Support the Wallace Family in Their Fight Against CCDCFS

"Our Story: Standing Against Injustice in the Child Welfare System"

We (Adam and Taylor) are the loving parents of an almost five-year-old son whom is dual diagnosed with Autism and ADHD, seeking support in raising funds to cover the legal costs needed to appeal a prejudiced and fallacious “substantiated claim of physical child abuse and neglect” made by the Cuyahoga County Department of Job and Family Services (CCDJFS). All funds raised will be used for costs related to litigation expenses, including filing fees, court fees, and expert witness fees, as well as for expenses related to research and investigation.

Here is our story…

In 2023, we responded to a request for the emergency placement of a five-month-old baby girl (Baby A) and had her brought into our home. We both work in public service professions – Adam as an elementary school teacher and Taylor in healthcare. Additionally, Adam is a 15 year Army Veteran. We had already been doing respite care, but were interested in fostering and, ultimately, hoped to adopt a child to add to our family. Adam had been in the foster care system for five years, which involved being in eleven different homes before being adopted. He experienced abuse, neglect, and trauma, and grew up having a passion for children who end up in the child welfare system, knowing how important it is for children to have a safe, loving, and stable home in which to thrive.

Very early on in the placement of Baby A, we noted some red flags with our caseworker. For one, she expressed her dissatisfaction with us being of the opposite race of Baby A. Secondly, she ignored calls and emails from Taylor, often requiring Taylor to make several attempts in contacting her. She also missed home visits and was often tardy for appointments.

During our care of Baby A, we learned that she was developmentally delayed and would often scratch herself and exhibit other self-wounding behaviors. However, we bonded with her and were hoping to turn the fostering into an adoption. At some point, however, Baby A sustained a couple of small bruises on two occasions and these had to be investigated. We were confident that it was obvious that these were the usual and ordinary types of bumps and bruises that all small children get while playing and moving about, something that all parents understand. Kids get hurt, because we don’t pad them with bubble wrap. As the events unfolded, however, we learned that we were going to lose Baby A as the CDJFS made a ruling of a “substantiated claim of child abuse and neglect,” even despite a police investigation report that indicated this was not the case. After being hit with this egregious assertion, we decided to fight this false claim. However, we learned that in 2024, in Kyser v. Summit County, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that the authority of child and family services agencies to make and maintain substantiated claims against individuals—even without fair judicial oversight-would be upheld. As a result, agencies such as the CCDJFS may act as the sole arbiters of guilt, with no recourse for those who have been falsely accused. We have not only lost our precious girl, after being the parents in her life for nearly one-year – but our character has been attacked by this false claim by the CCDJFS’s wrongful ruling. The ruling by this agency will also affect Adam’s ability to continue in his profession as a teacher. And, importantly, our case is not the only case of this type, as families across Ohio are being torn apart daily by such unilateral and secret decisions and without any due process. Unfortunately, most people do not have the ability to fight against it because of the steep cost of legal representation.

It is our hope that you will feel as we do that no governmental agency should be able to wield such power as to prevent people from their due process under the law. When a governmental agency harms an individual, and does not provide for them the ability to defend such, it is a violation of fundamental fairness, justice, and liberty.

We understand that you are hearing only our side of the story, but we have a history of being people of integrity, morality, and character. We have devoted our lives to helping people and we only want the opportunity to set the record straight and repair the damage done to us. It is also our hope that our case will bring awareness to this problem and hopefully get the Ohio Supreme Court to overturn their previous decision to give county agencies full power and oversight.

Thank you.

Adam, Taylor, and Parker Wallace