NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — A 6-year-old with autism from Cannon County was removed from his family by the Department of Children’s Services and placed in foster care.
What happened next, a juvenile judge would later call a “comprehensive failure of the system.”
Matthew Floyd was moved 22 times in just 100 days.
His parents say the little boy, who has ADHD, Level 2 autism, Asperger’s syndrome, and chromosome abnormalities, was terrified and desperate to come home.
“All he wanted was to come home,” his mother said. “He wanted Mom and Daddy. He was scared. They wouldn’t bring him back.”
DCS came into the Floyd home after concerns were raised involving the family’s two teenage daughters. The department removed both girls and Matthew and placed them in foster care.
The Floyds adopted the two girls when they were 2 and 3 years old. They adopted Matthew when he was just 3 weeks old.
“It cost us $15,000 to adopt all three kids,” Matthew’s father said. “If we didn’t love them, didn’t want them, why would we put out that kind of money to adopt?”
A juvenile court judge said there may have been a reason to initially remove the children from the home. But what happened afterward, he said, was unacceptable.
The judge found DCS had a continuing duty to make reasonable efforts to make it possible for Matthew to return home.
“Such efforts were not met as it relates to Matthew,” the judge wrote.
The judge also found Matthew did not receive physical therapy, occupational therapy, neurological appointments or ENT appointments while in state care.
“This case is indicative of a comprehensive failure of the system as a whole,” the judge wrote.
Matthew was eventually returned to his parents, where he remains under a trial reunification.
His former case worker, Jessica Llana, who was praised by the judge, says she was fired by StepStone, a DCS partner, after raising too many concerns about the lack of services for Matthew.
“They don’t do anything that their own policies stipulate,” Llana said. “They’re not checking in on these kids. It’s just out of sight, out of mind. And that’s happened with a lot of children. Not just Matthew.”
DCS declined to comment, citing state law that makes it a misdemeanor to discuss certain child welfare cases publicly.
But in this case, the judge, the guardian ad litem, the former case worker and the family all say the same thing: Matthew was not served well by the system that was supposed to protect him.
“How do you do that to children?” Llana said. “There is zero accountability.”
Matthew has now been home for almost a year. His parents say he is doing much better.
But the reunification is still on a trial basis.
