CYFD sues foster mom over missing-child social media posts
Countersuit argues agency thwarted efforts to protect children
As a licensed foster parent for more than a decade, Jill Jones and her husband, Kirt, have fostered more than 10 kids and adopted three.
But the state Children, Youth and Families Department revoked her license and sued her in state District Court last year to get her to remove three social media posts about a Romanian couple who faced child abuse charges and who had absconded with their children who were in CYFD custody.
Jones had been a foster mother to two of the four children of Luiza Badea and Andrei Ducila.
CYFD sued her last October seeking a judge’s order to compel her to remove social media posts about the case including a photo of one of the children. The agency also wants a ruling that she disseminated confidential information about CYFD’s abuse and neglect case against the parents.
As a foster parent, CYFD contends, Jones was bound by confidentiality regardless if she, or someone else, previously disclosed the confidential information to the public.
Jones in a countercomplaint contends CYFD revoked her foster license in retaliation for her efforts to protect her former foster children. She also contends her public complaints about the agency’s failure to report the children missing in May 2020 didn’t include any confidential information.
Moreover, she contends the posts “about the actions and failures to act by CYFD” in the case “are protected speech.”
CYFD placed Badea and
Ducila’s infant child in her care in June 2019 and asked her to care for the child’s older brother two weeks later. In April 2020, CYFD removed the infant from her care over the objections of a CYFD caseworker, her complaint says. The boy rejoined his biological parents sometime earlier.
Jones is seeking monetary damages and the reinstatement of her foster parent license. Months before the children were returned to their parents, Jones gave an interview to the Hobbs News Sun in February 2020, saying that CYFD was in a “crisis state.”
“The biggest concern to us as foster parents is the child’s needs are not being placed first,” Jones was quoted as saying. “We have sorta moved from a child protective-type service to a parent protective service.”