Federal complaints seek review of Tennessee DCS treatment of children with disabilities
The Redemption Project Newsroom
Government Desk
Fourteen federal civil-rights complaints have been submitted to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights seeking review of Tennessee Department of Children’s Services practices involving children with disabilities, removals from families and placements across multiple counties.
The complaints allege disability discrimination, retaliation, falsified case records, removals without proper legal process, national-origin discrimination and failures involving children who were sexually assaulted in DCS-certified placements, according to local reporting and a release from the office of state Rep. Aftyn Behn, D-Nashville.
STOP. Maybe you do not agree with Rep. Behn politically, does that mean the story is not (or could not be) true?
The allegations have not been independently verified by federal investigators. Submitting a civil-rights complaint does not mean HHS OCR has opened a formal investigation, accepted every allegation for review or reached any finding against DCS.
That distinction is central.
The complaints ask federal officials to determine whether Tennessee’s child-welfare system is complying with federal civil-rights law while making high-stakes decisions involving children, disabilities, removals, placements, services, case records and parental rights.
