An Affiliated Project of the Institute to Transform Child Protection at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law
STORIES OF HIDDEN FOSTER CARE
Hidden foster care happens all over the country. Although county and state agencies call it different things in different places, it always involves a state or county child protective services (CPS) agency separating a child from their parents without court authority, oversight, or accountability. Below are some real stories of hidden foster care. If these sound familiar to you, please scroll to the bottom and share your family's story of hidden foster care with us.
her 3-week-old baby girl, Etta, was experiencing a brain bleed. Because Violet and Henry, the father, did not know why the bleeding was happening, the hospital immediately suspected abuse and called the child protection hotline. Without any additional evidence of abuse or a second medical opinion, the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS) sought to implement a "safety plan" that would separate Violet and Henry from Etta and their other toddler.
Because DCFS threatened to place their children in foster care if they didn’t accept the plan, Violet and Henry agreed to the plan. Representing the parents, Legal Aid Chicago’s Children & Families Practice Group secured a second medical opinion from a pediatric radiologist and a pediatric neurologist, who both concluded that Etta suffered from cortical venous thrombosis: a stroke, not abuse.
Only after securing second medical opinions from specialists were they able to challenge the agency's actions. But the damage was already done.
Sabra Brucker and her husband Dagan live on their fifth-generation family corn and soybean farm near Cropsey, Illinois. After many years of infertility and multiple miscarriages, they are now parents to four young children. In August 2021, the Bruckers took 5-month-old Aiden, their youngest, to OSF Children’s Hospital Emergency Room in Peoria due to intense stomach pain and vomiting.
Aiden underwent ultrasounds and X-rays for his upper GI track, abdomen, and chest and was held in the hospital for observation. On the fourth day of his hospital stay, seven new rib fractures that were not initially present during the first 3 days of Aiden’s hospital stay became visible on his x-rays. As a result, hospital staff called the Illinois DCFS through a child abuse hotline. Sabra’s numerous requests to meet with the medical team in charge of her son’s care were ignored.
The Brucker Family
DCFS refused to let the Bruckers take Aiden home upon his discharge from the hospital and threatened to put all four children in foster care if Sabra could not find someone to care for them. Sabra’s mother, Shari, who lived 273 miles away in Kentucky, became the children’s caregiver on top of caring for her own and her husband’s ongoing health concerns. Physical custody of the children was given to Shari with no court review and the safety plan required round-the-clock supervision of all contact between the parents and their children.
Three weeks after DCFS involvement, the Bruckers consulted with a globally-respected pediatric orthopedic specialist who, after reviewing Aiden’s records, stated that it was impossible for the fractures to have occurred before he was admitted to the hospital and instead occurred during routine handling by hospital staff.
Despite a formal report from the specialist and letters from the children’s long-time pediatrician, close family, friends, and daycare teachers, DCFS did not end the “voluntary” safety plan.
After 65 days apart from their children, the Bruckers told their caseworker that they were terminating the safety plan. DCFS did not resist this termination and simply collected their signatures on a form.
In February 2017, Holly Schulkers unknowingly had a urine test that was “presumptive positive” for opiates while giving birth to her child. Her doctor later noted on her chart that she had consumed a snack with poppy seeds, which are known to cause a false positive on a drug screen. Without waiting for the results of the umbilical cord test, ordering a second urine test, or getting a hair follicle test (all of which were conducted later and found no opiates in Holly’s system), the hospital social worker entered “Substance Use Disorder” on Holly’s chart and reported the positive drug screen electronically to the state’s Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS).
Two CHFS social workers told the Schulkers that they couldn’t take their baby home unless they signed a “prevention plan” that prohibited Holly from being alone with any of her children.
The Schulkers were told that if they did not sign or comply with this plan, their children would be removed from their care and placed in the foster care system.
By this point, CHFS knew that Holly’s test results had come back negative but they nevertheless took Holly’s children out of school to ask them – without their parents’ permission or a guardian present – about their mother’s alleged drug use. Finding nothing, the case was marked as “unsubstantiated” but CHFS maintained the prevention plan for two months after Holly was discharged from the hospital, despite repeated requests from the Schulkers to lift it.
The Schulkers brought a lawsuit against CFHS and the social workers for violating their right of family integrity and the children’s rights to be free from unlawful seizure at their school and won in both the US District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky and the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
HAVE A STORY TO SHARE?
If you or your client have lived experience with hidden foster care, we would love to hear your story! Contact us using the button below to share your story of hidden foster care.
