A lawsuit filed this week alleges Vermont Child Welfare Agency Using baseless accusations about a pregnant woman’s mental health to secretly investigate her and win custody of her daughter before the baby was born.

The ACLU of Vermont and the national advocacy group Pregnancy Justice filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Vermont Department of Children and Families, a counseling center and the hospital where the woman gave birth in February 2022.

In the lawsuit, the state also faces accusations that it routinely tracks pregnant women deemed unfit to be mothers.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages for the woman, identified only by her initials AV, and an end to the alleged illegal surveillance program.

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Copy of lawsuit filed against Vermont Department of Children and Families. (Google Maps; Vermont Superior Court)

The director of the homeless shelter where AV was staying in January 2022 told child welfare agencies that she appeared to suffer from paranoia, dissociative behavior and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) but was not receiving treatment, the lawsuit states. The state began an investigation and eventually spoke to the woman’s consultant, midwife and a hospital social worker without her knowledge, even though the state had no jurisdiction over the fetus.

Harrison Stark, senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, said the woman was unaware of the investigation until she gave birth to her child, who was immediately taken away.

The AV was not aware that hospital officials were providing updates to the state when she goes into laborincluding details of her cervix dilation and her temporary loss of custody of her children. The state even sought a court order forcing the woman to have a C-section, although that was moot since she consented to the surgery.

It wasn’t until seven months later that the woman was granted full custody of the children.

“This is a terrible situation for our customers,” Stark said. “It is also clear from what happened that this is not the first time the agency has done this. We have learned from several confidential sources that DCF has a pattern and practice of investigating pregnancies like our client’s of, interested persons. Provide information to the agency based on a set of unofficial criteria and who the agency tracks on what is known as a “high-risk pregnancy record,” or “high-risk pregnancy calendar.”

Department of Children and Families Commissioner Chris Winter said the agency would not comment until officials review the lawsuit and investigate its allegations.

“We take our mission of protecting children and supporting families seriously, working hard to balance the safety and well-being of children with the rights of parents,” he said.

Officials at the Lund Counseling Center, which is named as a defendant, said they learned of the allegations from news reports.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont and Pregnancy Justice filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Vermont Department of Children and Families, a counseling center and the hospital where the woman gave birth. (Getty Images)

“We take these matters very seriously and are actively gathering additional information to fully understand the situation,” interim CEO Ken Schatz said.

Copley Hospital has not commented on the lawsuit.

Several states across the country allow pregnant women to make civil commitments to take custody of their newborns, said Kulsoom Ijaz, senior staff attorney for pregnancy justice. However, it is unclear how common these conditions are in the United States

Ijaz said the AV incident showed that pregnancy was increasingly being used as a reason to block people’s rights.

The organization released a report in September detailing an increase in the number of women being charged. pregnancy related crimes A year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, states were allowed to set their own abortion laws. Most of these cases in which babies are named as victims include women accused of child abuse, child neglect or child endangerment due to drug use during pregnancy.

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This photo shows the American Civil Liberties Union logo. (Karen Blair/AFP via Getty Images)

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“What DCF is doing here is brutal,” Ijaz said. “This is discriminatory. The state’s approval of surveillance and tracking violates the newly enshrined reproductive autonomy in the Vermont Constitution. This is an opportunity for Vermont as a leader to send a signal to other states and say these rights are not theirs only.” Exists on paper.”

Stark said the allegations in Vermont are particularly troubling because the state bills itself as a haven for reproductive rights.

“Evidence was found that state agencies essentially colluded with certain health care providers to collect information without people’s knowledge or consent and unlawfully expanded their jurisdiction to investigate fundamental decisions about an individual’s reproductive health,” he said. People, it’s unbelievable.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.