Families Vs. DHR

They come into the home without warning. They take the child without mercy. And then, in far too many cases, they drug the pain instead of treating the wound. This is what happens behind...

This is not just about paperwork. It is about power. Across Alabama, parents are being coerced into signing safety plans under the threat of losing their children, without evidence, without a warrant, and without due process. This is not protection. It is a system weaponized.

By Families vs. Houston County DHR In Alabama, a parent can lose custody of their child without ever stepping foot in a courtroom. No judge. No hearing. No lawyer. Just a knock at the door and...

Even though Juneteenth has passed, its meaning still echoes. Freedom was delayed then, and for many families today it is still being denied. The right to parent your own children is a fundamental liberty, and yet families across America are losing that right without cause, without fairness, and without justice.

*** Watch the full clip here *** Seventeen years after Nancy Schaefer’s warning, families are still fighting to be heard. The system hasn’t changed. It has simply gotten better at hiding. In 2007, State Senator Nancy...

By Families vs. Houston County DHR It started with a message from a grandmother. She didn’t write with rage. She wrote with heartbreak. With trembling hands and the kind of fear only a caregiver truly...

When Alabama Deputy Commissioner Karen Smith was asked if everyone on the state’s abuse registry deserved to be there, she answered without hesitation: “I do.” With no requirement for trial, no guarantee of notice, and no clear path for removal, Alabama’s registry functions as punishment by accusation. This investigation explores the real cost of that system and the chilling indifference of the official defending it.

By Staff Writer | Families vs DHR In a small Alabama town, a grandmother stood by her phone, waiting for a call that never came. Her daughter had just been taken into custody, and she...