Berman v. Young
| Decision Date | 31 May 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. 00-3905.,00-3905. |
| Citation | 291 F.3d 976 |
| Parties | Norman BERMAN, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Jackie YOUNG, et al., Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Diane Redleaf (argued), Robert E. Lehrer, Lehrer & Redleaf, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.
A. Benjamin Goldgar (argued), Office of the Atty. Gen., Civ. App. Div., Chicago, IL, for Defendants-Appellees.
Before COFFEY, EASTERBROOK, and ROVNER, Circuit Judges.
After reports of possible child abuse, the Calumet City Police Department (CCPD) removed Amanda Hebein from her home, and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) placed her with her maternal grandparents. Amanda remained with her grandparents for eight months until a state court ordered her returned to her mother and stepfather, Pilar and Norman Berman. Amanda, along with Pilar and Norman, filed this lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against employees of the CCPD, DCFS, and her maternal grandparents seeking damages for the wrongful separation of Amanda from her parents. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants. Amanda and her parents appeal, and we affirm.
Amanda, born in December 1992, suffers from cerebral palsy which affects, among other things, her speech and motor control. Relevant to this case, we note that Amanda had a "moderately severe" speech delay which significantly hindered her ability to carry on a conversation. Additionally, Amanda frequently fell and sometimes had seizures that would result in injury.
Prior to the incident that precipitated this lawsuit, Amanda lived with her mother, Pilar, and stepfather, Norman. Although Norman did not formally adopt Amanda, he had been involved with her care and upbringing since mid-1995. Pilar and Norman married in 1996, and they resided in a house owned by Pilar's parents, Reno and Anita Boe. Anita cared for Amanda during the day when Pilar was at work and occasionally watched Amanda on the weekends. Following a disagreement with the Boes about Amanda's care, however, Pilar enrolled her daughter in Tiny Town Day Care Center in April 1996.
Neither the Boes nor the employees at Tiny Town thought highly of Norman. On two separate occasions in 1996, both the Boes and Tiny Town had reported suspicions that Norman was abusing Amanda. Both times, however, DCFS determined the reports to be unfounded and, in the Boes' case, "harassing."
The series of events underlying this lawsuit began during the afternoon of October 11, 1996, when Amanda began crying after she wet herself at Tiny Town. Her caretaker, a woman called Lali, proceeded to comfort Amanda, but the child began crying, apologizing, and saying "no," "don't hit," and "no, Norman." While cleaning Amanda in the bathroom, Lali noticed four bruises, approximately two inches wide, on Amanda's back and bottom. Lali inferred, from Amanda's limited conversational skills, that Norman had inflicted the bruises on Amanda with a belt.
The Boes were scheduled to pick up Amanda at the end of the day, and when they arrived at Tiny Town, Lali showed Anita the bruises. The Boes took Amanda to the Bermans' residence as previously planned so they could wait for Pilar and Norman to return home.
In the meantime, Lali telephoned the DCFS Hotline to report the bruises she observed on Amanda and her suspicion that Norman caused the injuries. Because there were not enough DCFS investigators available that evening, the employee who answered the hotline call asked the CCPD to investigate, a proper procedure under DCFS rules.
Around 7:00 p.m. on the evening of October 11, two CCPD officers arrived at the Bermans' residence to investigate the report of possible child abuse. When they arrived, Anita was still babysitting Amanda, who was watching television. Amanda did not appear to be in any pain and had not received any medical treatment for the bruises. The officers asked Amanda questions about Norman abusing her, to which Amanda responded affirmatively. Within ten minutes, the officers decided to take Amanda into protective custody based on the information from the hotline call, their observation of the bruises, and their conversation with Amanda. At the police station, additional officers, including a youth officer, questioned Amanda, and one officer spoke with Reno who mentioned that he previously had suspected and reported that Norman abused Amanda. No one made any effort to gather other corroborating information by contacting the Tiny Town employees, having Amanda examined by a doctor, or investigating Amanda's family or medical history.
