A Georgia couple whose kids had been taken from them for 2 years following a false declare of kid abuse have filed a lawsuit, arguing that the Division of Household and Youngsters Providers (DFCS) officers violated official polices in an effort to sever their parental rights.
The household’s ordeal—which was investigated in a 2024 story for Cause—started in 2023, when Matt and Tuckey Hernandez took their youngest daughter, 3-month-old Emma, to the physician after noticing some swelling on one among her legs. Matt additionally expressed concern a couple of small bruise he seen behind Emma’s ear within the earlier week.
The Hernandezes’ pediatrician advised the couple to go to Youngsters’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA), the place X-rays discovered that Emma’s leg and ribs had been fractured in a number of locations. On the hospital, Stephen Messner, a baby abuse pediatrician, rapidly identified Emma with “non-accidental trauma,” one other phrase for little one abuse.
Nevertheless, there have been good causes to doubt Messner’s analysis. The Hernandezes confirmed all indicators of being loving mother and father, and there was no proof of abuse on the couple’s 3-year-old daughter. “When coming to his little one abuse analysis, Defendant Messner by no means reviewed any of Child Emma’s start information, Plaintiff Tuckey’s prenatal medical historical past or both of Plaintiffs’ parental medical historical past, and solely gathered some info at bedside,” the go well with states.
As an alternative of exploring Emma’s regarding medical signs, the state eliminated the Hernandezes’ daughters from their care and positioned the ladies in a sequence of foster houses. Each mother and father had been ultimately charged with little one abuse.
The lawsuit additional alleges that the DFCS violated its personal insurance policies in refusing to put the ladies with kin or household mates. Additional, the lawsuit additionally alleges that when Emma was hospitalized for six days in 2023, ultimately requiring a feeding tube, a physician “carried out an invasive, inside pelvic examination…which was not supported or justified by any of the signs with which Child Emma introduced, and regardless of no little one sexual abuse being suspected.” Making issues worse, nobody advised Matt—who nonetheless had parental rights—concerning the examination or tried to get his knowledgeable consent.
A number of theories have been introduced that might explain Emma’s accidents. When she was admitted to the hospital, Emma had very low vitamin D, which one doctor testifying at a 2023 listening to claimed had induced her to develop neonatal rickets, weakening her bones. The situation would additionally clarify why Emma had a big mushy spot that gave the impression to be on the improper a part of her head. Additional, in February 2024, Emma was identified with acrocyanosis, “a medical situation that causes the palms, toes, and different components of the physique to current with a bluish, white, or grey coloration,” in keeping with the lawsuit. Genetic testing additionally indicated that Emma had defects in her collagen genes, presumably inflicting situations related to fractures in infants.
However these prospects had been largely ignored by the DFCS, which continued to aim to sever Matt and Tuckey’s parental rights and have the ladies adopted by one other household.
“We have given them a lot proof to show this little lady was born with so many issues,” Matt advised Cause in a 2024 interview. “I simply do not perceive how that is the system.”
Final month, Matt and Tuckey had been acquitted of all fees, and their daughters had been lastly returned to them. The couple filed their lawsuit final month, claiming that the DFCS staff, medical doctors, and regulation enforcement officers violated a variety of constitutional rights and state legal guidelines. The defendants “have labored collectively to deprive harmless households of their parental rights whereas denying sufficient medical care to medically fragile kids affected by undiagnosed situations that result in their diseases and accidents,” the go well with reads.