STORIES OF HIDDEN FOSTER CARE
Hidden foster care happens all over the country. Although county and state agencies call it different things in different places, it always involves a state or county child protective services (CPS) agency separating a child from their parents without court authority, oversight, or accountability. Below are some real stories of hidden foster care. If these sound familiar to you, please scroll to the bottom and share your family's story of hidden foster care with us.
After taking her sick child to the hospital, Violet received some of the most frightening news any parent can imagine...
her 3-week-old baby girl, Etta, was experiencing a brain bleed. Because Violet and Henry, the father, did not know why the bleeding was happening, the hospital immediately suspected abuse and called the child protection hotline. Without any additional evidence of abuse or a second medical opinion, the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS) sought to implement a "safety plan" that would separate Violet and Henry from Etta and their other toddler.
Because DCFS threatened to place their children in foster care if they didn’t accept the plan, Violet and Henry agreed to the plan. Representing the parents, Legal Aid Chicago’s Children & Families Practice Group secured a second medical opinion from a pediatric radiologist and a pediatric neurologist, who both concluded that Etta suffered from cortical venous thrombosis: a stroke, not abuse.
Only after securing second medical opinions from specialists were they able to challenge the agency's actions. But the damage was already done.
Sabra Brucker and her husband Dagan live on their fifth-generation family corn and soybean farm near Cropsey, Illinois. After many years of infertility and multiple miscarriages, they are now parents to four young children. In August 2021, the Bruckers took 5-month-old Aiden, their youngest, to OSF Children’s Hospital Emergency Room in Peoria due to intense stomach pain and vomiting.
Aiden underwent ultrasounds and X-rays for his upper GI track, abdomen, and chest and was held in the hospital for observation. On the fourth day of his hospital stay, seven new rib fractures that were not initially present during the first 3 days of Aiden’s hospital stay became visible on his x-rays. As a result, hospital staff called the Illinois DCFS through a child abuse hotline. Sabra’s numerous requests to meet with the medical team in charge of her son’s care were ignored.
The Brucker Family
DCFS refused to let the Bruckers take Aiden home upon his discharge from the hospital and threatened to put all four children in foster care if Sabra could not find someone to care for them. Sabra’s mother, Shari, who lived 273 miles away in Kentucky, became the children’s caregiver on top of caring for her own and her husband’s ongoing health concerns. Physical custody of the children was given to Shari with no court review and the safety plan required round-the-clock supervision of all contact between the parents and their children.
Three weeks after DCFS involvement, the Bruckers consulted with a globally-respected pediatric orthopedic specialist who, after reviewing Aiden’s records, stated that it was impossible for the fractures to have occurred before he was admitted to the hospital and instead occurred during routine handling by hospital staff.
Despite a formal report from the specialist and letters from the children’s long-time pediatrician, close family, friends, and daycare teachers, DCFS did not end the “voluntary” safety plan.
After 65 days apart from their children, the Bruckers told their caseworker that they were terminating the safety plan. DCFS did not resist this termination and simply collected their signatures on a form.
In February 2017, Holly Schulkers unknowingly had a urine test that was “presumptive positive” for opiates while giving birth to her child. Her doctor later noted on her chart that she had consumed a snack with poppy seeds, which are known to cause a false positive on a drug screen. Without waiting for the results of the umbilical cord test, ordering a second urine test, or getting a hair follicle test (all of which were conducted later and found no opiates in Holly’s system), the hospital social worker entered “Substance Use Disorder” on Holly’s chart and reported the positive drug screen electronically to the state’s Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS).
Two CHFS social workers told the Schulkers that they couldn’t take their baby home unless they signed a “prevention plan” that prohibited Holly from being alone with any of her children.
The Schulkers were told that if they did not sign or comply with this plan, their children would be removed from their care and placed in the foster care system.
By this point, CHFS knew that Holly’s test results had come back negative but they nevertheless took Holly’s children out of school to ask them – without their parents’ permission or a guardian present – about their mother’s alleged drug use. Finding nothing, the case was marked as “unsubstantiated” but CHFS maintained the prevention plan for two months after Holly was discharged from the hospital, despite repeated requests from the Schulkers to lift it.
The Schulkers brought a lawsuit against CFHS and the social workers for violating their right of family integrity and the children’s rights to be free from unlawful seizure at their school and won in both the US District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky and the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
HAVE A STORY TO SHARE?
If you or your client have lived experience with hidden foster care, we would love to hear your story! Contact us using the button below to share your story of hidden foster care.
