Process
Winners
Finalists
News
Submit
OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS
Nominate
ALWAYS OPEN
To all winners
Protecting New York Families From Unnecessary And Harmful Separation
Portrait of David Shalleck-Klein

Winner

David Shalleck-Klein

Protecting New York Families From Unnecessary And Harmful Separation
Portrait of David Shalleck-Klein

Website

fjlc.org

Year

2022

Organization

Family Justice Law Center

Sector

Human Rights

Borough

Manhattan

David, a former public defender, founded the Family Justice Law Center to protect NYC families from unjust separations and ACS abuses.

Family separation doesn’t just happen at the U.S.–Mexico border: it regularly occurs within New York City’s five boroughs. As a public defender, David witnessed invasive searches of families’ homes, strip-searches of children, harmful and unnecessary…
Read winner story
Family Justice Law Center 2023 panel on ACS’ unlawful surveillance of families
87%
of families investigated by ACS are Black or Latino

Source: NYS Government

Publication

New York Times

He’ll Use His $200,000 Prize to Fight for Children

By James Barron
October 25, 2022
Shalleck-Klein, 35, is one of five winners splitting this year’s $1 million David Prize, a no-strings-attached award established in 2019…

Publication

New York Times

Domestic Violence Victims Reported Abuse. Caseworkers Watched Them Too.

By Andy Newman
July 31, 2024
“You’re not accused of anything,” the judge told the mother of an infant in family court in Brooklyn last summer…

Publication

New York Times

Child Abuse Investigators Traumatize Families, Lawsuit Charges

By Jonah E. Bromwich and Andy Newman
February 20, 2024

Podcast

The Brian Lehrer Show

Lawsuit Over ACS Practices

By Brian Lehrer
February 22, 2024
David Shalleck-Klein, founder and executive director of the Family Justice Law Center at the Urban Justice Center, discusses the class-action lawsuit charging the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) uses coercion…

Publication

NYU Law News

David Shalleck-Klein ’16 on challenging New York City’s home search tactics in child welfare investigations

By NYU Law School Staff
April 15, 2024
To all winners