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What happened with nearly 30 children entrusted to the Cherokee County Department of Social Services over two decades is a stain that will remain on the agency for years to come, regardless of improvements made by the new leadership. With the civil lawsuits settled and criminal charges waiting only on an appeal, officials need to take a deep dive into what happened in order to ensure that nothing like it ever happens again.
To recap what has happened in criminal court:
- On May 13, former Cherokee County DSS attorney Scott Lindsay of Murphy was found guilty on 12 felony counts and two misdemeanor counts of obstruction of justice for his role in securing child custody and visitation agreements, often referred to as CVAs, outside of the court system. Special Superior Court Judge Steve Warren consolidated the counts into one when he sentenced Lindsay to 5-15 months in prison. However, he suspended the sentence for one year, plus court costs, giving Lindsay a year to pay.
- On Oct. 26, 2021, Cindy Palmer, former director of Cherokee County DSS, pleaded guilty to one felony count of obstruction of justice as part of an agreement in which she received a suspended sentence and one year of unsupervised probation. She also performed 24 hours of community service.
- On July 23, 2021, David Hughes, former child protective unit supervisor with Cherokee County DSS, pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors related to his role in the use of CVAs as part of a deal in exchange for testimony at any legal proceeding. On May 10, he received a suspended sentence and one year of unsupervised probation.
As a result of the civil suits, Cherokee County taxpayers are on the hook for roughly half of the combined $53 million in settlements, jury awards and attorneys fees related to nearly two dozen federal lawsuits against DSS. For at least nine years, property taxes will include an extra 8 mills, which adds up to $240 per year for a home valued at $300,000.
While CVAs have been deemed illegal, no evidence was entered that Lindsay, Palmer nor Hughes knew that at the time they were using them. In addition, no evidence was entered that showed any of those three had any motive other than to place a child within their care into a better living arrangement.
Some have referred to CVAs as a scheme hatched by nefarious DSS officials, but I don’t think that’s true, as Palmer and Hughes had solid reputations before these incidents. What appears to have happened is Lindsay received bad advice about using a form similar to CVAs and shared it with DSS during a special situation, only for social workers to end up using it on the regular.
Tragically, that ended up putting some children in even worse situations, which is what led to the lawsuits that started this process. We pray all of the victims receive whatever help they need to put this behind them and build a new life.
Unfortunately, this was not the first time Lindsay’s bad lawyering came back to cost the county. Over the years, the government also lost at least two six-figure lawsuits from terminated county workers due to either wrong advice or no advice, and the county was forced to hire expensive outside counsel far too many times in a significant waste of taxpayer’s money.
The civil lawsuits made all the sense in the world, but I’ve questioned the criminal charges since the day they were filed. Both Palmer and Hughes lacked the training to deal with issues like this and, at worst, Lindsay is guilty of passing on bad advice and not checking into it further. They are not bad people, and justice would not have been served by putting any of them behind bars.
There will be another consequence in the years to come. It’s already difficult for some counties, municipalities and school boards to find qualified attorneys to represent them, which is only going to become a bigger challenge as a result of this verdict. After all, who would want to work for a government agency if issuing one poor opinion could get you indicted?
The county commissioners who hired Palmer, didn’t give her adequate training and then didn’t take her recommendation to find a new attorney bear a lot of responsibility – as does the DSS board, which included a commissioner. The state is culpable, too, since the N.C. Department of Health & Human Services oversees DSS and didn’t catch the use of CVAs for many years.
Yet, despite all that, the average property owner will end up paying the bill. And it’s highly doubtful that anyone will ever be held accountable for that crime.
David Brown is publisher of the Cherokee Scout. You can reach him by phone, 828-837-5122; email, dbrown@cherokeescout.com; or on X @daviddBstroh.