“They acted unlawfully and outrageously, leading to severe emotional trauma.”
Anita Wadhwani of Tennessee Lookout A Georgia mother alleging Tennessee Department of Children’s Services (DCS) workers abducted her five young children without valid court orders is alleging they acted illegally against Tennessee law, according to civil rights lawsuit filings from her case.
Bianca Clayborne filed suit last year on behalf of herself and her children after being placed into foster care following the February 2023 traffic stop in rural Tennessee.
Clayborne and her five children were traveling from Atlanta to Chicago from Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP), when an officer from Coffee County stopped their vehicle due to tinted windows and slowpoke violations – according to an incident report.
Claiming they could smell marijuana in the vehicle, troopers conducted a search. According to reports, less than five grams were discovered during that search.
As is typical in Tennessee for minor marijuana offenses, troopers arrested Clayborne’s partner Deonte Williams and issued her with a paper citation before asking Clayborne and her children to follow them back to Coffee County jail to bail Williams out on bond. Williams admitted his possession but Clayborne claimed she never used marijuana herself.
Social workers met Clayborne at her car in the jailhouse parking lot before forcibly taking away her children, who ranged in ages from seven years old to four months.
It drew widespread scrutiny and raised serious concerns that this Black family may have received differential treatment because of their race. Following its first reporting by Tennessee Lookout, Democrats, the Tennessee Conference of NAACP, and others demanded they return the children home immediately.
Williams later entered an Alford plea on one single simple possession charge against Clayborne; thus dismissing that case against her.
Now the ongoing lawsuit filed against those involved in the removal, including Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers, Coffee County Sheriff’s deputies and caseworkers with the Department of Children’s Services–has levelled new allegations regarding how their process violated law; specifically that DCS and Coffee County officials destroyed evidence while creating a false paper trail to cover their tracks.
“These public officials illegally separated and terrorized Clayborne’s family,” according to the lawsuit, who then “acted outrageously and illegally, resulting in severe emotional trauma for Clayborne as well as her five children.”
Representatives with the Tennessee Attorney General’s office – representing caseworkers of Children Services and THP troopers named in a suit filed against them by plaintiffs – did not respond to our inquiry for comment Wednesday afternoon.
Coffee County and its employees’ attorneys argued in legal filings that any new claims against them were barred by statute of limitation; they did not respond to requests by The Lookout on Wednesday for comment.
“Momma won’t give them up easily”
Tennessee law mandates that DCS workers seeking an emergency removal of children file a sworn petition before proceeding with any efforts to separate children from their parents. A juvenile judge then must issue written orders before any efforts at separation can take place.
According to the lawsuit, this did not happen here. Instead, an unconnected DCS caseworker who did not interact directly with Clayborne or her children made contact with Coffee County General Sessions Judge Greg Perry about Clayborne’s traffic stop outside of legal channels – an action taken outside any proper legal procedure or due process.
Coffee County officials contacted Perry independently inquiring as to the legalities involved with distancing Clayborne from her children.
Clayborne had been detained illegally at that time in Coffee County Jail’s parking lot by sheriff deputies placing spike strips around her vehicle to prevent her from leaving, according to the lawsuit. These actions violated law as she wasn’t under arrest nor subject to court orders and could leave when her children needed her, according to Clayborne herself and according to court orders from county sheriff deputies, according to Clayborne herself and their statement in court documents.
“Mama won’t give them up without a fight,” according to an audio recording of Coffee County Sheriff Investigator James Sherrill speaking directly with Judge Perry as recorded by Clayborne’s attorneys from Coffee County Sheriff Investigator James Sherrill during a phone call obtained from them by Clayborne’s legal representations. Sherrill stated, in essence. that entering this dispute “will result in lawsuit.”
Perry responded that officers could arrest Clayborne for disorderly conduct; and, according to Perry, there would not be any lawsuits filed due to her “judicial immunity”. Perry assured Coffee County officials his verbal order to remove children was sufficient in this instance.
Tennessee law does not recognize oral orders from judges to take children from one parent’s care, according to legal filings in a new lawsuit. “Tennessee does not permit children being taken away based on private phone calls to judges,” according to these filings.
“DCS must file an appropriate petition and affidavit under oath to support any decision to remove a child from his or her family, according to law,” documents stated.
Perry was not named directly in the lawsuit; nonetheless it alleges his action with no legal authority and with intent to ‘overwrite’ or alter prior records by DCS. Unfortunately a message left with his office regarding these accusations went unanswered. This suit alleges DCS attempts at “whitewashing” previous recordkeeping practices with regard to Perry’s alleged “overwriting”.
Clayborne took her children away as she waited six hours after the traffic stop to bail Williams out of county jail.
DCS attorney filed legal paperwork after their clients had already been taken from their mother in violation of state law, in an effort to conceal that time stamp being obscured on petition filings as further cover-up for taking children from mothers against state laws, according to legal filings.
“Knowing they had not followed any legal processes, the DCS defendants immediately began altering records to give the impression they had followed all applicable regulations–when in reality, this wasn’t true,” stated the suit.
However, DCS attorney continued communicating directly with the judge regarding this active case despite standard court rules prohibiting communication among parties involved that isn’t inclusive.
Soon thereafter, when the family attorney discovered DCS and Perry were having private conversations without his knowledge or approval, DCS attorney and judge engaged in late night text conversations to find ways to avert a lawsuit, as revealed in legal filings.
DCS terminated an attorney, who is not named in this lawsuit, for helping a caseworker submit false allegations alleging drug exposure in order to remove another child, according to filing documents.
U.S. District Judge Clifton Corker has yet to determine if Clayborne’s attorneys’ new claims can move forward or not.
Corker determined in August that DCS caseworkers can be held liable for their conduct during a case, such as claims they violated Fourth Amendment constitutional protections against unlawful search and seizures as well as legal claims of false arrest and false imprisonment brought forth by family.
New filings aim to include additional DCS caseworkers and Coffee County officers involved with the incident who became known only after filing of the initial suit was done so.
Abby Rubenfeld, Tricia Herzfeld and Anthony Orlandi – three prominent Nashville civil rights attorneys – represent this family before Tennessee Lookout. Tennessee Bills Would Legalize Marijuana For Adult Use And Could Bring Millions In State Revenue.
Photo credits go to Rawpixel and Philip Steffan; Medcan24 relies on readers like you who make its existence possible through Patreon pledges. If our cannabis advocacy journalism helps keep you up-to-date, please consider becoming our monthly subscriber (function(d,s,id)). var js,fjs = D -> GetElementByTagName(s); If not (D-> GetElementById(id); Create Elements using D.createElement(s); Js id = Id js
js.src = “https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.4”; FJSSdkInserter Node invert(js,fJSSdk);