Dad Sues Florida DCF for Wrongfully Taking his Daughter
William Dunn, 44, of Lakeland, Florida is suing that state’s Department of Children and Families, claiming that it failed to properly investigate an allegation of child sexual abuse against him. Read about it here (The Ledger, 7/13/09). Florida DCF separated Dunn from his daughter for almost a year before determining that no abuse had occurred. Apparently the child had told the agency that her father had sexually abused her and then recanted the charge at the final hearing into the matter.
The DCF took the girl, Mercedes Shoaf, from Dunn after the allegations were made. That apparently occurred in 2006 when the girl was six. A year later, DCF attempted to terminate Dunn’s parental rights based on the allegation of abuse. But Mercedes told the judge that in fact her father had never abused her. The judge expressed concern that the child had been coached by her mother to make the allegation.
I’ve placed a call to Dunn’s attorney, Robert Hancock, to clear up some of the uncertainties in the article linked to. Having not yet talked to him, this looks like a case brought under Florida’s tort claims statute which allows individuals to bring suit against state agencies. Maximum recovery looks to be $200,000. The suit seems to be claiming the failure on the part of DCF to use reasonable care in investigating the claim. That is, Dunn is claiming DCF was negligent in how it investigated the claim of abuse. Just what the specifics are, the article doesn’t make clear.
However this case ends up, it’s an interesting concept. Parents have rights to children; the U.S. Supreme Court has said so. Can state child welfare agencies act with impunity in taking children from parents? Dunn’s answer is ‘no.’ How long is a reasonable time to investigate a claim, and what should happen to the parent’s rights during that time?
Sometimes filing a lawsuit is the only thing an individual can do to resist the power of the state.
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