S.I. Mom Files Suit Against NYC In Son's Disappearance

NEW YORK (CBS 2) -- A Staten Island mother continued her relentless crusade for her missing 7-year-old son Tuesday.

Young Patrick Alford, hasn't been seen since running away from his Brooklyn foster home in January.

Jennifer Rodriguez, once a prime suspect and the biological mother of the boy, has filed a lawsuit blaming the city for her son's disappearance.

Rodriguez and her lawyer filed the suit in Brooklyn Federal Court to get people under oath to explain how Alford went missing while in the care of a city appointed foster mother, CBS 2's Pablo Guzman reported.

Six days after the boy disappeared, a Staten Island family court judge ordered Rodriguez jailed because he believed she knew where the boy was. But after a week in jail, Rodriguez passed a lie detector test and was let go.

Police then began a series of searches on Staten Island and Brooklyn. Though there have been no solid clues, some detectives privately agree with the mother -- that the boy is still alive.

Rodriguez's lawyer noted the NYPD was not named in the lawsuit and that the police department had been cooperative. Instead, the lawyer said, the action was aimed at Child Welfare Services and the foster mother.