Georgia mom can continue suit against individual DCS workers who took her kids

An ongoing lawsuit has indicated that Tennessee Department of Children's Services employees can be sued after their actions during a Coffee County traffic stop in 2023.

Bianca Clayborne was driving through Coffee County, where a traffic stop resulted in the Tennessee Department of Children's Services taking all five of her children. A year later, she sued everyone involved in federal court, including four individual Tennessee Highway Patrol officers, DCS employees, the Coffee County government and two sheriff's deputies. Her children were taken away for months.

The traffic stop happened when Clayborne and her partner traveled through Tennessee after a funeral in Chicago. The suit said they were initially pulled over for a "slow poke" violation. During a full search of the car, troopers found less than five grams of marijuana in the car. That is typically a simple possession offense that is dealt with a citation.

Instead, Clayborne and Williams were arrested. And rather than being free to leave with her children like the Tennessee Highway Patrol said, she left alone. Charges against Clayborne were ultimately dropped.

At the time, DCS didn't release details to NewsChannel 5 on what led to the removal of the children. Simple possession of marijuana alone does not qualify for such action. In August 2023, the citation was dismissed.

During the lawsuit process, the state requested that the workers no longer be included because they were acting their official duties. The judge in the case ruled that Clayborne could continue to assert those workers violated her family's rights.

"Once the troopers cited Clayborne and chose not to arrest her, she and her children should have been free to leave," the original lawsuit stated. "However, the troopers did not release Clayborne from custody. Instead, the troopers decided that they were required by policy to bring Clayborne to the jail to meet with the DCS workers who were waiting for her. Pursuant to Tennessee and federal law, Clayborne should have been free to leave, but the troopers kept her in custody anyway."

The court case will continue forward in federal court. The family is suing for compensatory damages.

Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at emily.west@newschannel5.com.

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