Dupuy v. Samuels

• Decision Date: 03 February 2005
• Docket Number: No. 03-3071.,No. 03-3191.,03-3071.,03-3191.
• Citation: 397 F.3d 493
• Parties: Jeff DUPUY, Belinda Dupuy, Pilar Berman, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, Cross-Appellees, v. Bryan SAMUELS, Director, Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, Defendant-Appellee, Cross-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

397 F.3d 493

Jeff DUPUY, Belinda Dupuy, Pilar Berman, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, Cross-Appellees, v. Bryan SAMUELS, Director, Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, Defendant-Appellee, Cross-Appellant.

No. 03-3071.

No. 03-3191.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued June 3, 2004.

Decided February 3, 2005.

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Diane Redleaf (argued), Robert E. Lehrer, Lehrer & Redleaf, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Erik G. Light (argued), Office of the Attorney General, Chicago, IL, for Defendant-Appellee.

Before BAUER, RIPPLE and MANION, Circuit Judges.

RIPPLE, Circuit Judge.

Jeff Dupuy, Belinda Dupuy and Pilar Berman brought this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 on behalf of a class of persons who had been indicated as perpetrators of child abuse or neglect in reports maintained on the State Central Register of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services ("DCFS"). The plaintiffs sought injunctive relief, alleging that the DCFS procedures for investigating and disclosing allegations of child abuse and neglect deprive them of due process of law. The district court granted the plaintiffs injunctive relief, and both parties have appealed. For the reasons set forth in the following opinion, we affirm in part and reverse in part and remand the cases for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I BACKGROUND

A. DCFS Policies and Procedures Prior to This Litigation

The Illinois Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act requires DCFS to "protect the health, safety and best interests of the child in all situations in which the child is vulnerable to child abuse or neglect." 325 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/2.¹ To achieve this mandate, DCFS operates a child abuse and neglect hotline, conducts investigations into allegations of child abuse and neglect, records and discloses (in limited circumstances) the findings of its investigations and provides a system to appeal those findings. DCFS also licenses child care facilities, such as day care centers and foster homes, and conducts background checks of current and prospective employees of DCFS-licensed child care facilities.

1. The Investigative Process

DCFS operates a toll-free, 24-hour hotline to receive reports of alleged child abuse or neglect. R.468-1, Joint Ex.1 at § 300.30. It receives over 350,000 calls annually, of which approximately one-third are formally investigated. DCFS rules require investigative staff to have in-person contact with the alleged victim, the alleged perpetrator and the child's caretaker within seven days after a report is received. Id. at § 300.90. DCFS formally investigates reports that it deems to have been made in good faith and that meet the following minimum criteria: (1) the alleged victim is less than eighteen years of age; (2) the child either has been harmed or is in substantial risk of harm; (3) the suspected perpetrator is an immediate family member, a person responsible for the child's care or a person who resides in the same house as the child; and (4) there was an abusive or neglectful incident or set of circumstances that caused the harm or substantial risk of harm. Id. at § 300.100(g).

At the start of a formal investigation, if the subject of a report is employed in or otherwise has a position that allows access to children, DCFS notifies the employer of the investigation. Id. at § 300.100(i). While the investigation is pending, the employer must take reasonable action to restrict the employee from contact with children at work. 325 Ill. Comp. Stat. 10/4.3.

Upon completion of the investigation, the DCFS investigator must decide whether credible evidence of child abuse or neglect exists. R.468-1, Joint Ex.1 at § 300.110(i)(1). DCFS rules define "credible evidence" to mean that "the available facts when viewed in light of surrounding circumstances would cause a reasonable person to believe that a child was abused or neglected." Id. at § 300.20. When credible evidence supports an allegation of child abuse or neglect, DCFS designates the report as "indicated." Id. at § 300.110(i)(3).

2. Disclosure of Indicated Reports

DCFS maintains indicated reports on the State Central Register ("central register"). 325 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/7.12. Indicated reports are retained on the central register for a minimum of five years. Id. at 5/7.14. Each abuse and neglect allegation is assigned to one of three retention categories: allegations of death of a child and/or sexual penetration are retained for fifty years; allegations involving serious physical injury, sexual molestation or sexual exploitation of a child are retained for twenty years; and all other allegations are retained for five years. 89 Ill. Admin. Code § 431.30. After the expiration of the retention period, the indicated report must be expunged, unless another report is received involving the same child, his sibling or offspring, or a child in the care of the persons responsible for the child's welfare. 325 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/7.14.

