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Lawsuit: Vermont DCF illegally surveilled pregnant woman, took newborn from delivery room
DCF began “an aggressive investigation” into the woman, “even though DCF has no authority to assess or investigate a fetus or a first-time, expectant mother," the Vermont ACLU says in a lawsuit.
Vermont’s Department of Children and Families illegally surveilled a pregnant woman before removing her baby from her custody directly from the delivery room, according to a lawsuit filed by ACLU Vermont.
The 30-page complaint alleges that DCF built a case around the expectant mother, who was only identified by the initials A.V., based on unfounded mental health concerns and without speaking to her at all.
The woman was allegedly included on a “high-risk pregnancy” list for DCF to “target and track” pregnant people who, the agency speculates, would be unfit parents, according to the complaint. DCF uses illegally obtained information from informants and providers, the ACLU said.
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DCF caused lasting emotional trauma when A.V. “was not allowed to hold—or even touch—her baby” after she gave birth in February of 2022, the suit alleges.
“Instead, immediately after birth, hospital staff, acting at DCF’s direction, took physical custody of S.V. (the child) and removed her from the delivery room,” the complaint says.
A.V. was granted custody seven months after she gave birth, when the courts rejected DCF’s allegations, the ACLU said.
“For a state agency to violate the rights, privacy, and bodily autonomy of expectant parents like A.V. is a gross abuse of power,” ACLU Senior Staff Attorney Harrison Stark said. “This case may seem like an extreme example, but it points to severe systemic problems, including a profound lack of transparency and accountability in Vermont’s child protection system.”
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DCF, Copley Hospital in Morrisville, and Lund, a not-for-profit residential treatment, education, and adoption services organization in South Burlington, are named as defendants in the case.
DCF did not return a request for comment.
No mental health evaluation of A.V. was performed, ACLU says
The 32-year-old woman was pregnant with her first child in 2021 when she had a “confidential conversation about her pregnancy” with counselors at Lund, according to the complaint. While in her third trimester of pregnancy, A.V. began a stay at Charter House, a homeless shelter in Middlebury, where a staff member reported her to DCF.
Shelter staff did not conduct a mental health evaluation, but the executive director told DCF she appeared to have “untreated mental health issues” and said they were “worried she does not have an awareness she is having a baby.”
DCF began “an aggressive investigation” into the woman, “even though DCF has no authority to assess or investigate a fetus or a first-time, expectant mother, and its actions were inconsistent with lawful assessment procedures,” the ACLU’s complaint said.
DCF spoke to case managers at Charter House, a counselor with Lund, a social worker at Copley Hospital, the woman’s midwife, and her mother, who told DCF that A.V. did not have any mental health diagnoses and was “entirely aware” of her pregnancy, according to the complaint.
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Ken Schatz, interim CEO of Lund, said in a statement that the organization learned of the allegations when “they appeared in the news.”
“We take the privacy of our clients seriously and we are actively working to gather more information to understand the situation fully,” Schatz said.
Charter House did not respond to a request for comment.
Lawsuit: DCF opened case without speaking to A.V. and filed for custody of unborn child
Without ever speaking to the woman, which according to the lawsuit is illegal, DCF determined there were concerns related to her mental health. DCF was then continuously updated about the arrival of the baby and her labor. Before the baby was born, the department filed for temporary custody of the baby, the complaint alleges.
In a statement, a spokesperson from Copley Hospital said, “as with any medical provider or facility, Copley Hospital is a mandated reporter in cases of suspected child abuse or neglect. We are required by law to report any suspected cases of abuse or neglect to Vermont DCF.”
When filing for custody of A.V.’s unborn baby, DCF used information from an incident with the woman’s father from when the woman was 16, “suggesting that DCF viewed its prior involvement with her as a teenager as justification for surveilling and intervening into her life as a parent and an adult,” the complaint said.
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While in labor, A.V. was not told about the ongoing proceedings involving her unborn child, according to the ACLU. Hospital staff immediately removed the child, who remained out of A.V.’s custody for seven months. During those months, A.V. and her child met infrequently, in “sterile and intimidating environments” like police stations, the lawsuit says.
The ACLU also noted that while DCF delayed returning custody to A.V., “no court ever found that A.V. lacked parental capacity. In fact, evaluations by mental health professionals concluded that A.V. suffered none of the mental health conditions alleged by DCF.”
“The appalling lack of transparency and oversight in Vermont’s child protective system is what makes abuses like this inevitable, and it is at odds with our stated commitment to reproductive liberty and personal autonomy,” ACLU Attorney Sarah Star said in a statement.
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