Montpelier, VT - The ACLU and Pregnancy Justice filed a lawsuit yesterday on behalf of a Vermont resident whose rights were violated by the Vermont Department for Children and Families (DCF) during an unlawful “assessment” of her parental capacity that was not disclosed to her and based on unsubstantiated claims about her mental health.
Specifically, with the assistance of multiple direct service providers and without her knowledge, DCF surveilled A.V., lied to a state court about her pregnancy status, obtained legal control of A.V.’s fetus, tried to force her to undergo an involuntary cesarean surgery, and then took and retained custody of her newborn baby for seven months while attempting to sever A.V.’s parental rights.
Filed under the initials “A.V.,” the lawsuit names the Vermont Department for Children and Families (DCF), as well as service providers Lund and Copley Hospital, both of which shared confidential information and assisted DCF in surveilling A.V. during her pregnancy.
Harrison Stark, Senior Staff Attorney, ACLU of Vermont: “For a state agency to violate the rights, privacy, and bodily autonomy of expectant parents like A.V. is a gross abuse of power. It also sets a dangerous precedent, particularly in the context of ongoing threats to reproductive liberty at the federal level. 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.”
In January 2022, DCF received a report that A.V. “appeared to have untreated mental health issues.” This unfounded assertion prompted DCF to open an “assessment for lack of parental capacity”—without ever speaking to A.V., and even though the agency has no legal authority to investigate a fetus or assess a first-time, expectant parent for lack of parental capacity.
Although a DCF “assessment” is supposed to be a voluntary and supportive process, the agency never notified A.V. and instead turned to individuals from Copley Hospital and Lund to illegally disclose highly sensitive information about A.V. to the agency. In practice, DCF routinely and unlawfully intrudes on the privacy of expectant parents. For example, the lawsuit alleges that the agency maintains a “high-risk pregnancy calendar”—a standardless registry DCF uses to track people it deems unfit to parent effectively prior to the birth of their baby.
When A.V. went into labor on February 11, 2022, Copley Hospital informed DCF, prompting the agency to file a motion asking a family court judge to transfer custody of A.V.’s fetus to the agency. In its affidavit, DCF falsely stated that “Baby [V.]” had already been born. The agency also used confidential details of A.V.’s own victimization and DCF involvement as a child as evidence of her alleged parental incapacity. The court granted DCF’s request.
Having unlawfully severed A.V.’s custody of the fetus she was about to deliver, the state next tried to force her to have a cesarean surgery against her will—even though no mental health professional had ever determined she lacked capacity to make her own choices. In an emergency motion in civil court, DCF argued that her legitimate preference to continue with a vaginal delivery was an indicator of mental illness. During an emergency hearing on the motion, it came to light that A.V. had ultimately consented to the surgery and gave birth to a healthy daughter soon after.
A.V.’s joy at delivering a healthy baby was short-lived, as hospital staff refused to let her hold or touch her baby. Only then did A.V. learn for the first time of DCF’s assessment and the legal proceedings that had been underway for weeks. Not only was there no formal mental health evaluation supporting DCF’s speculation that A.V. was unable to care for her child—in fact, when A.V. was evaluated, the results confirmed the opposite. And yet, over the next seven months she was only allowed infrequent, monitored visits with her baby—arranged by DCF to take place in challenging and intimidating environments, such as a police station—while DCF fought to keep full custody of her child.
After hearing the evidence, the court finally reunited the family in September 2022. DCF dismissed its petition in November 2022, approximately nine months after it first took custody of A.V.’s child.
Caitlyn Garcia, Staff Attorney, Pregnancy Justice: “Like many expectant parents, A.V. was excited to become a mother and looked forward to giving birth to, nurturing, and bringing home her newborn baby. But she was denied that opportunity, and it is one she can never get back. DCF abused its power and manipulated the court system using lies and false assumptions to strip our client of her most basic rights and dignity.”
Through this lawsuit, A.V. is seeking redress for the violation of her statutory and constitutional rights, and to ensure that no Vermonter experiences what she experienced again. The Complaint pleads 13 counts against Defendants, including what may be the first-ever claim based on Article 22 of the Vermont Constitution—known more commonly as "Proposition 5" or the Reproductive Liberty Amendment, adopted by an overwhelming majority of Vermont voters in 2022.
Sarah Star, Attorney: “By law, Vermonters’ decisions about their pregnancy and birthing choices are personal, confidential, and protected. Nevertheless, DCF too often zealously seeks custody and then termination of parental rights, frequently based on incomplete information and bias. 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.”
A.V. is represented by the ACLU of Vermont, Pregnancy Justice, attorney Sarah Star, and Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP.
A copy of the filing can be found here.
