BATON ROUGE – A Baton Rouge mother has filed suit against the state and other parties regarding the care of her minor children.
Teresa Yates, PJ, and SJ filed a complaint on May 25 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana against the state of Louisiana, Department of Children and Family Services, Volunteers of America Parker House and Child Protective Services alleging that they violated the Fifth and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
According to the complaint, the plaintiffs allege that in August 2016, Yates lost custody of her two minor children, PJ, and SJ. She alleges PJ suffered physical harm while under the defendants' care and that she was not alerted until 12 hours after the incident.
The plaintiffs holds the state of Louisiana, Department of Children and Family Services, Volunteers of America Parker House and Child Protective Services responsible because the defendants allegedly deprived Yates of her due process interests in the companionship, care, custody and management of her children.
The plaintiffs request a trial by jury and seek compensatory and punitive damages, costs of this suit, prejudgment and post-judgment interest and all further relief as the court deems just and proper. They are represented by J.P. Gorham of JP Gorham, Attorney at Law LLC in Baton Rouge.
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana case number 3:17-cv-00330