For allegations concerning a person in a position with access to children, DCFS notifies the employer whether the report was indicated. R.468-1, Joint Ex.1 at § 300.130(d). Furthermore, in order for a person to obtain or renew a license, or to work with children in a licensed facility, DCFS first conducts a background check. This background check includes a check of the central register to determine whether the person has an indicated report against them. R.468-1, Joint Ex.4 at §§ 385.10(a), 385.30(d). An indicated report is placed on the central register and disclosed to current and potential employers even before any formal appeal or review process. As will be discussed later in this opinion, the district court's preliminary injunction order, the subject of this appeal, modified this procedure. Notably, moreover, DCFS presumes that a person indicated for certain serious allegations is not suitable for a position that allows access to children.² Id. at § 385.50(a). The employer (but not the indicated person) may request DCFS review and waiver of the presumption of unsuitability. Id. at § 385.50(b). A child care facility must notify DCFS in writing of its decision regarding the employment of a person who has been indicated for child abuse or neglect. Id. at § 385.50(c).

3. Appeals Process

Any indicated person may appeal and seek to have an indicated finding expunged. R.468-1, Joint Ex.2 at § 336.30. The appeal request must be made to DCFS in writing within sixty days of the date that DCFS sends the person notice that a report was indicated against him. Id. at § 336.80. The appeals process has two steps: a child protection internal review and a full administrative hearing. Id. The internal reviewers consider the material in the appellant's investigative file and the appellant's brief written statement, and decide whether the record should be amended, expunged or removed.³ Id.

If the appellant challenges the internal review decision, the Administrative Hearing Unit ("AHU") must schedule a hearing for a date within thirty days of the request.⁴ Id. at § 336.110(d). In all hearings since March 1, 1996, DCFS has been required to prove the child abuse and neglect allegations by a preponderance of the evidence. Id. After the evidentiary hearing, the Administrative Law Judge ("ALJ") provides a recommended decision to the DCFS Director, who accepts, rejects or modifies the ALJ's decision and issues a final decision. Id. at § 336.150(a).

B. District Court Proceedings

1. The District Court's Original Order

The plaintiffs filed a motion for a preliminary injunction against several DCFS policies and procedures that they alleged deprived them of due process of law.⁵ The plaintiffs challenged three core DCFS policies: (1) the indicated report decision-making process; (2) the notice and hearing policies; and (3) the disclosure and use of indicated report policies. The plaintiffs also challenged, among other things, DCFS' special policy of placing holds on the additional placement of foster children in a foster home that is reported for child abuse or neglect. The district court concluded that the procedure did not deprive foster parents of due process of law. Dupuy v. McDonald, 141 F.Supp.2d 1090, 1140 (N.D.Ill.2001). On appeal, the plaintiffs continue to assert that foster parents must be afforded an opportunity to contest foster care holds. We shall address this issue later in this opinion. Specifically, the plaintiffs challenged the "credible evidence" standard for indicating reports of child abuse or neglect. They argued that DCFS investigators understood the standard to mean that "any" credible evidence of abuse or neglect was sufficient and, as a result, gathered only inculpatory evidence and disregarded any evidence that the abuse or neglect did not occur. Id. at 1135. Further, the plaintiffs contended that DCFS provided no meaningful opportunity to contest an indicated finding. And they maintained that indicated reports should not be disclosed to and used by employers.

The district court concluded that the then-employed DCFS procedures violated the plaintiffs' due process rights. As a threshold matter, the district court determined that "the pursuit of work in one's chosen profession constitutes a recognized and protected liberty interest...." Id. at 1134. The district court found that the plaintiffs "were deprived of such an interest" because, "[w]hether it be by way of their enforcement of mandatory background checks on prospective employees or `Notices of Presumptive Unsuitability' sent to current employers, DCFS policies and procedures clearly effectuate an indicated perpetrator's exclusion from the child care profession." Id.

The district court then assessed what process the Constitution required by applying the three-factor test set forth in Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U.S. 319, 335, 96 S.Ct. 893, 47 L.Ed.2d 18 (1976). The court found that the plaintiffs...