Homeschool mom sues 6 social workers for snatching kids

A Virginia homeschooling mother has filed a lawsuit against six social workers after they seized her two children on April 3 and placed them in foster care following a determination by one of the workers that a diabetic 4-year-old's blood glucose levels were too high.

The Home School Legal Defense Association, or HSLDA, the world’s premiere homeschool advocacy organization, filed a lawsuit Wednesday against six employees of the Riverside County Department of Social Services Child Protective Services, charging that they violated a Vanessa Wilson's Fourth and 14th Amendment rights.

According to HSLDA, the social workers seized Wilson's two children, a 4-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy, after assuming the daughter's health was in danger.

"They then deliberately kept the children separated from their mother, in spite of clear evidence that the separation was unnecessary – and concealed that evidence from Vanessa and the court," HSLDA said in a statement.

In January, Wilson noticed that her daughter was lethargic and suffering from flu-like symptoms. She took the child to Riverside County Regional Medical Center, where her daughter was diagnosed with new-onset type 1 juvenile diabetes.

The hospital staff showed Wilson how to monitor her daughter's diabetes and reportedly discharged the child with a blood glucose reading of 435. Wilson said the staff told her a normal range for the girl would fall between 80 and 400 and that the mother should contact a doctor if it exceeded 400. According to HSLDA, the hospital indicated there was no medical reason the girl couldn't be released from the hospital.

But three months later, on April 1, 2014, the Riverside County CPS office began an investigation of the mother and her two children. Wilson allowed three caseworkers and a sheriff's deputy to enter her home on April 3.

According to HSLDA, a social worker named Francisca Russo – who had type 2 diabetes (adult onset) – interviewed the two children and asked that the daughter be tested with a blood glucose meter.

The meter read 261, and Russo checked archived meter readings. While Russo had no medical background, she determined the readings were "dangerously high" and "too variable."

With that, the kids were taken from their mother and placed into foster care.

According to the report, Wilson's son was involuntarily detained by CPS for 29 days, and her daughter was held for 50 days.

After the kids were taken from their mother, Child Protective Services brought the girl back to Riverside County Regional Medical Center to be examined and determine whether Wilson had neglected to provide care for her daughter's condition. Pediatricians examined the girl on April 4 and April 6. An endocrinologist saw the child on April 18.

"Every one of these physicians concluded that the girl's medical condition and blood sugar levels were stable, and that the daughter's diabetes had actually improved between January and April 2014, while she was under her mother's care," HSLDA reported. "The endocrinologist also stated that he was 'not aware of any conditions which represented an immediate threat to her health' when the girl was initially admitted to RCRMC, on the day she was forcibly taken from Wilson's home."

Even though the doctors determined there was no medical reason to keep the girl from Wilson, at least four social workers and two social work supervisors chose not to return the children to the mother's custody.

"They also failed to disclose the existence of these medical examinations to Wilson, to her attorney, or even to the superior court of California," HSLDA stated. "Instead, the social workers kept the children in foster care and enrolled the older son in public school, while deliberately representing to the superior court that the daughter's medical condition and blood sugar levels remained dangerously unstable."

Wilson's lawyer subpoenaed the hospital and learned of the three doctors' reports. After he informed the prosecutor of his findings, the prosecutor quickly dismissed the petition.

But HSLDA and Wilson claim the lengthy and unnecessary separation traumatized the kids and their mother, so Wilson has chosen to file a lawsuit against the six social workers.

"Vanessa and her two children faced unusually harsh circumstances at the hands of this caseworker [Francisca Russo]," HSLDA Chairman Michael Farris said. "Social services are bound by state and federal law to handle their authority responsibly, which most do. However, we've seen too many examples of social services overstepping their constitutional authority and causing harm to families in the process. HSLDA serves as a check on that abuse."