On The Front Lines
The Rutherford Institute Wins Major Victory for Parents' Fourth, Fourteenth Amendment Rights Against Tulsa Head Start
Appeals Court Rules in Favor of Parents' Fourth Amendment and Due Process RightsDENVER --Citing the Fourth Amendment and parents' rights, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled in favor of a case brought forward by Rutherford Institute attorneys against government officials who allegedly conducted genital examinations on four- and five-year-old children without their parents' knowledge or consent. Ruling against the Tulsa, Oklahoma affiliate of Head Start, the appeals court stated, "It is not the place of a Head Start agency to usurp the parental role." In their appeal of a lower court dismissal of the case, Rutherford Institute attorneys argued that the invasive, unauthorized examinations constituted unreasonable searches and seizures in violation of the Fourth Amendment and that the defendants' actions violated the parents' constitutional right to direct their children's medical treatment.
On November 5, 1998, two nurses arrived at the Head Start program in Tulsa to examine the children enrolled in the program, who were all between the ages of four and five. One nurse took blood samples while the other conducted the physical examinations. The second nurse placed the children on a floor mat atop a school desk, removed the children's undergarments and proceeded to examine their genitals. During the procedure, some of the children cried. One child asked for his mother to accompany him during the exam, but the nurse refused. Misti Dubbs, parent and assistant Head Start teacher, did accompany her daughter into the examination room. When Dubbs realized what type of examinations were being administered, she immediately removed her child from the room and informed other parents of what had happened. Many parents were outraged; one parent took his child to his family practitioner to check for sexual abuse and another reported the incident to a sexual abuse hotline. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma dismissed the lawsuit in May 2001, despite stating in a ruling a year earlier that the lawsuit "raises serious privacy concerns." Institute attorneys presented oral arguments before the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver on January 13, 2003, over the dismissal of the lawsuit against Tulsa officials and the Tulsa affiliate of Head Start.
"On behalf of the many families whose children were subjected to this outrageous non-consensual examination, The Rutherford Institute is grateful that the Court of Appeals affirmed the right of parents to control their children's medical treatment and their children's right to be free from intrusive, unauthorized medical examinations," said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. "With Congress recently taking a closer look at Head Start programs, the Court of Appeals' decision should foster a heightened understanding of the need for accountability by state Head Start providers."
The Rutherford Institute is an international, nonprofit civil liberties organization committed to defending constitutional and human rights.
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