent’s routine visit with the children – which took place under the watchful eyes of two staff members, police said.

The woman told reporters, “Nothing was out of the ordinary,” when she arrived with the baby for the visit. The foster mother said she waited on a bench about 25 feet from Nadal and the children, “giving them privacy” as the children played and interacted with their mother.

The foster mother said a she looked up, approximately 15 minutes into the visit and they “were gone.”
Kid-Snatch Parents Nabbed By Pennsylvania Police
[Queens Gazette 9/28/11 by Liz Goff]

Molestation Complaints Documented

“A defense lawyer says the New York City parents suspected of abducting their eight children from foster care will return voluntarily from Pennsylvania to fight the kidnapping charges.
Norman Steiner says he met Friday in Harrisburg with 34-year-old Nephra Payne and 28-year-old Shanel Nadal.

Steiner tells The Associated Press that the parents will waive extradition at a hearing Wednesday.

He says the pair wanted to unify the family amid fears their children had been abused during two years in foster care.

Steiner says the abuse and molestation complaints are documented.

The city’s Administration for Children’s Services has confirmed that it’s aware of the abuse allegations.”
Lawyer: NYC parents of 8 kids to waive extradition
[Associated Press 9/30/11]

Update: “The New York couple found in Harrisburg with their eight kidnapped children went in front of a judge Wednesday.

This was the second appearance for the couple. Their attorney says they did what any parents would do and they’ll fight the charges.

Wearing matching striped Dauphin County Prison garb, Shanel Nadal and Nephra Payne walked silently into the courthouse. CBS 21 was the only station at the scene last month when they were caught in Harrisburg, preparing to spend the night all together in a van, after abducting their own eight children from a New York foster care facility.

“Any natural parent would have acted the same way to get the kids out of there,” stated their attorney, Norman Steiner. “Complaints were lodged with the agency and police. There was sexual abuse, molestation, physical abuse, starvation.”

The hearings took only a few minutes each as Nadal and Payne waived their right to fight extradition, which means they’ll be transported back to New York. The children were in foster care because of abuse allegations, a charge their attorney downplays.

“There were disputed allegations that one of the children had a wound on his eye during a scuffle with another sibling and the father intervened appropriately,” Steiner explained.

Payne walked out of court silently, but Nadal had a final message, saying “take care of my babies.”

New York couple who abducted eight children in court Wednesday
[WHPTV 10/5/11by Jaime Myers]

Update 2: “A couple took their eight children from foster care because they believed some of the children were being abused, then went on the run because it was the lesser of two evils, their attorney said Thursday.[October 13, 2011]

Mother Shanel Nadal and father Nephra Payne were arrested in Harrisburg, Pa. last month, waived extradition and were expected to be arraigned Thursday in criminal court in Queens. The charges include kidnapping, custodial interference and child endangerment, Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown has said.”

“Their attorney, Norman Steiner, said the couple vanished because they could no longer wait for the slow-moving Family Court system to give back the children. Steiner said one boy was molested in foster care and his siblings “suffered horrendous abuse” during two years in foster care.”

“The couple lost custody of their seven sons in 2009, after allegations of abuse. Steiner said one of the boys had bruising on his eyes and was taken to the doctor by his father. The boy later went to school, and authorities had the father arrested on abuse charges, Steiner said. Steiner said there had possibly been a fight at home with other siblings, but he wasn’t sure why the boy’s eyes were bruised. The criminal abuse allegations against the father were later dropped, he said.”

“The parents were working toward regaining custody, Steiner said: They went to parenting classes, attended supervised visits and kept their home immaculate. They regularly attended Family Court hearings and cooperated with authorities.

But Shanel Nadal had an eighth child, Nefertiti, born last year, and did not mention it to authorities. They also lost custody of her, and the birth led to even more problems with Family Court, Steiner said. Child welfare officials did not immediately comment.

“To me that’s atrocious that the city steps in and tells you how many children to have,” Steiner said.

The agency said it was aware of the parents’ abuse allegations and takes abuse allegations very seriously. The agency also is investigating how the children were abducted during a supervised visit, a spokesman said.”

Attorney: NYC parents in accused foster care kidnap had no choice
[Associated Press 10/13/11 by Colleen Long]

“The couple, Shanel Nadal, 28, and her husband, Nephra Payne, 34, were each ordered held on $75,000 bail. During their appearance in Queens Criminal Court, the judge, Ira Margulis, also issued an order of protection for the children, all of whom had been placed into foster care by the Administration for Children’s Services in the past two years.

