Behn Files Civil Rights Complaints Against TN DCS
State leaders offer tax breaks to billionaires, leave kids behind
Tennessee state Rep. Aftyn Behn of Nashville filed 14 civil rights complaints against the state’s Department of Children’s Services (DCS).
This is the same DCS where children in state custody routinely sleep on office floors.
WSMV reports on Behn’s efforts:
Tennessee Representative Aftyn Behn filed a 14 civil right complaints against the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service Office.
A release from Behn’s office said the complaints document “cross-cutting patterns of violations” in Knox, Lawrence, Davidson, Grundy, Washington, Sumner, Houston, Bradley, Hamilton, Rutherford and other counties.
Behn spelled out the nature of the complaints in a press release:
“The complaints document: disability discrimination against children with disabilities; sexual assault in DCS-certified placements where the agency’s response was a placement transfer with no criminal referral or trauma therapy, systematic retaliation against parents and foster parents who filed complaints or reported misconduct including fabricated abuse allegations and foster care license revocations, falsified case records now being used to pursue termination of parental rights; removals without court orders or petitions; and national origin discrimination,” the release said.
While state lawmakers and Gov. Bill Lee provided hundreds of millions of dollars to the Tennessee Titans so the team could build a new stadium, those same state leaders continue to neglect children in state care.
