This is my family. I refused warrantless entry because the Fourth Amendment still applies when CPS shows up with armed deputies. I offered a welfare check without police; they refused.
The next day they returned with emergency removal orders and took both of our daughters, including our one-month-old breastfeeding infant, and placed them in a foster home with a single father of 3 boys 😠. There was no criminal charge against us and no emergency. After an emergency hearing the court dismissed the removal order. Every major finding was later reversed as unfounded, and DFS abandoned its appeal. The damage—especially to a nursing mother and newborn—was already done.
I have since filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit (Yazdani v. Mieszala et al., EDVA 1:26-cv-03365) over separate LCSO misconduct. Accountability for the CPS side is next.
We are not the only Loudoun family to raise these issues. Sarah Legg (
@sarahgracelegg) posted a detailed personal statement describing her own experience with the same worker: she alleges Kelli Hedrick abused her position, coordinated with law enforcement to have her arraigned while eight months pregnant (threatening jail, a fine, and re-education), and showed a pattern of manipulative conduct and poor judgment toward families. She specifically called out “deep concerns about Kelli Hedrick’s judgment, conduct, and influence on families and the local agencies of Loudoun County.”
Read her full statement here:
nitter.siddz.com/sarahgracelegg/status/…