ECBAWM client Jazmine Headley gave powerful testimony to the New York City Council at a hearing on February 4, 2019. Ms. Headley spoke to lawmakers about her experiences in December 2018 when she was attacked, arrested, and forcibly separated from her one-year-old son, after sitting on the floor in a New York City Human Resources Administration (HRA) office as she waited for her appointment. Ms. Headley advocated for a number of reforms, including “social workers not security officers” and more on-site staff at HRA offices. Ms. Headley told the Council, “We need to change the way HRA provides services to people when they are most in need.”

Members of the Council commended Ms. Headley for her important testimony, and called her treatment “painful and heartbreaking,” acknowledging that it reflected a “system-wide issue.” Ms. Headley is represented by ECBAWM attorneys Katie Rosenfeld and Michele Yankson.

“Jazmine Headley recalls having her child ripped from her arms at a public assistance office: ‘It felt like no one cared about me’,” New York Daily News
“Jazmine Headley Gets Public Apology After NYPD Tore Her Son From Her Arms,” New York Magazine “Jazmine Headley, Whose Child Was Torn From Her Arms at a City Office, Gets a Public Apology,” New York Times