BOSTON – A couple is suing the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families and Waltham police and city officials alleging civil rights violations after their children were removed from their Waltham home last year without a court order amid suspicion of child abuse.
Sarah Perkins and Joshua Sabey, who now live in Idaho, claim that on July 16, 2022, Waltham police went to their home in Waltham “and demanded that they turn over their children to the government,” according to the lawsuit filed Monday in United States District Court. .
According to the suit, their children were taken into state custody after Perkins took one of her children, a 3-month-old baby who had a fever, to a local emergency room.
There, an X-ray of the baby revealed a nursing rib fracture, which hospital staff later reported to the state Department of Children and Families, alleging that the child was physically abused by his parents, as indicated by the demand.
The couple was later cleared of any wrongdoing, according to the lawsuit.
Their two children were fostered for four months, after which they were returned to the couple.
The couple is suing four Waltham police officers, four employees of the state Department of Children and Families and the city of Waltham, according to the suit.
“While the Sabeys were ultimately, and obviously, cleared of any wrongdoing, and the children were eventually reunited with their parents, nothing can undo the trauma of that July morning and the prolonged abrogation of the Sabeys’ parental rights “, the lawsuit states. . “For parents, the emotional and physical cost of having your crying children ripped from your arms never goes away.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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