Tell Governor Kemp to meet with YATP and the Families that his DFCS are tearing apart
Imagine taking your sick child to the hospital, and less than two hours later, government officials forcefully seize them and accuse you of abusing your own child.
Security personnel escort you out of the facility.
You are not shown any evidence, and the hospital purposefully refuses access to the medical records.
Law enforcement later arrests you and charges you with multiple felonies. You are innocent, but you now face decades to centuries in prison for a crime that never occurred.
Why are you suffering this nightmare? Because of the sole opinion of a “child abuse pediatrician.”
These are not isolated incidents. They’re the heartbreaking reality of countless Georgians.
You Are The Power is helping mothers and fathers throughout Georgia who have had their families fractured by this devoid-of-oversight protocol.
And we are calling on Governor Brian Kemp to meet with us and the families to tell him about their cases, the problems in the system that are causing it, and fixes that need to be made immediately to end this nightmare for good.
At 30%, Georgia has one of the nation’s lowest reunification rates for children in foster care. These parents fight in vain to get their children back. DFCS petitions a juvenile court judge to terminate the parental rights of factually innocent parents and asks for their medically fragile children to be placed into the state’s foster care system or adopted. And 70% of the time, that’s precisely what a juvenile court judge does.
For example, the rate is 11% in Camden County. This means the appointed juvenile court judge, who has been on the bench for decades, sides with DFCS almost 90% of the time.
The fundamental principle of our criminal legal system is that every person accused of a crime is presumed innocent unless and until their guilt is established beyond a reasonable doubt.
However, DFCS operates under the belief that parents are guilty until proven innocent, and these families have suffered unnecessarily at the hands of a broken system.
We're Going to Get Them Reunited, Here is How You Can Help!
We ask that you respectfully email the Governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp and his Chief of Staff, Lauren Curry to demand action on this appalling situation.
- Brian Kemp, Governor of Georgia –Brian.Kemp@Georgia.gov
- Lauren Curry, Chief of Staff – Lauren.Curry@Georgia.gov
Governor Brian Kemp,
As a citizen of ________ (enter your state here), I am calling on you to meet with Spike Cohen and You Are The Power, as well as the families that your Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) is tearing apart!
I am concerned about how Commissioner Candice L. Broce, the director of DFCS, the department responsible for the safety and well-being of our state’s most vulnerable families and children, allows her employees to seize children from factually innocent parents and place them into foster care.
The catalyst for this wrong is the reliance on the opinions of child abuse pediatricians (CAPs), a relatively new subspecialty officially recognized by the American Board of Pediatrics in 2009. Between 2009 and 2019, the rate of reported abuse by medical professionals has increased by 55%. Although CAPs’ opinions are not legal decisions, DFCS treats them as such. The subjective opinions accepted as fact, often made within just hours of the child coming in for care, have extraordinary influence over the decision of DFCS to seize a child, even without a lawful supporting basis. Often, the evidence of abuse is refutable, and secondary medical opinion by DFCS is not sought until after a child has been seized, causing unnecessary trauma for children and their parents.
DFCS partners with CAPs at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA), where annually, 1,900 suspected victims of abuse and neglect are evaluated by a handful of doctors.
Independent investigative measures were undertaken by You Are The Power (YATP), a membership-based nonprofit whose network encompasses all 50 states, and found that a mistaken or overstated diagnosis of abuse by a CAP failed to present a factual basis for their findings and instead offered their opinion which resulted in the fracturing of numerous factually innocent Georgia families. CAPs did not identify themselves as such or notify parents that they were being investigated for potential child abuse. Unaware that a CAP was questioning them, parents offered ideas about the cause of their child’s injury, and the CAP saw this as a shift in the account of why they brought their child to the hospital. Moreover, the diagnosis of abuse was not supported by the totality of evidence: all medical records, the testimony of immediate family, or testimony from independent physicians or pediatricians who treated and cared for these children.
