High-profile deaths have led to intense scrutiny of the city's Administration for Children's Services, but the mayor is now saying another branch of government may be impeding reform. NY1's Courtney Gross filed the following report.

Mayor Bill de Blasio may be targeting a new opponent in the battle to reform the city's child welfare agency. 

"There have certainly been instances when ACS was absolutely convinced a child should not be removed and court did not agree," he said Tuesday.

It's an argument he repeated twice this week: judges could be standing in the way of children's safety. 

"There is a time when a certain set of circumstances leads ACS to decide a child should no longer be in the home. But remember, a court has to sign off on that," de Blasio said Monday.

"There are many instances where ACS has been very aggressive and a judge did not agree. I would not have always agreed with that judge in that decision," he said Tuesday.

NY1 uncovered the numbers. In 2016, ACS removed 1,800 kids from their homes without court approval, calling it an emergency, saying the child was at risk. When the city went to court to explain its decision, judges reversed it in 15 percent of the cases, meaning those kids went back home.  

Elsewhere, ACS asked a judge to remove more than 2,300 from their homes last year. A judge sided with the parent more than 23 percent of the time. 

"The mayor's comments about family court judges is a mischaracterization of what happens in family court every day," said Lauren Shapiro of Brooklyn Defender Services.

Shapiro represents the parents in those cases. 

"New York State says you have to keep children at home whenever possible and put in services," Shapiro said. "We cannot create policy based on a couple of tragedies. That's really going to hurt children."

Not a single judge would go on camera for this story. In fact, a spokesman for the court told us because these judges routinely work with ACS, it would be inappropriate for them to do so.  

He added a statement that read, "Each court case is judged on its own merits...Unique to Family Court cases, all parties to the matter have advocates representing and looking out for their welfare, whether parent or child."

Either way, the mayor says this is something his new child welfare commissioner is looking into.