Family members of a six-year-old boy who was beaten to death say the city is to blame.
Shameka and Tanisha Perkins are seeking $10 million dollars in a wrongful death lawsuit against the city, Mayor Bill de Blasio, the Administration for Children's Services, and the department of education.
They say city policies and practices violated the constitutional rights of their nephew Zymere.
The boy was beaten to death with a broomstick in his Harlem apartment last September, allegedly by his mother's boyfriend.
The family's attorney says his death could have been avoided if the city did its job.
"We're looking for a federal oversight to better dictate how the ACS is run to make sure that nothing like this happens to another child like Zymere," said family attorney Abe George. "There were five incidents that ACS could have investigated within a one year period. And if they would have just taken the due diligence on one of those incidents, this child would have been here. Breathing, playing, being with his family."
An attorney for the city says they have no comment on the case.