A lawsuit filed this week charges Vermont Child Welfare Agency Using unsubstantiated claims about a pregnant woman's mental health to secretly investigate her and win custody of her daughter before the baby is born.
The ACLU of Vermont and Pregnancy Justice, a national advocacy group, filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Vermont Department of Children and Families, a counseling center and the hospital where the woman gave birth in February 2022.
In the lawsuit, the state also faces accusations that it routinely tracks down pregnant women deemed unsuitable to become mothers.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified financial damages for the woman, identified only by her initials, AV, and an end to what it describes as an illegal surveillance program.
Pregnant woman and her baby saved after doctors discover grapefruit-sized tumor: 'Extremely rare'
A copy of the lawsuit filed against the Vermont Department of Children and Families. (Google Maps; Vermont Supreme Court)
The director of a homeless shelter where AV stayed in January 2022 told a foster care agency that she appeared to be suffering from untreated paranoia, dissociative behaviors and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the lawsuit. The state began investigating and eventually spoke to the women's counselor, midwife, and social worker at the hospital without her knowledge, even though she had no jurisdiction over the fetuses.
The woman remained unaware of the investigation until she gave birth and her daughter was immediately taken away, according to Harrison Stark, the ACLU's senior staff attorney.
AV had no knowledge that hospital officials were providing updates to the state While she was in laborincluding details of her cervical dilatation, and that she lost temporary custody of her child. The state even asked for a court order to force the woman to undergo a C-section, although the matter became moot because she consented to the surgery.
The woman was not able to obtain full custody of her child until seven months later.
“It's a horrific set of circumstances for our clients,” Stark said. “It is also clear from what has happened that this is not the first time the agency has done this. We have learned from several confidential sources that DCF has a pattern and practice of seeking out people like our clients who are pregnant, and who are of interest.” To the agency based on a set of informal criteria and who the agency tracks based on what is called a “high-risk pregnancy schedule” or “high-risk pregnancy calendar.”
Department of Children and Families Commissioner Chris Winter said the agency would not comment until officials reviewed the lawsuit and investigated its accusations.
“We take our mission of protecting children and supporting families seriously and work hard to balance the safety and well-being of children and parental rights,” he said.
Officials at the Lund Counseling Centre, which was named as a defendant, said they learned of the allegations from news reports.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont and a pregnancy judge filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Vermont Department of Children and Families, a counseling center and the hospital where the woman gave birth. (Getty Images)
“We take these matters seriously and are actively gathering more information to fully understand the situation,” said interim CEO Ken Schatz.
Copley Hospital did not comment on the lawsuit.
Many states across the country allow civil commitment of pregnant women to have custody of the newborn, said Kulsoom Ijaz, a pregnancy justice advocate. However, it is not clear how common these situations are in the United States
Ejaz said what happened to AV shows how pregnancy is increasingly being used as a justification to deny people's rights.
The organization issued a report in September detailing the increase in the number of women accused Pregnancy-related crimes The year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, allowing states to make their own laws regarding abortion. Most of those cases, in which the child was listed as a victim, involved women accused of child abuse, neglect, or child endangerment due to allegations of drug use during pregnancy.
Doctors warn that smoking and using e-cigarettes have harmful effects on fertility
This photo shows the ACLU logo. (Karen Bleier/AFP via Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“What DCF did here is incredibly cruel,” Ejaz said. “It's discriminatory. The state has legalized surveillance and stalking, and it violates Vermont's newly enshrined right to reproductive autonomy in the state constitution. This is an opportunity for Vermont to point to other states, as a leader, and say that these rights don't just exist on paper, they exist in practice, too.” “
Stark said the allegations in Vermont are particularly troubling because the state has described itself as a haven for reproductive rights.
“The discovery of evidence that a government agency is essentially colluding with certain medical providers to collect information without people’s knowledge or consent and unlawfully extending its jurisdiction to investigate people based on basic decisions about their reproductive health is incredibly troubling,” he said. .
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
