A federal judge has cleared the way for a rare civil trial against two senior Massachusetts Department of Children and Families officials over the overnight removal of two young children from a Waltham apartment. The parents say workers showed up around 1 a.m., and cellphone video captured their older son screaming as he was carried out of the home, as per the U.S. District Court.
In an order issued two weeks ago, U.S. District Judge Patti Saris denied summary judgment on the children's Fourth Amendment unlawful seizure claim and ruled that Area Program Manager Katheryn Butterfield and Regional Director Candice Gemski will have to face a jury. According to a U.S. District Court order, Saris wrote that officials did not have evidence of "imminent" harm that would justify taking the children in the middle of the night without a warrant.
The dispute traces back to July 2022, when the parents brought their three-month-old to Newton-Wellesley Hospital with a high fever. X-rays revealed healing rib fractures, and hospital staff filed a 51A abuse and neglect report. As reported by NBC10 Boston, DCF investigators and Waltham police then arrived at the family's apartment at about 1 a.m. and removed both children without presenting paperwork.
Judge's ruling and who remains
Saris allowed several Waltham police officers and other DCF employees to exit the case on qualified immunity grounds. At the same time, she found that a reasonable jury could conclude Butterfield and Gemski's decision to order the emergency removal "set in motion a series of events" that violated the children's Fourth Amendment rights. The court order concludes that most defendants are entitled to qualified immunity but that the Fourth Amendment claim against the two senior officials must go to trial.
Why oversight is being debated
The late-night seizure has reignited debate over how and when DCF should be allowed to remove children without first getting a court order, with legal-aid groups warning that warrantless removals can be deeply traumatic and fall hardest on vulnerable families. The Boston Globe reported that Representative Joan Meschino has filed legislation that would require judicial review whenever there is time to seek it and would make judges more readily available outside normal business hours.
Parents Sabey and Perkins eventually regained custody, then moved to Idaho after the DCF investigation was closed, but they have kept their civil rights lawsuit alive. They are seeking damages and broader policy changes. NBC10 Boston reports that DCF declined to comment while the case is pending.
The ruling sets up an unusual courtroom test of how far child protection officials in Massachusetts can go without a judge signing off first. A future trial is expected to force the court to weigh parental rights, child safety and the reach of qualified immunity in the most high-stakes setting there is: the removal of children from their home in the dead of night.
