News Roundup

Carolina Public Press reports that last week three current and former employees of the Cherokee County Department of Social Services were indicted on a range of charges arising from an alleged “yearslong Cherokee County DSS practice that separated children from their parents without the oversight of a judge.” Former Cherokee DSS director Cindy Palmer (who now is the department’s business officer), former Child Protective Unit supervisor David Hughes, and the department’s former attorney, Scott Lindsay, were charged with various felonies and misdemeanors arising from the practice.  Keep reading for more on this story and other news. Cherokee.  The CPP report says that during Cindy Palmer’s tenure as the director of Cherokee County DSS, the department used so-called “custody and visitation agreements” (CVAs) to separate children from their families outside of the normal child welfare process.  In an interview on WUNC’s The State of Things, CPP investigative reporter Kate Martin said that at times Cherokee DSS would approach a parent with a CVA and explain that the parent could either sign the agreement, which apparently purported to relinquish the parent’s right to custody of their child, or that their child would be placed in foster care in a remote location.  The effect of this alleged practice was to illegally remove the termination of parental rights process from judicial oversight.  Each of the defendants was charged with obstruction of justice, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and willful failure to discharge the duties of their offices.  Palmer also faces a perjury charge.  [...]