Ms. Nadal and Mr. Payne were silent in court aside from Ms. Nadal’s mouthing “Thank you for coming” to a group of relatives and friends as she entered the courtroom and shouting “Love ya’all!” as she left.

After the arraignment, their lawyer, Norman Steiner, said the couple were pleased to be back in New York, even if their return was forced, “because they’re closer to their children and that gives them some peace.”

The children were living in three different homes in Queens, but were together at the Forestdale child care facility in Queens on Sept. 19 for a visit with their mother when they disappeared. The couple faces kidnapping, custodial interference and child endangerment charges.

Mr. Steiner told Judge Margulis that Ms. Nadal and Mr. Payne had acted under the belief that at least one of their children was sexually abused by one or more of the biological children of the foster parents charged with caring for them. Mr. Steiner also said the children’s forced removal from Ms. Nadal and Mr. Payne’s custody had been unjustified in the first place.

Mr. Steiner said he had been in contact with Family Court lawyers who had seen photographic evidence of physical abuse against one or more of the children during their time in foster care. Kenneth Appelbaum, an assistant district attorney in Queens, said in court that he believed that no one at the Administration for Children’s Services was aware of any prior complaints by Ms. Nadal or Mr. Payne about abuse.

Mr. Steiner also referred to a clandestine phone call he said one of Ms. Nadal and Mr. Payne’s children placed to them while asking a foster parent for dinner.

“You’re not eating today because you did X, Y and Z,” Mr. Steiner said Ms. Nadal and Mr. Payne heard the caregiver tell their child.

“They chose the lesser of two evils,” Mr. Steiner told the judge, underscoring what he said were legal and moral grounds for the couple’s actions. Their next court date is scheduled for Oct. 25.”

Couple, Accused of Abducting Their 8 Children, Are Held on $75,000 Bail
[New York Times Cityroom blog 10/13/11 by Noah Rosenberg]

Update 3: Originally, there were  charges of eight  counts of kidnapping for each parent. But the charges that they pled guilty to are lesser charges of two counts of second-degree custodial interference. 

“A couple who allegedly abducted their eight children during a visit at a Queens foster-care facility in September pleaded guilty Tuesday and will likely be sentenced to three months in prison.

Shanel Nadal, 28 years old, and Nephra Payne, 34, each pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree custodial interference in the Sept. 19 incident. Members of a US Marshals fugitive task force found the couple living in squalor with the eight children in a van in Harrisburg, Pa., a week later.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown called the plea a “just and fair disposition” and said it would spare the children from having to possibly testify against their parents at trial.

The couple allegedly kidnapped the children during a supervised visit at the Forestdale agency in Queens. The children, ranging in age from 11 months to 12 year old, had been in the care of the Administration for Children’s Services. Authorities said they were originally removed from their parents custody because of allegations of abuse.

Attorneys for Mr. Payne and Ms. Nadal couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. Norman Steiner, Ms. Nadal’s attorney, had previously said the couple took their children because they thought they were being abused in foster care. ”

Parents Enter Guilty Plea
[Wall Street Journal 10/26/11 by Tamer El-Ghobashy and Sean Gardiner]

“Judge Elisa Koenderman of Queens Criminal Court indicated she would sentence each parent to 90 days in jail and three years’ probation. Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 10. Taking into account time served, their lawyer said he expected them to spend a little more than a month longer in jail. ”

Couple Who Took 8 Children From Foster Care Face Jail
[New York Times 10/26/11 by Sarah Maslin]

““In addition to the physical abuse and the sexual molestation they were enduring in the foster care system, that they weren’t being fed,” said defense attorney Norman Steiner.
Norman Steiner, the lawyer for the couple, characterized the deal as “a tremendous victory,” given that the two initially faced eight counts of kidnapping each — one per child. “It’s a slap on the wrist compared to kidnapping,” he said.

“They are grateful to the district attorney for listening to them,” Mr. Steiner said, “and look forward to reuniting their family.”

The children are now in the custody of New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services, said Kevin Ryan, a spokesman for the Queens district attorney. Mr. Steiner said Family Court would decide what interaction they could have with their parents.

The children had been in foster care since 2009, but the reason has not been made public.

During an arraignment on Oct. 13, Mr. Steiner said they had taken the children because they believed that some of them — the children were in three homes — were being abused.”

Queens Parents Accused Of Abducting 8 Kids Plead Guilty, Face 90 Days In Jail
[CBS New York 10/26/11]

Update 4:  Parents released. Hearing December 15, 2011. “Shanel Nadal and Nephra Payne were set free Wednesday after spending 60 days in jail. They were sentenced to time served and released as part of a plea deal with the Queens district attorney’s office.

