who was attorney dupuy v. mcewen

Belinda DUPUY, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Erwin McEWEN, Acting Director, Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, Defendant-Appellee.

Full Answer

Which amendment provides for due process?

The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, provides: “Nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”

What is DCFS's principal defense on appeal?

DCFS’s principal defense on appeal was the same as it presented to the district court: parents voluntarily agreed to every plan that DCFS had ever implemented, or would ever implement. See App.27a (district court notes DCFS’s “consistent position” that safety plans are “voluntary”).

What is DCFS in Illinois?

When the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (“DCFS”) receives allegations made to the State telephone Hotline of child abuse or neglect, DCFS investigators implement “safety plans” at the outset of the ensuring investigations. The safety plans routinely require parents or children to leave their family home and/or have no contact or only restricted contact with each other from the very beginning of investigations until their conclusion.

What does the safety plan form say?

The safety plan form tells parents that if they did not agree to a safety plan, DCFS “may” take custody of their children. App.92a. The district court found that although this “language may not by itself constitute a threat of actual removal” (id.), “most class member witnesses testified at the hearing that . . . the investigator affirmatively threatened to take away Plaintiffs’ children unless they agreed to a safety plan,” safety plan form [statements]