DCFS authorized the CCPD officers to place Amanda temporarily with the Boes, and in turn the officers instructed Anita not to let Pilar take Amanda home. The Bermans returned home around 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. that evening and learned that Amanda was to remain at the Boes' residence because of accusations that Norman had abused her. The CCPD arrested Norman that evening and charged him with domestic abuse. He was arraigned the following day and released with a protective order prohibiting contact with Amanda.
Defendant Jackie Young,1 an investigator in DCFS's Division of Child Protection was assigned to perform an initial investigation of the case. He met with Pilar on October 12, although Pilar was still unaware of Amanda's bruises. Young was then off duty for several days, but on October 16 was assigned to conduct the formal investigation. Young interviewed a doctor and members of Amanda's extended family, but he did not meet with Amanda until 19 days after the abuse allegations, contrary to DCFS regulations requiring a visit within 24 hours. Young also failed to complete the required assessment of the appropriateness and safety of Amanda's placement with the Boes. Despite having been told by Pilar that Reno was violent, Young failed to uncover a prior criminal complaint that Reno had attacked Anita. Further, DCFS files regarding the prior allegations of abuse contained information that Reno was a potential danger to Amanda. In mid-November, Young announced that he possessed credible evidence supporting a finding of abuse by Norman.
Defendant Sandy Threatt worked as a lead investigator for DCFS and served as Young's immediate supervisor. Threatt was aware of the delay in Young's meeting with Amanda, and she specifically ordered Young to see the child. During the investigation, Young informed Threatt of his belief that Norman posed a danger to Amanda and that she would be safe with the Boes. Ultimately, Threatt concurred in Young's assessment of abuse.
On December 23, 1996, a state juvenile court held a hearing at which Pilar, Young, and Amanda's guardian ad litem testified, and the court concluded that there was probable cause to believe that Norman had abused Amanda. The court also found that an "[i]mmediate and urgent necessity does exist to support removal of the minor from the home." The court provided Norman and Pilar supervised visitation with Amanda and instructed them to attend parenting classes.
A few days after the court hearing, defendant Roy Hall, a DCFS social worker, was assigned to perform follow-up work on Amanda's case, including interviewing the parties, preparing a service plan with the ultimate goal of reuniting Amanda and her parents, and assessing the delivery of services. Although DCFS requires that service plans be developed within 30 days, Hall did not meet with the Bermans to begin follow-up until mid-February.
At that point, Hall scheduled parenting classes for the Bermans and explained the necessary steps to regain custody of Amanda. Although he encouraged visitation with Amanda, he was unresponsive to Pilar's complaints that the Boes prevented the court-ordered visitation. After an unannounced visit to the Boes' home during which Hall observed Amanda speaking quite comfortably with Norman over the telephone, Hall began questioning Reno's insistence that Amanda was afraid of Norman. Hall ordered an additional psychological assessment of Amanda, the Bermans, and the Boes, but it did not begin until April 1997.
The assessment of the family revealed that the Boes were indoctrinating Amanda against her parents. Reno would accuse Norman, in graphic detail and in Amanda's presence, of sexually abusing Amanda. Moreover, he appeared to be highly disturbed, with paranoid thoughts and bizarre behavior. The evaluation also documented that Anita was depressed and that she told Amanda that Pilar did not love her.
As a result of the information gleaned from this evaluation, the state juvenile court entered a protective order prohibiting Reno from having contact with Amanda. Reno moved out of the house, but Amanda remained with Anita because the court, on the advice of Hall and Amanda's guardian ad litem, believed that it would be upsetting to return her to Pilar at that time.
On June 17, 1997, the state court held another hearing and ultimately returned Amanda to the custody of Pilar and Norman under court supervision. Later, in November, the court terminated its supervision on Hall's recommendation and assessment that Amanda would be safe with the Bermans. Finally, in February 1998, DCFS voluntarily entered an order providing that the abuse report against the Bermans was unfounded because it was unclear who was responsible for Amanda's bruises.
On March 25, 1998, Amanda and her parents filed a complaint against four CCPD police officers, four DCFS workers, and Reno and Anita Boe. Their later amended complaint raised nine claims for relief, including a Fourth Amendment claim, several due process claims, and five state-law tort claims against the Boes. The district court entered judgment in favor of all defendants, and Amanda and the Bermans appeal.
On appeal only three due process claims against three...
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