A Waltham Family Had Their Kids Wrongly Taken From Them. Police and DCF Now Face A Lawsuit

WALTHAM, MA — The couple whose children were wrongly taken away from them by Waltham Police and the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families have filed a lawsuit accusing members of both organizations of violating their civil rights.

Josh Sabey and Sarah Perkins, who previously lived in Waltham but now live in Idaho, are the parents of two children and, in 2022, had both of them taken away in the middle of the night from their home without DCF or police presenting a warrant.

The Boston Globe, which first reported news of the lawsuit, published a statement from the couple's attorney.

“The government cannot show up under the cover of night and take your children without a warrant or a reasonable belief a child is in imminent danger,” said Joshua Thompson, an attorney with the firm representing Sabey and Perkins, in a statement to the Globe.

“Parents should be able to sleep without wondering if the government is going to take their kids in violation of constitutional guarantees.”

According to the Washington Post, the issues started when one of the children was brought to a hospital on July 13.

An x-ray found a healed fracture on one of the children's rib cages, the Post reported, which doctors said was the result of nonaccidental trauma, prompting them to move forward as if it could have been caused by child abuse.

Then, around 1 a.m. days later, police and DCF officials pounded on the couple's door and eventually took their children, placing them in foster care during an ordeal that lasted four months.

Sabey and Perkins have been cleared of all wrongdoing, and neither has been charged with a crime of any kind.

Now, the lawsuit has been filed against four Waltham police officers and four employees of DCF.