In 2020, the small city of Ozark, Alabama became the epicenter of a devastating scandal that exposed deep cracks in Alabama’s child welfare system. Brandy Murrah, former owner of A & J Lab Collections, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for falsifying drug test results, tests that directly led to innocent parents losing custody of their children.
Murrah’s actions weren’t minor mistakes. She deliberately failed to forward collected samples to certified labs and instead produced fake reports that were then relied on by the Dale County Department of Human Resources (DHR). These results were used in court to justify tearing children from their homes.
Kirke Adams, the District Attorney for the 33rd Judicial Circuit, said:
“SHE HAS COMMITTED A FRAUD UPON THE WHOLE COURT SYSTEM… THE WORST PART IS FOR THOSE WHO SUFFERED BECAUSE NO ONE BELIEVED THEM, AND SHE DID NOT CARE.”
The emotional toll was immense. Mothers like Jennifer Severs were labeled addicts based on lies. Despite never using drugs, she lost custody of her children. It took a personal investigation, outside lab tests, and intervention from the Ozark Police Department to uncover the truth, and even then, the damage had already been done.
Another mother, Grace Locke, lost her newborn for nearly three weeks due to a fabricated positive meth test, despite having gone to rehab and actively working to rebuild her life.
These stories are heartbreaking, but they are not isolated.
Across Alabama, DHR and CPS offices continue to operate with disturbingly consistent patterns of unchecked power, secrecy, and the systematic destruction of families. While the Murrah scandal was uncovered in Ozark, the same behaviors are still playing out today in counties like Houston, Baldwin, and Limestone, just to name a few. These injustices are not isolated; they are part of a broader pattern happening in counties all across the state.
Parents still report being accused based on questionable evidence. Children are still removed without due process. And bad actors within DHR systems are still using their positions to manipulate outcomes, silence families, and devastate lives.
Murrah’s sentencing may have closed one chapter, but the full truth is far from uncovered.
This is about more than one woman. It’s about a culture of corruption that spans departments, counties, and courtrooms. It’s about the people who knew, the ones who looked the other way, and the ones who are still using this broken system to target vulnerable families.
We are still digging. We are still demanding accountability.
And we’re just getting started, with counties like Houston, Baldwin, and Limestone, among many others, firmly in our sights.
If you or someone you know has been harmed by Alabama DHR’s actions, speak up. This isn’t just about the past; it’s about stopping the next family from being destroyed.