Atlanta mom suing Tennessee DCS for ‘illegally tearing apart, terrorizing’ family on way to funeral

Sam Sachs
·3 min read
9

An Atlanta mother of five is suing the state of Tennessee’s Department of Children’s Services after she says they illegally detained her family, then took her five children and put them in foster care for almost two months.

Bianca Clayborne filed a federal lawsuit against Tennessee DCS for taking her five children from her while they were driving to a funeral.

According to court documents, Clayborne’s children, who were ages four months to seven years old, were taken from her while the family drove on the highway on Feb. 17, 2023.

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Records say the family road trip “turned into a nightmare” while they passed through Tennessee, on their way to Chicago.

“Tennessee Highway Patrol Troopers pulled her car over and kept her whole family in custody for two-and-a-half hours in near-freezing temperatures,” and cited her for having a small amount of marijuana, the court filing says.

Then, the troopers “illegally refused to let her and her children leave,” and took the whole family via police caravan to a Coffee County Jail to bring them to DCS, the document says.

Then, DCS “illegally detained and interrogated the whole family, illegally forced Clayborne to try to provide a urine sample and illegally had officers place spike strips around the car while DCS secretly and improperly obtained an ex parte order to take Clayborne’s children away from her,” the lawsuit alleges.

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An ex parte hearing is a legal process to remove a child or children from their family.

Additionally, while attempting to have Clayborne provide a urine sample, the court document alleges they forced her to strip in the presence of both DCS and her children.

Clayborne was not informed of the ex parte order hearing and said she was not given an opportunity to speak to a judge about keeping the family together, according to the lawsuit.

Instead, Clayborne’s filing alleges that the order was obtained to separate them without presenting any proof.

After, “DCS and local officers then literally ripped the children from Clayborne’s arms, placed them in foster care apart from each other and did not return the children to Clayborne for 55 days,” the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit says Tennessee officials and officers “illegally tore apart and terrorized” the family, “acted outrageously and unlawfully” and caused severe emotional trauma to all five of Clayborne’s children.

The lawsuit also states that the ex parte’s proceedings remain a mystery due to the lack of a court reporter, transcript, and a listing on the documentation that shows “no formal proof or witnesses entered” at the hearing.

Clayborne’s family was not reunited until April 13, 2023, when Clayborne got a court order to have her children returned to her. Additionally, the citation for simple possession of marijuana was dismissed, according to the legal filing.

As a result, Clayborne filed suit against the Tennessee DCS and are seeking justice for what they say were illegal actions without cause. Further, Clayborne’s lawsuit alleges the violations of Tennessee statutes regarding citations and arrests for possession of marijuana and detention of individuals occurred despite Clayborne and the children’s father Deonte Williams, fully cooperating with members of law enforcement.

The family is seeking compensatory and punitive damages from the state of Tennessee and demanding a jury trial for the case.

Channel 2 Action News reached out to the Tennessee DCS for comment and were directed to speak with the state’s Attorney General’s Office. A spokesman for the AG said the state does not have a comment at this time.

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