“I’m happy that we’re going home. Hopefully we can get our babies home,” said Nadal.

The couple was accused of kidnapping their eight children from foster care, but that charge was lowered to custodial interference as part of the deal.

On September 19, Nadal and Payne took the children from the Forestdale Child Agency in Forest Hills during a supervised visit.

“The initial charges were overcharged and there was no kidnapping. These were just two parents who were seeking to have the best interest of the children served,” said defense attorney Norman Steiner.

After taking the seven boys and their sister from Forestdale, Payne and Nadal fled to Pennsylvania, where they were all found living in a van in Harrisburg.

The couple said they took the children because they believe they were being sexually and physically abused in foster care.

“We documented it thoroughly on the abuse and we just pretty much got tired because we weren’t getting no help from ACS or the courts or Forestdale,” said Nadal.

The Administration for Children’s Services disputes the abuse allegations.

As for the plea deal, the couple also received three years probation and an order of protection to stay away from their children for five years unless they are granted visitation or custody.

The children, who range in age from 11 months to 11 years, are back in foster care. Their parents are fighting to regain custody.

“Everything we can do,” said Payne. “It’s definitely our top priority.”

“That’s what it was all about,” added Nadal.

“There are already actions on the way in family court to reunite the Paynes with their children, starting with visitation once again,” said Steiner.

The case now moves to family court on December 15.”

Parents Who Took Eight Kids From Foster Care Released From Custody
[NY 1 11/24/11 by Ruschell Boone]

Update 5: Nephra and Shanel give their first interview since being released from jail.

“The week before theyabducted their eight children from a foster care center in Queens, Nephra and Shanel Payne stocked up at Costco on supplies and dry goods, like graham crackers, diapers and infant formula for Nefertiti, their 11-month-old daughter. They stashed family photos and important documents in a storage facility and crammed a basketball and a football — essential for traveling with a Little League team’s worth of boys — into their car. ”

“They had just been told, they said, that New York City’s child welfare agency was planning to put their children, some of whom had been in foster care for nearly three years, up for adoption rather than reuniting them with their parents. “

““It’s either do something or let your kids get swallowed by a system that does not have a heart,” Mr. Payne, 35, said. “To do nothing would have been more hurtful, more reckless.”

The Paynes told their story during a nearly two-hour interview on Monday night, five days after their release from jail. They sat side by side in the office of Norman Steiner, the lawyer who represented them in their criminal case, their pinky fingers intertwined.

It was a brazen act — two parents abducting their children from foster care in broad daylight — and it set off an interstate manhunt and a rash of media speculation on their whereabouts and on how they had succeeded at it. But to the Paynes, that week on the run with their children packed first into a car and then into a van was a respite of sorts — a time spent singing along to Michael Jackson hits, tossing a football around and being a family.

Mr. Payne, a construction worker, and his wife, 28, a beautician, were arrested on Sept. 26, seven days after they absconded with their children during a supervised visit at the Forestdale child agency in Forest Hills. The police found them on a roadside in Harrisburg, Pa., where they had just finished dinner in their van.

They were sent to New York to face eight counts each of kidnapping — one per child — among other charges. The kidnapping charges were eventually dismissed, and the Paynes pleaded guilty in late October to second-degree custodial interference, a misdemeanor for which they were each sentenced to 90 days in jail, later reduced to 60, and three years’ probation. On the day before Thanksgiving, they were released.

Child welfare advocates deplored the couple’s rash move, concerned for the safety of the children. The children, seven boys and one girl, ages 11 months to 11 years, had been removed from the Paynes’ custody in March 2009 amid allegations of abuse.

The Paynes said the Administration for Children’s Services had unfairly taken custody of their children after one went to school with a bloodshot eye. It was a result, they said, of a squabble among the brothers.

Child welfare officials declined to discuss the specifics of the case, citing privacy rules. Still, they said, children are not typically removed from a home because of a single issue. Agency workers must assess the children’s welfare, and the decision to take custody must be approved in Family Court, the officials said.

The Paynes said that they were good parents and that they had religiously attended parenting and anger management classes prescribed by officials. They showed up at every child visit with platters of food, home-baked cakes and even a juicer, they said, and they were devastated to hear that several of their boys had been medicated for things like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. They were terrified, they said, when two of their children complained of not being fed enough and showed up to visits with split lips and bruises. Agency officials said those claims were not reported.

