Wolf v. Fauquier County Bd. of Supervisors

• Decision Date: 06 February 2009
• Docket Number: No. 07-2022.,07-2022.
• Citation: 555 F.3d 311
• Parties: Alexandra WOLF, individually and on behalf of her minor children; C. W., her minor child; R. W., her minor child, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. FAUQUIER COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS; Mimi Denicolas, in her official and individual capacities; Stephanie Duncan, in her official and individual capacities; La'Teeka Tutwiler, in her official and individual capacities; Beth Stephens; Chrysalis Counseling Center, P.C.; Elizabeth A. Stevenson, Individually, and as the Alter Ego of Chrysalis Counseling Center, P.C.; Dr. Mark Simonds, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

555 F.3d 311

Alexandra WOLF, individually and on behalf of her minor children; C. W., her minor child; R. W., her minor child, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. FAUQUIER COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS; Mimi Denicolas, in her official and individual capacities; Stephanie Duncan, in her official and individual capacities; La'Teeka Tutwiler, in her official and individual capacities; Beth Stephens; Chrysalis Counseling Center, P.C.; Elizabeth A. Stevenson, Individually, and as the Alter Ego of Chrysalis Counseling Center, P.C.; Dr. Mark Simonds, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 07-2022.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Argued: December 5, 2008.

Decided: February 6, 2009.

ARGUED: Earl Neville Mayfield, III, Cuccinelli & Day, P.L.L.C., Fairfax, Virginia, for Appellants. Julia Bougie Judkins, Trichilo, Bancroft, McGavin, Horvath & Judkins, Fairfax, Virginia; Douglas McNeil Coleman, Coleman & Ragland, Alexandria, Virginia; John Harvey Craddock, Jr., LeClair Ryan, P.C., Richmond, Virginia, for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Allyson C. Kitchel, Trichilo, Bancroft, McGavin, Horvath & Judkins, Fairfax, Virginia, for Appellees Fauquier County Board of Supervisors, Mimi deNicolas, Stephanie Duncan, and La'Teeka Tutwiler; James R. Kearney, Kearney, Freeman, Fogarty &

Joshi, P.L.L.C., Fairfax, Virginia, for Appellees Beth Stephens and Chrysalis Counseling Center, P.C.; Eugenia Vroustouris, LeClair Ryan, P.C., Alexandria, Virginia, for Appellee Mark Simonds.

Before WILLIAMS, Chief Judge, and WILKINSON and GREGORY, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by published opinion. Judge WILKINSON wrote the opinion, in which Chief Judge WILLIAMS and Judge GREGORY joined.

WILKINSON, Circuit Judge:

OPINION

Plaintiffs Alexandra Wolf and her two children appeal the district court's grant of summary judgment to various private and public defendants in a case involving the reporting and investigation of suspected child abuse. Plaintiffs allege a number of violations of state law by Chrysalis Counseling Center, P.C. and its employees, and allege violations of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 by Fauquier County Board of Supervisors and the employees of the Fauquier County Department of Social Services ("DSS"). The claims arise out of a complaint of suspected child abuse made to DSS by Alexandra Wolf's counselor at Chrysalis. Plaintiffs allege that the complaint was false and that DSS failed to adequately investigate the complaint. We affirm the judgment for defendants because the Commonwealth of Virginia has made the protection of children the centerpiece of its child abuse reporting system and its social services apparatus. To impose civil liability in these circumstances would turn that system on its head.

I.

Alexandra Wolf is a single mother of two children who in 2005 resided in Warrenton in Fauquier County, Virginia. At the time of the events at issue in this litigation, her son was eleven years old and her daughter was ten. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Wolf had problems with panic and anxiety for which she sought mental health counseling. During the early 1990s she also briefly experienced suicidal thoughts.

These problems subsided and Wolf had no further mental health issues until July 2005, when she again began suffering from panic attacks. As a result, Wolf sought treatment at Chrysalis Counseling Center in Culpeper, Virginia. Chrysalis is a Virginia corporation that offers counseling services and employs a psychiatrist, a psychologist, social workers, and licensed professional counselors. Elizabeth Stevenson, a licensed social worker, is the founder and sole shareholder, officer, and director of Chrysalis. Beth Stephens is a "life coach" employed at Chrysalis. She has no advanced training or expertise in mental health. She initially was employed only as the office manager at Chrysalis, but Stevenson chose to designate Stephens as a life coach and gave her some limited training.

On July 27, 2005, Wolf contacted Chrysalis by telephone and requested help dealing with anxiety and panic. The receptionist took down her information on a contact sheet. Stevenson reviewed the contact sheet and assigned Wolf to Stephens. Wolf's first two sessions with Stephens, in which they discussed Wolf's problems with anxiety, occurred without incident.

