By Lucas Thomae
Carolina Public Press
A federal lawsuit filed two weeks ago by advocacy group Disability Rights NC alleges that Moore County Department of Social Services unlawfully institutionalized two children while their mother was being treated for cancer.
According to the complaint, Vass resident Rumina Slazas was hospitalized for cancer in July 2022. A month later, Moore County DSS took custody of her 14-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter, both of whom have significant intellectual disabilities. They are referred to as J.S. and S.S. in the court filings.
Slazas, J.S. and S.S. are the plaintiffs in the case, and Moore County is named as the defendant.
The lawsuit claims Moore County refused to return the children to Slazas weeks after the county took custody of them, despite having a written opinion from Slazas’ health care providers declaring that she was in “complete remission.”
The lawsuit also alleges that in August 2022 Moore County DSS dropped Slazas’ nonverbal daughter off at UNC Health’s pediatric emergency department for “aggressive behaviors” and refused to pick her up after she was discharged, forcing her to “remain in limbo” at the clinic for nearly nine months while the county sought a placement for her at a psychiatric facility.
Both siblings were eventually reunited with their mother in 2023, but not before the county sent them to separate institutional settings rather than seeking community-based services for them. The lawsuit argues that in doing so, Moore County violated “well-settled disability law” established by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision Olmstead vs. L.C.
“Throughout Defendant’s custody of J.S. and S.S., Defendant ignored information from medical and disability services professionals about the services and supports appropriate for Plaintiff children and about Plaintiff mother’s recovery from cancer,” the complaint reads.
“Defendant acted with deliberate indifference to Plaintiffs’ rights under the ADA and with disregard for the children’s long-term wellbeing by institutionalizing them and unreasonably delaying their return to their mother.”
Slazas did not make herself available for an interview, although Disability Rights NC attorney Holly Stiles told Carolina Public Press that she may choose to speak about her case against Moore County at a later date.
CPP submitted a records request to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services on Monday for all correspondence with Rumina Slazas, Disability Rights NC or county officials related to the custody situation dating back to 2022. DHHS acknowledged the request, but no records have received prior to publication of this article.
What is the Olmstead decision?
In 1999, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that in accordance with the “integration mandate” of the ADA, public entities must provide community-based services to persons with disabilities as long as such services are appropriate, the affected persons do not oppose community-based treatment and those services can be reasonably accommodated.
Disability rights activists consider Olmstead one of the most important civil rights rulings in the country’s history, as it marked a significant step toward ending the widespread institutionalization of people with disabilities.
In response to the ruling, North Carolina created an Olmstead plan that laid out how it planned to move away from institutional care facilities and toward community-based treatment. Disability Rights NC CEO Virginia Knowlton Marcus said in a statement on the 25th Anniversary of Olmstead earlier this summer that North Carolina’s plan “lacks ambition, imagination and investment.”
The Olmstead ruling has been the basis for several lawsuits against public entities in North Carolina over the past 25 years. Stiles told CPP that Disability Rights NC has a track record of successful Olmstead lawsuits, and more are currently making their way through the court system.
One federal lawsuit filed by the organization in April argues that North Carolina violates the rights of disabled pre-trial detainees in state jails by failing to ensure timely evaluations and treatment for them.
Another, filed in December 2022 against North Carolina DHHS director Kody Kinsley, takes aim at the practice of sending disabled children in foster care to psychiatric residential treatment facilities.
Next steps unclear in lawsuit against Moore County
Several Moore County officials, including DSS Director David Richmond, declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Mary Craven Adams, the independent attorney representing Moore County in the case, told CPP that she could not speak on the substance of the case because the county had not been served with the lawsuit as of Tuesday.
“After the county is served, and a response of filed on behalf of the county, more information will be available in the federal court filings,” Adams said in an email.
In many cases like this, a county that is sued may file a motion to dismiss. If Moore County does that, it would be ruled on by U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder. Such an action could delay further proceedings by months or longer.
