Exonerated Mother Files Federal Civil Rights Suit Against DCFS Investigators Who Tried to Ruin Her Social Work Career, says Family Defense Center

CHICAGO, Aug. 30, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Laura Timmel never thought she would be the victim of a  gross miscarriage of justice.  But when she and her husband discovered that their four-week-old son Reid had an unexplained leg fracture, DCFS was called to investigate.  That was the beginning of a nightmare that included government investigators deliberately ignoring a court order that had completely cleared both Laura and her husband Brian of any wrongdoing.

The Timmels had taken Reid to be examined by the Chair of Pediatric Orthopedics at the University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital, Dr. Christopher Sullivan. On October 1, 2009,  Brian notified DCFS investigators of Dr. Sullivan's opinion that Reid's injuries were unlikely due to abuse.  The investigators refused to speak to  Dr. Sullivan about his medical opinion. Instead of considering the evidence, DCFS investigator Janice Griffin immediately went with three squad cars to take Reid and his older twin siblings from the Timmels' home.

After a lengthy separation from their children,  on November 20, 2009 Judge Richard Stevens found no "probable cause" to believe the Timmels' children had been abused or neglected. The Judge found the Timmels to be "very credible" and determined that the very opinion (Dr. Sullivan's) that DCFS  had refused to consider at the outset was "convincing."

That court order did not stop DCFS Investigators Griffin, Leggins and two DCFS administrators from  continuing to persecute Laura.  Even after the court order cleared her, they declared her guilty of child abuse and placed her name in the State Central Child Abuse Register for 20 years—actions that could have ended her exemplary career as a social worker.  It took nearly three more months of legal proceedings to clear her name off the Register.

DCFS supervisor Kenneth Leggins,  who oversaw this botched investigation, has since been promoted.

How the  fracture occurred remained a mystery. Laura was with Reid at appointments all day on September 10 and Reid was calm and happy all day.  Part of this mystery has been cleared up recently, however, because Reid was recently diagnosed with  a condition associated with a high pain tolerance.

Laura and her husband are unlikely targets of any child abuse investigation. Laura  had been a school social worker and had worked with disabled children, sometimes calling DCFS herself to report abuse. Brian is an insurance company executive. With two lawyers in her immediate family (Laura's own mother is a federal bankruptcy judge and Brian's father is a lawyer too), the Timmels had supporting evidence from numerous doctors, lawyers and friends, all of which DCFS ignored.

The federal complaint alleges the investigators violated their duty to consider exculpatory evidence as directed by the federal court in Dupuy v. McEwen (a Family Defense Center class action case) and flagrantly disregarded DCFS's  policies and procedures for investigating bone fracture cases.

For more information: contact Diane Redleaf,  312-251 9800x11; http://www.familydefensecenter.org/Newsletters/ (vol. 9).

SOURCE The Family Defense Center