YATP is currently supporting three Georgia families while vetting several more cases throughout Georgia, where DFCS, under the leadership of Commissioner Broce, relied on the sole opinion of a CAP and seized children from factually innocent parents. The fractured families are Matt and Tuckey Hernandez from Forsyth County, Brady and Carrie Timms from Gordon County, and Corey and Diana Sullivan from Camden County. These loving parents brought their medically fragile children to the hospital, seeking answers, and instead were falsely accused by a CAP of abuse. DFCS failed to investigate the claim properly, and the result of their negligence is a nightmare no parent should have to endure. They have had their children seized, were arrested for crimes that never occurred, and faced decades in prison. This could have been avoided if DFCS had done their lawful due diligence and adequately investigated the cases. Instead, DFCS has fractured these families, harming the very children they were supposed to protect.
The national average for family reunification once a child protective agency has seized a child is 47%. Georgia has one of the nation’s lowest at 30%.
An alarming 4% of the 11,000 plus children in DFCS custody are reported as receiving “maltreatment in care.” Almost 5% of the children in DFCS custody are subjected to a “reoccurrence of maltreatment,” the majority are children of color. Statistically, doctors over-diagnose abuse in children they perceive as being lower-income or nonwhite.
Would you allow your family to board a plane with a 4% to 5% chance of crashing?
During Child and Family Services Reviews, case managers are regularly cited for not properly assessing all home members, updating assessments at critical junctions of the case, monitoring safety plans, conducting drug screenings where needed, and providing the proper supporting case documentation.
CAPs work directly with DFCS lawyers in cases where the state is seizing children, and their opinions help shape false narratives against innocent parents. This is questionable practice because cases where DFCS wants a child seized are heard in juvenile court, where the burden of proof is low, and parents have limited legal rights. Juvenile court judges, who side with DFCS recommendations upwards of 70% of the time in Georgia, allow CAPs to go well beyond their medical expertise and offer speculative testimony about their diagnoses in ways that attack and erode the cardinal rule of our criminal legal system: all are innocent until proven guilty.
The de facto position by DFCS against innocent parents is often adversarial, punitive, and antagonistic because case managers, juvenile court judges, law enforcement officials, and prosecutors accept a CAP’s opinion without question and fail to do their lawful due diligence and adequately investigate the allegations of abuse. The result is an imbalance of power that heavily favors the state and destroys the lives of innocent families.
One child and their factually innocent parents harmed by DFCS and its partnership with CAPs at CHOA is appalling. Still, dozens more represent processes that permit DFCS and CAPs to wield unilateral power in labeling abuse—even though none occurred—in dire need of reform and appropriate oversight.
We ask that you, Governor Kemp, meet with Spike Cohen, the President and Founder of You Are The Power, along with members of his Georgia leadership team and the families that DFCS has fractured, to engage in respectful, meaningful dialogue and discuss ways to move forward, heal, and prevent this nightmare from happening again.
These are Georgians. Not just numbers and statistics; they are human beings and deserve your respect.
Please meet with You Are The Power and these families to talk about their cases, the problems with your system, and fixes that can be made to put an end to this travesty.
Thank you for doing the right thing in this matter.
Respectfully submitted,
YOUR NAME
The Families We are Fighting For
The Alexander Family
Tarilyn and Tyler Alexander held a baby shower for their then 55-day-old son Parker, the next day, Parker’s leg was extremely swollen. Tyler and Tarilyn took Parker back to Spalding Regional for treatment and evaluation, and he was subsequently transported to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA).
Upon a more detailed examination at CHOA, Parker was diagnosed with the following: a broken right femur (broken in two), a fractured tibia in both legs, a fractured wrist, and three broken ribs (all in various stages of healing).
He was seized by DFCS under suspicion he had been abused even though Parker has a long history of health problems and bloodwork revealed he has vitamin deficiencies.
Tyler and Tarilyn cooperated with law enforcement and gave recorded statements as part of their investigation. DFCS had notified local LE that they suspected Tyler and Tarilyn of abusing Parker.