However, what happened at the end of the third session, on August 17, 2005, is disputed. What the parties do agree on is that this is when events took a strange turn. Wolf claims that she mentioned to Stephens that she had years earlier had suicidal thoughts and had considered ending her life with carbon monoxide poisoning, but that she now recognized those thoughts were foolish. Stephens alleges that Wolf described a plan to kill herself and her children using carbon monoxide on November 1, 2005. Wolf for her part concedes that suicide had been on her mind and that at the least her suicide as a single mother would leave her children dangerously unattended.

Whatever was actually said, it seems clear that Stephens understood Wolf as expressing present intentions to kill herself or her children. And whether Wolf's thoughts had turned to taking her own life or that of her offspring hardly seems dispositive, for the effect on the children would in either case be horrific and surely sufficient to elicit Stephens's concern for their well-being. Stephens, in a self-described state of "shock" at Wolf's description of her suicidal thoughts, excused herself to go speak with Dr. Mark Simonds, a psychiatrist employed by Chrysalis. Simonds instructed Stephens to have Wolf sign a "no-harm contract," a document stating that the signor has no intention to harm herself or others; he also advised Stephens to contact Stevenson and DSS.

Stephens then phoned Stevenson, who reiterated Simonds's advice that Stephens call DSS. Stephens also obtained a copy of a no-harm contract and returned to the room where she had left Wolf. According to Wolf, Stephens asked her several times whether she planned to hurt herself or her children, and Wolf each time said no. Stephens asked that Wolf sign the no-harm contract. Wolf was reluctant to sign the contract, but ultimately did sign. Stephens claims that Wolf then abruptly left the Chrysalis building. Wolf claims that she left only after Stephens exited the room once Wolf had signed the contract.

Stephens then telephoned DSS, but received a recorded message stating that for urgent matters callers should contact the local sheriff's office. Stephens telephoned Stevenson, who instructed Stephens to contact law enforcement. Stephens then telephoned the Warrenton Police Department and told the dispatcher that she believed Wolf planned to kill herself and her children.

The police department sent an officer to Wolf's residence in order to check on Wolf's safety. When Wolf learned of the officer's visit, she contacted her attorney, David Silek. Silek contacted the police department and stated that Wolf was of sound mind and requested that the police not bother her.

The next morning, August 18, 2005, Stephens and Stevenson spoke with Mimi deNicolas, DSS's program manager, on a conference call. Stephens told deNicolas that Wolf had threatened to kill herself and her children. DSS thus began an investigation. Because the complaint was considered "high priority," two social workers were dispatched that morning to Wolf's home. The social workers found no one at home.

Later that day, two other DSS employees, Stephanie Duncan and Lateeka Tutwiler, were sent to Wolf's home. Duncan and Tutwiler knocked on Wolf's door, but no one answered. However, the DSS employees heard noises inside the house, so they returned to their car and called the police. Wolf had been napping inside; when she awoke and saw a white car in front of her house, she called Silek again. Wolf came outside to speak to Duncan and Tutwiler. Wolf attempted to have Silek speak to Duncan on Wolf's cellphone, but Duncan was skeptical that Silek was actually an attorney. Silek contacted deNicolas, and they agreed that Silek, deNicolas, and Wolf would meet the next day to discuss the situation. The DSS workers were not permitted to interview Wolf or her children about the details of the complaint while at the residence.

Because the meeting was not scheduled until the next morning, Duncan and Tutwiler told Wolf that they needed to establish a plan to ensure the safety of Wolf's children for the night. The parties agreed that the children would spend the night at the home of Wolf's neighbor. Wolf signed the "safety plan," although she noted on it several objections, and wrote a statement that she was not suicidal and would not hurt her children. The children were placed with the neighbor, who was told to call the police if Wolf attempted to contact the children that night.

The next morning, August 19, 2005, Wolf, Silek, deNicolas, Duncan, and two of Wolf's friends met at Wolf's house. The parties discussed DSS's family assessment process, and Wolf agreed that later that day she would receive an emergency temporary detaining order evaluation by a member of the Community Services Board in order to determine whether she was suicidal or homicidal. Wolf told deNicolas and Duncan that she planned to travel to Florida with her children in the next few weeks. The evaluation was conducted by Annie Holland later that afternoon. In her report, Holland recommended that Wolf continue to seek counseling, and that she allow DSS to monitor her children. However, she did not recommend that Wolf be hospitalized. The children were returned to Wolf after the evaluation.

Later that month, Janis Selbo, deNicolas's supervisor, told deNicolas to contact DSS's attorney, Robert Beard. Selbo was concerned that DSS had not heard from Wolf since the August 19 meeting, and that DSS had never been able to interview Wolf's children. Beard's advice was that DSS go to court to obtain a protective order for the children against Wolf. Accordingly, Duncan and Tutwiler prepared a petition for...