New Jersey child welfare caseworkers who took a child from its mother during an investigation have qualified immunity from a due process suit because they had no notice, established by case law, that they were violating a clearly established constitutional right, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has ruled in a precedential opinion.
The appeals court reversed a decision by U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson of the District of New Jersey, who found five caseworkers who temporarily removed the plaintiff’s child from her home were not entitled to immunity.