The following month, Tyler and Tarilyn were arrested by Chief Polk with the MPD and charged with Cruelty to Children in the 1st Degree and Aggravated Battery, both under the Family Violence Act. They each faced 300 years in prison.
Faced with the possibility they’ll never see Parker or his brother Reid ever again, the Alexanders were forced to allow their maternal grandmother to formally adopt them.
The Collins Family
Casey and Bailey Collins live in Troup County, Georgia, and are parents to Ridge, an eleven-month-old boy born prematurely in May 2023. Birth complications lead to Ridge having a seizure in August of 2023. Ridge was life-flighted to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA).
At CHOA, Ridge was diagnosed with a chronic subdural hemorrhage, bilateral hematomas, retinal hemorrhages, and a healing rib fracture.
Child Abuse Pediatricians (CAPs) Dr. Stephen Messener and Dr. Keely Iannelli asserted that the symptoms Ridge presented could have only been caused by nonaccidental trauma/injury. Neither doctor reviewed Ridge’s birth records before making their diagnosis.
On April 24, 2024, after nearly 260 days of estrangement, Casey, Bailey, and Ridge were allowed to live together again after their restrictive bond conditions were lifted.
Factually innocent, Ridge’s health conditions were and are still being ignored by Georgia’s criminal legal system—Casey and Bailey face felony criminal charges.
The Hernandez Family
Matt and Tuckey Hernandez have two young daughters, Emma and Arya. Emma began to have swelling in one of her legs and strange bruising behind her ear. Their pediatrician recommended taking her to CHOA. There, it was discovered she had a fractured femur and other fractures in various states of healing. Once again, Dr Stephen Messner diagnosed it as abuse and the girls we seized, and the parents were charged. As part of their bond condition, Tuckey was not allowed to live with or even speak to her husband.
Testimony from experts who examined Emma’s medical records were disallowed in court. The Willams Family, a foster family with 15 years’ experience, provided respite foster care and noticed the girls didn’t appear to act like abused children and Emma appeared to be ill. When they raised questions, they were told their services would no longer be required by the state.
After a massive e-mail campaign, the judge has moved for re-unification. Emma and Arya are now living with their aunt and Uncle, and Matt and Tuckey can now live together again. However, their criminal charges have not been dropped and they’re still waiting for their day in court.
The Sullivan Family
Diana and Corey Sullivan are the parents of Arabella and twins Amelia and Christian. All three children were conceived via IVF. Amelia suffered from complications during pregnancy and had to be delivered via emergency c-section and spent 40 days in the NICU.
Seven weeks after Amelia was released from the hospital, she began to throw up any food she ate and had swelling in her right leg. She was taken to Wolfson’s Children’s Hospital in Jacksonville, FL. There, Dr. Barbara Knox, a child abuse pediatrician with a long history of falsely claiming abuse, diagnosed Amelia as having been abused and notified DFCS.
All three children were seized, and guardianship was given to family members, Corey’s father has custody of Ameila and Christian while Diana’s mother has Arabella.
The judge in this case has ordered non-reunification on DFCS advice to move forward with adoption.
The Timms Family
Brady and Carrie Timms are the parents of Jameson. When Jameson was six weeks old, he began to have health problems. He was taken to Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga, TN where they were told his bloodwork was normal. At three months of age, Jameson was taken to CHOA on his pediatrician’s advice.
Jameson had multiple rib fractures his parents couldn’t explain, Dr. Verena Brown determined these could only come from abuse and Jameson was seized.
The previously “normal” bloodwork revealed a genetic marker consistent with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. Later testing and examination would reveal that not only does Jameson have EDS, but so does his mother Carrie.
The testimony of the diagnosing doctor and a geneticist who concurred with the diagnosis were disallowed in court.
Brady and Carrie have now been separated from Jameson and his half-brother from Brady’s previous relationship for two years.