A bill before Massachusetts lawmakers would require child welfare workers to get judicial approval within four hours of removing a child, according to bill sponsor Democratic state Rep. Joan Meschino.
When child welfare workers and police knocked on Sarah Perkins’ and Joshua Sabey’s front door well past midnight one weekend last summer,
"It was such a roller coaster — this total terror that we're going to lose this child at the hospital and then complete relief after we're allowed to go home with a safety plan,” Perkins said. Within 24 hours, Sabey’s parents were allowed to act as foster parents. Four weeks later DCF let Sabey and Perkins take their children home, and after another three months and eventually about $50,000 in private attorney fees, the government restored full parental custody. A short time later the couple moved to Idaho.
It's also part of a legal strategy to set precedent nationwide “confirming the importance of parental rights and clarifying the need to include a neutral judge in child removal decisions unless there is an emergency situation involving a risk of imminent harm to a child,” said Glenn Roper, a lawyer for the foundation.
If she had deeper pockets at the time, “absolutely there would have been a different outcome,” she said.The DCF also declined to comment. DCF policy allows the removal of a child without a court order when needed to avoid “a substantial risk of death, serious emotional or physical injury or sexual abuse” and when there's “inadequate time to seek" one, but it must immediately file an affidavit.
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