(LifeSiteNews) — A mom has become the target of the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) with court proceedings and drug tests following a false positive cocaine test on her newborn baby.
Emily Donlin recently shared her story with Blaze commentator Allie Beth Stuckey. Donlin said she is still labeled, eight months later, as a “child abuser” by the state of Iowa, all stemming from a false positive test for cocaine on her newborn baby. The mother said the state also subjected her to court proceedings and repeat visits, all while holding back information. During the investigation, she had to be under mandatory supervision and the state threatened to put her children in foster care.
Donlin remains on the “Child Abuse Registry” list but eventually had her court case dismissed. The court did not review any of the evidence she submitted, including a 12-month drug test which would cover the entirety of her pregnancy.
The trouble began when Donlin and her husband took their newborn son into the hospital for a regular check-up, following an unplanned home birth. Her umbilical cord was tested for drugs. A follow-up visit two weeks later from a DHHS representative confirmed there were no signs her other child had drug problems and the investigator confirmed she did not see any signs of drug use in the home.
Donlin does not even take over-the-counter painkillers, she told Stuckey, nor does she vaccinate her children. She also shared concerns that there could be a baby out there who actually had cocaine in his system but was not receiving the proper care.
DHHS officials repeatedly refused to provide a concrete timeline for their investigation. “She said so many times ‘We’re going to create a plan,’ and we kept asking, ‘What is that plan?’ only to get ‘vague’ responses,” Donlin said.
The health department does not have to provide documentation to people under investigation, Donlin noted, adding that she should have recorded the interactions.
Even after Donlin passed a three-month drug test, the state continued its investigation. Iowa said the drug test did not have to do with the allegations she used narcotics while pregnant, but with a “second allegation” there were drugs in her home. But only the social worker doing the investigation had been in their house.
LifeSiteNews contacted two media representatives for DHHS on December 1 and asked for comment on the allegations and the normal operating procedures in cases like this. Neither responded.
Bureaucracy uses confusing language, splits up spouses
Donlin said the DHHS used language that “regular people” do not employ. The social worker said the accusation of drug use was “founded,” “prompting Donlin to enquire into the meaning of the term “founded.”
The state uses “not confirmed,” “confirmed,” and “founded,” according to the Iowa mom. “Not confirmed,” would mean the accused were cleared. “Confirmed,” means the accusation is found accurate but the accused is not placed on a registry.
The social worker said the drug test alone was enough proof, despite admitting on several times she did “not know what to do.” The social worker said she could not “argue” with the doctor who found there were drugs on the umbilical cord.
The “founded” report led to “voluntary services,” which are not really “voluntary.” If people do not willfully participate, they end up in court. This is what happened to the Donlins – they were told to “agree” to receive the unspecific “services” before they could get more details. The Donlins were “utterly confused,” Emily said.
“It sounds like you’re declining services, [and] when you decline services, then you go to a [child in need of assistance case],” the social worker told her.
The case included Donlin and her husband having separate attorneys, while her son was appointed a representative. Their separate attorneys were not allowed to talk to the other spouse. Donlin attempted to have the lab re-test the umbilical cord, but the lab refused, because their client is actually the hospital, not the mom and her baby.
Even with a court order, the Donlins could not procure a new test. They went to the hospital, and it deferred to the lab, which deferred to the hospital.
The hospital is the “lab’s client,” Donlin explained. She said she had “no access” to her own umbilical cord.
While her case has been dismissed, Donlin does remain on the “Child Abuse Registry.”
She criticized DHHS for “remov[ing]” her “motherhood.” She plans to appeal the decision which requires approaching DHHS. She will remain on the registry for five years if the accusation is not cleared.
Donlin called the ordeal “just so wrong.”
“The fact that they are able to do this to a mother, to a family, it’s just so wrong… it’s just so wrong.”