A lawsuit filed this week accuses Vermont’s child welfare agency of utilizing baseless allegations a couple of pregnant lady’s psychological well being to secretly examine her and win custody of her daughter earlier than the newborn’s delivery.
The ACLU of Vermont and Being pregnant Justice, a nationwide advocacy group, filed the lawsuit on Wednesday towards the Vermont Division for Kids and Households, a counseling heart and the hospital the place the girl gave delivery in February 2022.
Within the lawsuit, the state additionally faces accusations that it routinely tracks pregnant girls deemed unsuitable to be moms.
The lawsuit asks for unspecified financial damages for the girl, who’s recognized solely by her initials, A.V., and an finish to what it describes as an unlawful surveillance program.
PREGNANT WOMAN AND BABY SAVED AFTER DOCTORS FIND GRAPEFRUIT-SIZED TUMOR: ‘EXTREMELY RARE’
A replica of the lawsuit seen towards the the Vermont Division for Kids and Households. (Google Maps; Vermont Superior Court docket)
The director of a homeless shelter the place A.V. stayed in January 2022 instructed the kid welfare company that she appeared to have untreated paranoia, dissociative behaviors and PTSD, based on the lawsuit. The state started investigating and finally spoke to the girl’s counselor, midwife and a hospital social employee with out her data, although it had no jurisdiction over fetuses.
The girl remained unaware of the probe till she gave delivery and her daughter was instantly taken away, based on ACLU senior employees legal professional Harrison Stark.
A.V. had no data that hospital officers have been giving updates to the state while she was in labor, together with particulars of her cervix dilation, and that she had misplaced momentary custody of her child. The state even sought a court docket order forcing the girl to bear a cesarean part, though it was rendered moot as a result of she agreed to the surgical procedure.
The girl was not in a position to win full custody of her baby till seven months later.
“It’s a horrific set of circumstances for our consumer,” Stark mentioned. “It’s additionally clear from what has occurred that this isn’t the primary time the company has carried out this. We have now discovered from a number of confidential sources that DCF has a sample and follow of trying into people like our consumer who’re pregnant, who’re of curiosity to the company based mostly on a set of unofficial standards and who the company is monitoring on what is known as a ‘excessive danger being pregnant docket’ or ‘excessive danger being pregnant calendar.'”
Division for Kids and Households commissioner Chris Winter mentioned the company won’t remark till officers have reviewed the lawsuit and investigated its accusations.
“We take our mission of defending youngsters and supporting households significantly and work arduous to stability the protection and well-being of youngsters with the rights of oldsters,” he mentioned.
Officers at Lund counseling heart, which was named as a defendant, mentioned they discovered of the allegations from information stories.
The ACLU of Vermont and Being pregnant Justice filed the lawsuit on Wednesday towards the Vermont Division for Kids and Households, a counseling heart and the hospital the place the girl gave delivery. (Getty Photographs )
“We take these issues very significantly and we’re actively working to assemble extra info to grasp the scenario totally,” interim CEO Ken Schatz mentioned.
Copley Hospital has not commented on the lawsuit.
A number of states throughout the nation enable the civil dedication of pregnant girls to take custody of a new child, Being pregnant Justice senior employees legal professional Kulsoom Ijaz mentioned. Nevertheless, it’s unclear how widespread these conditions are within the U.S.
Ijaz mentioned what occurred to A.V. exhibits how being pregnant is more and more used as a justification to dam folks’s rights.
The group launched a report in September detailing a rise in girls being charged with pregnancy-related crimes within the yr after the U.S. Supreme Court docket overturned Roe v. Wade, permitting states to make their very own legal guidelines relating to abortion. Most of these circumstances, through which the newborn was listed because the sufferer, included girls charged with baby abuse, neglect or endangerment over allegations of substance use throughout being pregnant.
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This {photograph} exhibits the emblem of the American Civil Liberties Union. (KAREN BLEIER/AFP by way of Getty Photographs)
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“What DCF did right here is extremely merciless,” Ijaz mentioned. “It’s discriminatory. Its state sanctioned surveillance and stalking, and it violates Vermont’s newly enshrined proper to reproductive autonomy in its state structure. This is a chance for Vermont to sign to different states, as a frontrunner, and say that these rights don’t simply exist on paper. They exist in follow, too.”
Stark mentioned the allegations in Vermont are notably troubling for the reason that state has described itself as a haven for reproductive rights.
“To find proof {that a} state company is actually colluding with sure medical suppliers to gather info with out people’ data or consent and increasing its jurisdiction unlawfully to analyze people based mostly on what are basically choices about their very own reproductive well being is extremely alarming,” he mentioned.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
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