The Paynes said they learned in mid-September that Children’s Services had set a goal of adoption for the children, and it was as if a switch had flipped.

Security at the Forestdale child agency, where the visits took place, was lax at times, the Paynes said. (The center is reviewing security issues in light of the abduction.) During their Sept. 19 visit, Ms. Payne said, she simply led the children to the car waiting out back, and told them to be quick. “In my head I was like, ‘Go, go, go, go,’ ” she said.

“It was like a relief; we just had no more pain,” her husband said. “Everything we came to New York with, we’re leaving with.”

“Willfully oblivious to the manhunt, they listened to music — not news — on the radio and disassembled their cellphone. They headed toward South Carolina, where they had lived before moving to the Bronx in 2007 and where their family still had land. “Acres of land, produce growing out of the ground,” Mr. Payne said, a smile reaching each side of his lean face. “It was going to be that freedom to see our kids just running around — to be happy, to be safe — with their mother and father.”

“His wife, whom he began dating after she wrote him a love letter when she was 16, continued his thought: “It would have been a dream come true, and for those seven days that’s what it was like,” she said. At one point, she recalled, her son Shalee, 6, awoke with a start. “He said: ‘I thought this was a dream. Thank you so much for taking us,’ ” his mother said. “I know that what I did was right because I heard it from my son.”

They got to South Carolina swiftly, stopping only to play catch and to eat at a Chinese restaurant in Virginia, but when a reporter called a relative a few days after they had arrived, they quickly left. They punched Harrisburg, where Mr. Payne had once found work, into their GPS unit and headed there.

Though Nephra, the oldest son, had seen newspaper reports about the family, the parents still believed they would not be caught, they said, and had started planning to home-school the children.

They described the atmosphere in their van as “a party,” their last evening a bizarre public idyll in light of the nationwide police pursuit. The boys clambered onto a stage at a park in Harrisburg and showed off break-dancing moves; Ms. Payne and the baby admired cheerleaders. They ate a chicken dinner in the van, Nefertiti refusing to budge from her father’s chest.

Then, they said, around 10:30 p.m. came the sirens, the order to freeze, and the barrel of a gun pointing at Mr. Payne. Nefertiti howled. Mr. Payne collapsed and was hospitalized; he said he could barely move for days.

“I just felt like I messed up, I felt like my world was over,” he said. “All I could hear was my baby screaming.”

Police reports of the Paynes’ capture described the children as disheveled, and there was speculation that they had slept in the cramped van. But the couple said the family stayed in motels, paying in cash. And they adamantly denied any abuse.

Jail was a shock. Mr. Payne said he remembered feeling he had done “something noble.”

Michael Fagan, the communications director for Children’s Services, said in a statement: “After a thorough investigation and careful assessment of the children, they are in the care of foster families, as they were before they were abducted by their parents.”

Both parents are forbidden to see their children or to speak to them on the phone. On Dec. 15, they will return to Family Court to seek visitation rights.”

Recalling Days on the Run With Abducted Children
[NY Times 11/30/11 by Sarah Maslin Nir]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update 6:“A mother and father who abducted their eight children from foster care in New York and set off a nationwide manhunt have been arrested on charges of falsely claiming more than $116,000 in public assistance benefits, the city’s Department of Investigation said on Thursday.

Shanel Nadal, 29, and her husband, John Payne, 36, took their children, now between ages 2 and 12, from a Queens foster care center in September 2011. They were caught a week later and served brief sentences for custodial interference.

The department said that between 2008 and 2011, Ms. Nadal, Mr. Payne and his brother Thomas Payne, 46, claimed “child-care subsidies, cash assistance and food stamp benefits” even though their children were in foster care starting in 2009 over allegations of abuse. They also falsely claimed, the department said, that “the children’s father and uncle were paid child day care providers.”

The department said the three were charged with welfare fraud and grand larceny, among other offenses, and arrested late Wednesday. Each count against Ms. Nadal, who has used the surname Payne, carries a term of up to 15 years in prison. Each count against John and Thomas Payne carries seven years.

“City funds intended for needy children were pocketed by three ineligible adults who did nothing for the money,” said Rose Gill Hearn, the department’s commissioner. “Hard-working New Yorkers can ill afford that kind of waste.”

A lawyer for Ms. Nadal declined to comment; lawyers for the others were not able to be reached. In 2011, the couple explained why they took their children. “It’s either do something or let your kids get swallowed by a system that does not have a heart,” Mr. Payne said then.”

New Woes for 2 Who Abducted Their Children[New York Times 4/11/13 by Ravi Somaiya]