STORIES OF HIDDEN FOSTER CARE
Hidden foster care happens all over the country. Although county and state agencies call it different things in different places, it always involves a state or county child protective services (CPS) agency separating a child from their parents without court authority, oversight, or accountability. Below are some real stories of hidden foster care. If these sound familiar to you, please scroll to the bottom and share your family's story of hidden foster care with us.
After taking her sick child to the hospital, Violet received some of the most frightening news any parent can imagine...
her 3-week-old baby girl, Etta, was experiencing a brain bleed. Because Violet and Henry, Etta's father, could not provide an explanation for the bleeding, the hospital immediately suspected abuse and called the child protection hotline. Without any additional evidence of abuse or a second medical opinion, the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS) sought to implement a "safety plan" that would separate Violet and Henry from Etta and the couple's other toddler.
Because DCFS threatened to place their children in foster care if they didn’t accept the safety plan, Violet and Henry agreed to the plan. Later, Legal Aid Chicago’s Children & Families Practice Group agreed to represent Violet and Henry, and they were able to secure a second medical opinion from a pediatric radiologist and a pediatric neurologist, who both concluded that Etta suffered from cortical venous thrombosis: a stroke, not abuse. Acting in haste, DCFS had needlessly separated Violet and Henry from their children.
Only after securing second medical opinions from specialists were they able to challenge the agency's actions. But the damage was already done.
Sabra Brucker and her husband Dagan live on their fifth-generation family corn and soybean farm near Cropsey, Illinois. After many years of infertility and multiple miscarriages, they are now parents to four young children. In August 2021, the Bruckers took 5-month-old Aiden, their youngest, to OSF Children’s Hospital Emergency Room in Peoria due to intense stomach pain and vomiting.
Aiden underwent ultrasounds and X-rays for his upper GI track, abdomen, and chest and was held in the hospital for observation. On the fourth day of his hospital stay, seven new rib fractures that were not initially present during the first 3 days of Aiden’s hospital stay became visible on his x-rays. As a result, hospital staff called the Illinois DCFS through a child abuse hotline. Sabra’s numerous requests to meet with the medical team in charge of her son’s care were ignored.
The Brucker Family
DCFS refused to let the Bruckers take Aiden home upon his discharge from the hospital and threatened to put all four children in foster care if Sabra could not find someone to care for them. Sabra’s mother, Shari, who lived 273 miles away in Kentucky, became the children’s caregiver on top of caring for her own and her husband’s ongoing health concerns. Physical custody of the children was given to Shari with no court review and the safety plan required round-the-clock supervision of all contact between the parents and their children.
Three weeks after DCFS involvement, the Bruckers consulted with a globally-respected pediatric orthopedic specialist who, after reviewing Aiden’s records, stated that it was impossible for the fractures to have occurred before he was admitted to the hospital and instead occurred during routine handling by hospital staff.
Despite a formal report from the specialist and letters from the children’s long-time pediatrician, close family, friends, and daycare teachers, DCFS did not end the “voluntary” safety plan.
After 65 days apart from their children, the Bruckers told their caseworker that they were terminating the safety plan. DCFS did not resist this termination and simply collected their signatures on a form.
In February 2017, while giving birth to her child, Holly Schulkers was unknowingly given a urine test that was “presumptive positive” for opiates while giving birth to her child. Her doctor later noted on her chart that she had consumed a snack with poppy seeds, which are known to cause a false positive on a drug screen. Without even waiting for the results of the umbilical cord test, second urine test, or hair follicle test (all of which were conducted later and revealed no opiates in Holly’s system), the hospital social worker entered “Substance Use Disorder” on Holly’s chart and reported the positive drug screen electronically to the state’s Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS).
Two CHFS social workers then told the Schulkers that they couldn’t take their baby home unless they signed a “prevention plan” that prohibited Holly from being alone with any of her children.
The Schulkers were told that if they did not sign or comply with this plan, their children would be removed from their care and placed in the foster care system.
By the time the Schulkers signed the "prevention plan," CHFS knew that Holly’s test results had come back negative, but they still took Holly’s children out of school to ask them – without their parents’ permission or a guardian present – about their mother’s alleged drug use. Finding nothing, the case was marked as “unsubstantiated,” but CHFS nevertheless maintained the prevention plan for two months following Holly's discharge from the hospital, even despite repeated requests from the Schulkers to lift it.
The Schulkers brought a lawsuit against CFHS and the social workers for violating their right of family integrity and the children’s rights to be free from unlawful seizure at their school and won their case in both the US District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky and the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
HAVE A STORY TO SHARE?
If you or your client have lived experience with hidden foster care, we would love to hear your story! Contact us using the button below to share your story of hidden foster care.