Texas Closed Its Investigation Against These Parents. Why Are Their Names on a Child Abuse Registry?
A medical dispute over jaundice treatment prompted the state to take custody of Rodney and Temecia Jackson’s daughter for more than three weeks.
A Texas couple is still listed on a state child neglect registry, even though the allegations against them were dismissed and their child returned to them. The couple is now suing the state, arguing that being listed on the registry violates their rights to due process.
Rodney and Temecia Jackson are a married couple with three children living near Dallas, Texas. Following two caesarian births, Temecia and Rondey chose to hire a licensed midwife and have a home birth for their third child. The Jacksons' daughter—identified in the suit as "M.J."—was born healthy on March 21, 2023. According to their lawsuit, the Jacksons took M.J. to a nearby pediatrician's office for a routine visit three days after she was born. While there, a nurse noted that M.J. had signs of jaundice, a common condition in newborns. The couple scheduled a follow-up appointment and left without issue.
Later that day, Dr. Anand Bhatt called the Jacksons and told them that M.J. needed to go to a local neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) to be treated for signs of jaundice. However, instead of going to the hospital, the Jacksons consulted with their midwife, who told them they could treat M.J.'s jaundice at home with "enhanced nutrition, phototherapy, and monitoring."
That night, Bhatt attempted to call Temecia. When she didn't answer (according to the suit, she was napping and her phone was silenced), Bhatt called the police and asked them to conduct a welfare check. After the police came to the Jackson's home, Rodney "called Dr. Bhatt expressing his frustration that Dr. Bhatt sent the police to his home without contacting him first" and informing him that M.J. was being treated by a midwife, according to the suit. That night, Bhatt attempted to contact the Jacksons' midwife, and "texted the Jacksons in a group text giving them instructions for treating M.J. at home if they chose not to go to the hospital," according to the suit.
Before waiting for the Jacksons' midwife to respond, Bhatt reported the couple to the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS), alleging possible medical neglect. Bizarrely, Bhatt told DFPS that M.J.'s mother was a woman named Nichovia Nichols, not Temecia Jackson. The suit notes that Bhatt "did not mention he had given [the Jacksons] alternative advice for treating M.J. without taking her to the hospital." Further, the suit alleges that when the Jacksons' midwife called Bhatt a few hours later, Bhatt told her that he would leave the family in her care. However, he didn't call DFPS to retract his allegations of medical neglect.
Earlier that day, a DFPS investigator came to the Jacksons' house with several police officers. When the Jacksons used their legal right to refuse police entry without a court order, the investigator left and successfully obtained an order allowing DFPS to take M.J. However, the investigator's application contained detailed descriptions of Nichols' past run-ins with DFPS, erroneously assuming that she was M.J.'s mother. After law enforcement seized M.J., it took her parents more than three weeks to get her back.
Even though DFPS' case against the Jacksons was dismissed, the couple soon found that their ordeal wasn't over. Soon after regaining custody of their daughter, the couple received letters "informing them that DFPS had found 'reason to believe' that they medically neglected M.J. and that they would be put on the Central Registry for perpetrators of child abuse or neglect," the suit states. "The Jacksons were not notified that such a designation was possible, nor allowed the opportunity to defend themselves before they were placed on the Central Registry."
While the couple has attempted to challenge the designation, they've only managed to be downgraded from "reason to believe" to "unable to determine," keeping them on the registry. Being placed on a child abuse and neglect registry is incredibly frustrating for the Jacksons, who fear both the social stigma of being on the registry and the possibility that it will lead to their children being removed again. The suit seeks to challenge the state's rules around putting parents on the child abuse and neglect registry, claiming that current procedures denied them their due process rights.
"She should have been safe in our arms. Instead, she was abruptly separated from us, losing the vital bond every newborn needs. We were left fearing for her well-being. She is now a healthy and thriving toddler, but our family is still healing from the nightmare that DFPS caused," the Jacksons said last week in a press release. "No parent should ever have to experience the trauma of being torn from their baby. We hope the court's power to hold DFPS accountable means that no other family has to endure our pain—simply for choosing midwifery."