J.D. Lott and his spouse Britney have been consuming lunch with their eight children on April 30 when he missed a name on his cellphone. The household was three years right into a cross-country, home-schooling, Instagram-documented highway journey in a bus they refashioned into an RV. A day earlier that they had been staying at a Florida campground. The subsequent day, they have been in Georgia on their strategy to meet pals—or in order that they thought.
Half an hour later, the missed caller despatched a textual content saying that they have been from the Division of Kids and Households (DCF) in Florida. It continued: “Please reply we have to comply with up and confirm the kids are secure. If we can not full this we must see an Order To Take Into Custody which is enforceable nationwide. Please work with us so we would not have to try this. Thanks.”
A nationwide manhunt? With the potential of having their youngsters taken away?
“It is like a knife to the center,” J.D. Lott tells Motive.
The Lotts rapidly pieced collectively what was occurring: On-line trolls had discovered the best way to weaponize baby protecting companies.
The Lotts’ Instagram account, @AmericanFamilyRoadTrip, has over half one million followers. On Reddit there is a group, FundieSnarkUncensored, that makes enjoyable of individuals it believes are Christian Fundamentalists. The Lotts are sometimes the goal of the group’s criticisms. These days, the snark had been getting darker.
When Britney had her eighth baby, Boone, two weeks earlier and posted a video with him, the Reddit group began armchair diagnosing him. They mentioned the wholesome new child had “extreme sunburn,” “was torpid,” and had “jaundice.”
Members on the Reddit group whipped themselves right into a frenzy, satisfied that Boone was in grave hazard and his mother and father have been accountable. They used a screenshot of a video the Lotts had posted from their Florida campground keep to geolocate the household. Then somebody referred to as the native Florida DCF workplace and repeated, verbatim, the accusations posted on Reddit: The new child was sunburnt, torpid, and jaundiced.
A county caseworker drove to the campground and was upset the household wasn’t there. She reached the Lotts utilizing a cellphone quantity the campground provided, and J.D. Lott defined the unusual scenario to her.
“Now we have a gaggle of individuals on Reddit that we have found are devoted to defaming us,” he mentioned.
The caseworker appeared to take this all in, and the Lotts, although shaken, thought every part was effective—till one other name got here in at lunchtime.
A supervisor on the DCF workplace determined the case was important. Based on J.D. Lott, he threatened to subject a nationwide order to take the youngsters into custody.
“Now we have you in our system, and you need to report by the shut of day,” mentioned the supervisor, in line with J.D. Lott. “And in the event you do not inform me when you’re going to meet with me, we will take into account you on the run.”
At that time, J.D. Lott requested if he may get again to the supervisor earlier than the top of the enterprise day. The supervisor mentioned OK. Britney Lott determined to name her kin in Texas, telling them to pack their baggage and e-book a flight to Georgia. If the authorities have been going to take the youngsters, she needed her kin available to imagine custody.
In the meantime, Lott referred to as the Household Freedom Challenge (FFP), a Texas nonprofit that helps households wrongly accused of abuse by baby companies.
“We have been making an attempt to scramble to seek out an legal professional in Florida who may clear their complete work day and resolve this emergency within the area of a pair hours,” says Jeremy Newman, the FFP’s vice chairman for coverage and engagement. “So I began calling all of the totally different legal professional networks I knew.”
The lawyer he discovered agreed with the Lotts’ need to have knowledgeable physician conduct the investigation. A close-by hospital was situated and DCF agreed to have the kid welfare analysis happen there. As quickly because the Lotts pulled into the car parking zone, a cop automobile pulled in behind them, lights flashing.
A health care provider on the hospital took a have a look at child Boone and decided that he didn’t have jaundice, extreme sunburn, or lethargy. The opposite seven youngsters have been examined and located to be in good well being as nicely. The physician knowledgeable the household that the cops wouldn’t be taking the youngsters. The police officer additionally tried to defuse the strain by giving the little ones a tour of his car and handing out stickers.
However when the state threatens to remove your children, it isn’t precisely no hurt, no foul, sorry for the inconvenience. The expertise nonetheless offers among the children nightmares, the Lotts mentioned.
That is why they’ve determined to go public with this case. They notice many individuals haven’t got the household and authorized help that they loved. The Household Freedom Challenge in Texas—and different organizations, together with the Texas Public Coverage Basis and Let Develop—have labored to slim the neglect legal guidelines in Texas in order that fewer households are topic to such investigations and fewer youngsters are positioned in foster care.
The Lotts wish to see that occur throughout the nation. They might additionally wish to see anybody who weaponizes baby companies to be held criminally accountable.
“The federal government has such unfastened requirements that they let individuals weaponize them,” says J.D. Lott. “There must be some moderating pressure.”
