Lawsuit Alleges Vermont Government Tracks Women Deemed Unfit for Parenthood During Pregnancy
A lawsuit alleges that the state of Vermont routinely targets and tracks pregnant women who are deemed unsuitable for parenthood. The lawsuit claims that the child welfare agency in Vermont relied on baseless allegations about a pregnant woman’s mental health in order to secretly investigate her and win custody of her daughter before the baby was born.
Pregnancy Justice, a national advocacy group, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont filed a lawsuit against the Vermont Department of Children and Families, a counseling center, and the hospital where the lady gave birth in February 2022. The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday.
The woman, who is only known by her initials, A.V., is the plaintiff in the action, and the lawsuit attempts to obtain both an end to what it refers to as an illegal surveillance program and unspecified monetary damages for the woman.
According to the complaint, the director of a homeless shelter where A.V. resided for a short period of time in January 2022 informed the child welfare agency that she appeared to have untreated paranoia, dissociative tendencies, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Despite the fact that the state does not have authority over fetuses, it nevertheless initiated an investigation and subsequently spoke to the woman’s counselor, midwife, and a hospital social worker.
All of this took place without the woman’s awareness.
According to Harrison Stark, a senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union, she was still in the dark until the time she gave birth, at which point her baby girl was whisked away immediately.
She had no knowledge that while she was in labor, hospital authorities were providing updates to the state, including specifics about the dilation of her cervix, and that they had acquired temporary custody of the fetus.
In the past, the state attempted to obtain a court order that would compel the lady to have a cesarean section. However, this attempt was ultimately unsuccessful since the woman consented to the operation. Seven months passed before she was finally able to obtain full custody of her daughter.
“It’s a horrific set of circumstances for our client,” Stark stated. “It’s 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 looking into folks like our client who are pregnant, who are of interest to the agency based on a set of unofficial criteria and who the agency is tracking on what is called a ‘high risk pregnancy docket’ or ‘high risk pregnancy calendar.’”
As soon as officials have finished reviewing the case and conducting an investigation into its accusations, Chris Winter, the commissioner of the Department for Children and Families, stated that the agency will not hesitate to comment.
“We take our mission of protecting children and supporting families seriously and work hard to balance the safety and well-being of children with the rights of parents,” he stated.
The temporary chief executive officer of Lund, the counseling center that has been identified as a defendant, stated that officials there learnt about the charges via recent press stories on Thursday.
“We take these matters very seriously and we are actively working to gather more information to understand the situation fully,” Ken Schatz stated.
According to Kulsoom Ijaz, senior staff attorney at Pregnancy Justice, some jurisdictions permit pregnant individuals to be civilly committed in order to get custody of a fetus, though it’s unknown how common such situations are nationwide.
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According to her, the events in Vermont demonstrate how pregnancy is being used more and more as an excuse to violate people’s rights. In a September report, for instance, the group detailed a rise in pregnancy-related charges against women in the year after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to abolish the right to an abortion statewide.
Following claims of substance use during pregnancy, the majority of those cases had women accused of child abuse, neglect, or endangerment, with the fetus named as the victim.
“What DCF did here is incredibly cruel. It’s discriminatory. It’s state sanctioned surveillance and stalking, and it violates Vermont’s newly enshrined right to reproductive autonomy in its state constitution,” she stated. “This is an opportunity for Vermont to signal to other states, as a leader and say that these rights don’t just exist on paper. They exist in practice, too.”
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According to Stark, the accusations in Vermont are especially concerning because the state has positioned itself as a sanctuary for reproductive rights.