Parents and relatives tell Beaufort commissioners they fear DSS actions in foster-care cases

Several people used the public-comment portion of the Beaufort County commissioners meeting to raise urgent allegations about Department of Social Services (DSS) handling of foster-care cases.

Speaker Joanne (identified in the record as speaking for her grandchildren) said children were removed from her home on May 22 and later moved to multiple placements; she described visitation difficulties and said DSS had made statements and taken actions she said were not court-ordered. She also said one youth had been placed in secure custody at a hospital level that she considered inappropriate and that the family had received conflicting information from agency staff.

Another commenter, Juanita Houston, said her family's case has been stalled for 11 months without a hearing and alleged her son had been moved without court order and subjected to mistreatment; she said she had filed complaints and that a class-action lawsuit by Disability Rights North Carolina includes affected foster families. She urged the commission to investigate, hold staff accountable and use the county's oversight to protect children and families.

County staff and elected officials did not take immediate action during public comment; the transcript records the allegations and requests for accountability. County staff previously explained that the county contracts for some DSS services and that many operational decisions for criminal determination rest with law-enforcement or the county's student-code-of-conduct processes when schools are involved. Several commissioners asked for follow-up and said they would continue to hear public concerns at future meetings.

Provenance: public-comment testimony and exchanges with the chair appear in the transcript beginning at SEG 1278 and continuing through SEG 1500.