David Shalleck-Klein

Family separation happens not just at the US-Mexico border. It regularly occurs within New York’s five boroughs, with disproportionate impacts on poor communities of color. Over 92% of children in foster care in NYC are Black or Latinx. Families below the poverty line are 22x more likely to be swept into the child welfare system than families with even slightly higher incomes. Despite multiple barriers to challenging and changing this unequal unjust system, David’s years of experience as a public defender representing New York families in court have prepared him to hold the government accountable. He recently founded the Family Justice Law Center (FJLC) to litigate for families unfairly separated and those caught up in child and family services’ tangled web. FJLC will vindicate the rights of underrepresented New Yorkers, change the devastating systems that hurt families, and shed much needed light on entrenched injustice.