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No Comments [ Add Comment ]Couple alleges DCFS bias
By Jesse FruhwirthCouple files federal lawsuit, accusing system of racial, age and disability discrimination
CLINTON -- An interracial couple here has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit claiming they lost custody of their children -- not because of abuse, but because their family "doesn't have that Utah look."
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Service's Office of Civil Rights in Denver began investigating the case in August.
Kelvin and Sharon Davis' three children -- ages 4, 2 and 1 -- were put into foster care in 2006. The suit claims biases against Kelvin's race, age and disability motivated the removal process.
He is black; his wife is white. He's 50; she is 25. And Kelvin Davis has been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
The couple claims attorneys involved in the case relied exclusively on hearsay to support their claims that Kelvin Davis is abusive. A judge then accepted that hearsay without evidence, and all concerned were motivated by biases in doing so, they said.
The suit was filed in November. On Dec. 10, Judge Ted Stewart approved the suit for service to the four named defendants: assistant attorneys general Laura Thompson and Sonia Sweeny, who represented the Division of Child and Family Services in the removal hearings; guardian ad litem Robert Parrish; and 2nd District Court Juvenile Judge Diane Wilkins.
The investigation of the Davis family began with allegations Sharon Davis says she now regrets.
She says her white parents in Missouri never approved of her relationship with Kelvin Davis because he is black. They persuaded her to accuse him of physical abuse so she could get custody of the children and move away from Utah.
In January 2006, she made allegations of abuse against her husband to her therapist. Citing state law that requires individuals to report allegations of child abuse, the therapist contacted authorities.
"I regret saying those things. I wish I hadn't listened to my mom. ... I begged (the therapist) not to say anything," she said. "I always tried to please my mom to get her to accept me, and it never works."
Sharon Davis said she has cut ties with her parents now and said the allegations she made against her husband were false. The confusion she caused, Kelvin Davis said, could have been cleared up then.
On Jan. 26, 2006, the Davises say, DCFS caseworkers came to their house to investigate the allegations. Kelvin Davis admits he made a bad first impression.
Not yet knowing why they were there, he admits to raising his voice, acting emotionally and speaking over his wife.
"They come in this house and scream 'fire,' like they're in a theater, then they charge me for reacting to the fire," Kelvin Davis said. "They took my kids because I cut my wife off talking."
Sharon Davis said she was pressured by the caseworkers to take her children and stay at a domestic violence shelter that night. She complied.
According to the Davises' federal complaint, "This is when the conspiracy started."
A court hearing was scheduled for a month later to discuss the allegations DCFS had investigated.
The Davises complain that DCFS brought evidence to that hearing that they had not been made aware of previously -- namely, a letter from a domestic violence shelter worker who had spoken to Sharon after DCFS came to the couple's house the month prior.
The letter, the Davises say, was racially charged and influenced the judge's decision to remove one of the children.
Within a month, another child was removed. Sharon Davis was pregnant at that time, and her newborn child was also taken into state custody in November.
Kelvin Davis said he wonders how the state has found enough evidence to justify removing his children, but have not found enough evidence to charge him criminally for anything.
Clinton police accompanied DCFS employees to the Davis home the same day, he said, but no criminal charges have ever been filed.
Their civil rights suit faces a significant battle.
The Davises are represented by an attorney in their juvenile court case, but have not yet come up with the funds to retain him or any other attorney for the federal litigation.
"I just don't have the resources," Kelvin Davis said. "I've spent thousands of dollars on medical evaluations and attorney's fees. My resources are exhausted."
Kelvin Davis wrote the suit himself, aided by four thick volumes of the 2006 Utah legal code and two volumes of federal court rules.
He requested that an attorney be appointed to his civil rights suit. In the order that approved the suit, Wilkins explicitly wrote that he has yet to decide whether the couple will be appointed an attorney.
A representative of the guardian ad litem's office in Salt Lake City did not return calls seeking comment on the case.
The Attorney General's Office confirmed it would represent each of the named defendants, but said no one in the office has been served with the suit.
"No attorney has been assigned to the case because we haven't been served," said spokesman Paul Murphy.
"There's nothing for us to say until we've been served the suit and get a chance to read it. ... Right now, it's just a complaint that's out there. ...We can't give a response about something that hasn't officially taken place."
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