NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Tennessee’s Department of Children’s Services (DCS) has a vision of “Children First.” After several high-profile issues, like children sleeping on office floors, DCS has tried to start fresh.

The department’s 2023 Annual Report revealed that the Department is going in “a new direction.” The new mission statement contends that the department is acting “in the best interest of Tennessee’s children and youth.”

However, according to a new class action lawsuit, some of Tennessee’s youth claim that is far from the truth.

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DCS is tasked with caring for some of the state’s most vulnerable children, many of whom have disabilities, and is now facing a litany of horrific accusations. Chief among them: rather than accommodating these children, DCS is punishing them, according to the lawsuit.

The class action lawsuit listed several teens who claimed that staff within DCS facilities encouraged violent assaults. In some cases, they put bounties on them in the form of “ramen noodles, cannabis, and other incentives.”

The Lawsuit accused DCS Commissioner Margie Quin, the Tennessee Department of Education Commissioner Lizzette Reynolds, and the state of knowing what was happening in the facilities and doing nothing about it.

The lawsuit went on to describe how DCS staff at several facilities across the state used “violent and abusive measures like solitary confinement, pepper spray, and peer-on-peer violence.”

For example, one young person reported being locked in solitary confinement for “at least twenty-three hours per day” for more than six months.

JOHN DOE 1

One of the plaintiffs in the case, named “John Doe 1” is described as a 17-year-old boy who enjoys playing guitar and performing magic tricks. He currently lives with his adoptive mother, but before that, he lived in five different DCS facilities during his first six months in DCS custody.

The lawsuit went into detail and claimed that other teens “demanded he perform sexual acts,” and when he refused, they would attack him, “including by choking him.”

After Doe 1 alerted a facility staff member, but instead of protecting him, the lawsuit said that they encouraged the teens to beat him again.

JANE DOE 1

Another plaintiff in the case, Jane Doe 1, is described as a 15-year-old girl who enjoys playing volleyball and dreams of working as a NICU nurse.

The lawsuit explained that she has a history of mental health struggles and is a victim of sexual abuse. According to the lawsuit, at one point she was shackled by her ankles and dragged across the floor.

In one instance, she claimed that two male staff members pepper-sprayed her while she was naked.

The lawsuit asked for DCS to comply with federal law to take care of kids with disabilities.

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News 2 reached out to the governor’s office, DCS and the attorney general’s office for comment. The governor and DCS referred News 2 to the attorney general, whose sole reply was “We are aware of the lawsuit.”

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