A sign outside of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services office.
G.J. McCarthy/Dallas Morning News
A Travis County judge is weighing a case that could force Texas to change how it labels parents accused of child neglect, potentially reshaping child abuse investigations statewide.
The debate came from a lawsuit filed by Temecia and Rodney Jackson, parents from Dallas County, who had their third child, M.J., taken from them for nearly a month just days after she was born in 2023 following a home birth with a Texas-certified midwife.
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At the center of the case is a Texas Department of Family and Protective Services designation known as “unable to determine,” which allows the agency to conclude it cannot determine whether abuse or neglect occurred. Unlike more serious findings, the designation cannot be appealed, a policy that Jacksons argue is unconstitutional.
“Mrs. Jackson’s decision to use a midwife for a home birth is one that should have been a beautiful experience that the agency essentially robbed her of,” said ACLU staff attorney Charelle Lett, who represents the Jacksons. “The distrust in this Black family to choose proper health care for their child is really disheartening, and the distrust in midwives who are trained and licensed by the state of Texas to do a job has also been disheartening.”
What led up to the lawsuit?
The Jacksons, who opted for a home birth with a state-certified midwife, went to their pediatrician’s office in the days after M.J.’s birth for a routine appointment. Dr. Anand Bhatt, the Jacksons’ pediatrician of 12 years, called Temecia Jackson to tell her M.J.’s test results showed potential jaundice warning signs and to advise her to take M.J. to a hospital for monitoring. Temecia Jackson told Bhatt that she’d consult with her midwife and husband, and after doing so, she decided to pursue an alternate treatment plan at home. Temecia Jackson then laid down for a nap, according to court filings.
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As she slept, Bhatt called Temecia Jackson, whose phone was on silent. After she did not immediately respond to repeated calls from the doctor, he called the police to perform a welfare check the same night. Bhatt did not call Rodney Jackson. Police arrived, and after they left, the Jacksons called Bhatt to let him know they’d be following the advice of their midwife.
The next morning, Bhatt reported the Jacksons to DFPS, alleging medical neglect. He did not tell the agency that he had provided the parents with home-care guidance if they chose not to take M.J. to a hospital. After making the report, he continued communicating with the Jacksons’ midwife, including scheduling an in-office follow up appointment for M.J. within two days. As he learned additional information, he did not update DFPS, according to the court filing.
Over the next day or so, constables and a DFPS investigator removed M.J. from the Jacksons’ home, and she was placed in foster care as an investigation was conducted, despite the Jacksons’ request that she be placed with family locally. DFPS returned M.J. to the Jacksons 24 days later and, shortly after, told the parents it found reason to believe M.J. was medically neglected, placing the Jacksons on the state registry for perpetrators of child abuse or neglect.
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What came next for the Jacksons?
The Jacksons appealed the ruling within a day, and a year later, it was changed by an agency investigator from “reason to believe” M.J. was neglected to an “unable to determine” ruling, which still carries legal consequences.
The designation leaves the parents in limbo, neither finding they neglected M.J. nor clearing them. Unlike a “reason to believe” finding, it cannot be appealed.
“The ‘unable to determine’ designation isn’t a finding that they did nothing wrong, it’s a finding that the department can’t decide whether or not they did something wrong, and that is extremely problematic,” Lett said. “It allows for the department to say we don’t know and leave people there with that on their record.”
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The “unable to determine” designation, which Lett said is assigned to 11% of families investigated by DFPS, can be seen by school officials, law enforcement, courts and others, potentially affecting parents directly.
When asked why that designation had been assigned, the DFPS specialist told the Jacksons they’d need to request her records to receive an answer. That process took another year. In those records, the specialist wrote there was not enough evidence that the Jacksons had neglected M.J., that there was proof they had been working with a certified midwife licensed to treat basic jaundice, and that M.J. had not suffered from the diagnosis.
Nevertheless, the agency chose an “unable to determine” designation in the registry “because DFPS believed ‘there was a significant concern for risk,’” according to court filings.
With no option for appeal or recourse, the Jacksons filed the lawsuit, claiming such a designation is unconstitutional and that it punishes parents who have not been found to have done anything wrong.
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What’s next, and why does it matter?
The outcome of the case could determine whether Texas can continue assigning parents an “unable to determine” designation without providing a way to challenge it — a ruling that could affect thousands of families investigated by DFPS.
Both the Jacksons and DFPS have filed motions asking the judge for summary judgment, meaning the case would be decided without further deliberation based on information already filed. A hearing on those motions was held June 8. The judge has 90 days to reach a decision.
The Attorney General’s Office did not respond to a request for comment. DFPS declined to comment on ongoing litigation or to expand on its policies and practices.
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The case has received national attention, bringing a little-known aspect of Texas’ child welfare system into the spotlight. It has also led the ACLU to renew attention on the disparities Black women face in healthcare during childbirth.
Temecia Jackson chose an at-home birth, which studies have found is associated with roughly a half-percentage-point increase in child mortality risk, after her first two children were delivered via cesarean section. Black women are about 5 percentage points more likely than white or Hispanic mothers to undergo cesarean deliveries and are three times more likely than white women to die from a pregnancy-related cause. Following the birth, M.J. was removed during an investigation — something Black children are disproportionately likely to experience nationwide.
“If we were successful in this case, it would drastically change how the child welfare system works in Texas,” Lett said. “It would have a large impact on Black families in Texas, their ability to be heard before they’re put on the central registry, and their ability to appeal agency decisions that are considered a ‘win’ in a way, because it takes them off of the central registry, but that still carry a legally significant consequence.”
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