Guernsey mother sues state DHS over foster care decision

A Guernsey mother filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Iowa Department of Human Services for placing her 5-year-old daughter in foster care based on a false allegation and asks the court to prevent it from happening again.

Jessica Wilbur, 20, filed the lawsuit in Johnson County District Court, claiming Paul LaFauce, a DHS abuse investigator, and DHS Director Charles Krogmeier violated her constitutional rights by placing her child in foster care based on document signed by the child's non-custodial father, Robert Nino of Marshalltown, a convicted sex offender.

According to a petition filed Nov. 13, Nino took the girl for a weekend visit in November, did not return her to her mother and filed a false sexual abuse complaint against Wilbur. Nino then signed a voluntary foster care placement agreement with the DHS, and the child spent two weeks in foster care.

The abuse allegation was deemed to be false, but the department refused to return the child until after an article about the case ran in The Gazette, said Natalie Cronk, Wilbur's attorney.

Cronk said the DHS contacted Wilbur at that point and said her child would be returned if she signed a plan to assure the girl's safety. The plan, Cronk said, had nothing to do with the initial allegations.

Cronk then went with Wilbur to the foster care home of Nino's sister, who wasn't a qualified foster parent, to take the child home after the DHS couldn't produce an order granting authority to restrain or withhold the child from her mother.

The lawsuit contends the Johnson County DHS office has since retaliated against Wilbur by proceeding with a baseless investigation and has threatened additional action.

DHS spokesman Roger Munns declined to comment Tuesday.

The suit asks the court to declare the DHS policy under which Nino signed the girl away a violation of Iowa law and constitutional principles. It also asks for punitive damages against LaFauce.