Parents defend custodial rights and children’s security from lawless search and seizure 

When you read their books, listen to their podcasts, or watch their documentaries, it’s clear that the well-being of children and families is critical to filmmaker Josh Sabey, and his wife, Sarah Perkins, a Brandeis University Ph.D. candidate.

Their optimism in mankind is core to this belief and reinforced by their work on films tackling children’s mental wellness.

“A miracle happens every moment of every day across the country,” says Josh. “People in terrible situations are still pretty darn good parents, and their kids do pretty well.”

The couple made presumption of goodwill toward others a parenting priority for their own children, starting with their oldest, Clarence. By summer 2022, he was a friendly, outgoing three-year-old boy who loved his new baby brother, Cal, and riding bikes with his dad around their home in Waltham, MA.

Then, a spiked fever triggered a chain of events that ended in horror: government agents without a reason or a warrant stormed their home, whisked their children away, and left their trust in others and their rights in tatters.

The saga unfolded one July night, when Sarah took three-month-old Cal, burning with a 103-degree fever, to a nearby emergency room. A routine X-ray to check for pneumonia revealed a small, healed, weeks-old rib fracture.

Hospital staff alerted the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF), which immediately opened a child abuse investigation. A social worker arrived and aggressively interrogated Sarah, despite her lack of sleep, food, or any knowledge of Cal’s injury.

“The questions were leading and condemnatory. It felt unprofessional, unwarranted, and simply cruel,” recalls Sarah. “I rolled my eyes when she asked how often my husband neglects our boys because I thought it was such a gross question. She put my eye roll in her report. It seemed I was already guilty in her eyes and she was trying to extract a confession.”

The hospital held Sarah and Cal overnight and released them the following day. Other than a required DCF check-in, they believed the ordeal was over. Relieved, they joined Josh’s parents, who had flown in from Colorado.

“That night, we had a virtual meeting with extended family where we all cried and laughed together, and everyone hugged their kids a little tighter,” says Sarah. “After we went to bed, we later heard a knock.”

It was DCF workers and Waltham police, demanding entrance to take Clarence and Cal. Sarah and Josh resisted at first. Thirty-six hours had passed since leaving the hospital so they asked to see a warrant signed by a judge. Only there was no warrant. The DCF ignored its own legal obligation to get a court’s permission to remove the children. Nor could a chaotic frenzy of phone calls between their attorney, the police station, and the DCF produce a warrant.

“Our lawyer finally called Josh back and said, ‘If you don’t open the door now, they’re going to kick it down and it’s going to be way more traumatizing for your kids,’” says Sarah.

So, the parents roused their sleeping sons and tried to prepare them for the worst experience in their young lives. Sarah gave some refrigerated breast milk to DCF for the still-nursing Cal and explained to Clarence that he was going on an adventure. Despite the terrified toddler’s screams, DCF took both children away into the night and placed them with a foster mother.

The couple quickly enlisted their families’ help, and within 24 hours, Josh’s parents had custody of their grandchildren. Josh’s aunt, a popular lifestyle blogger based in France, blasted the government’s actions in a Twitter thread that swiftly went viral and generated news coverage by the Boston Globe, Washington Post, Boston’s NBC affiliate, and Reason, to name a few.

Four weeks later, Sarah and Josh were allowed to take Clarence and Cal. After three months of navigating the legal process, the government restored full parental custody to Josh and Sarah, exonerated them of all wrongdoing, and permanently dismissed their case.

While their case is closed, closure is elusive. For Clarence, it’s fear. He started having night terrors and no longer trusts strangers. For Josh and Sarah, it’s determination. Their tangle with the government ended with a better outcome than most families but their rights were just as violated.

“We’re an outlier in the sense that we could fight and get our kids back in 76 hours. That almost never happens because everything’s rigged against you,” says Josh. “We’re not an outlier in the sense that our kids were taken without a warrant. It just felt unconstitutional.”

He’s right. The Constitution’s Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments protect citizens from warrantless searches and seizures. While the government should work to prevent child abuse and remove at-risk children from truly abusive homes, it must adhere to the rule of law.

“Absent an emergency, the government needs a judge’s permission to remove children from their homes. That takes 30 minutes. Taking 36 hours to act is no emergency, but it is plenty of time to get a warrant,” says PLF senior attorney Joshua Thompson. “The DCF didn’t bother with that constitutional check. Instead, like rogue agents, they muscled their way into a private home at 1:00 a.m. and tore two very young children from their parents.”

Represented at no charge by PLF, Josh and Sarah are fighting back with a federal lawsuit against the city and the officials who unlawfully seized their children, so that no family caring for a sick child has to endure such unnecessary, illegal trauma.