Croft v. Westmoreland County Children And Youth Service

103 F.3d 1123 (3rd. Cir. 1997)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Westmoreland (D) got a call from Childline that Croft (P) was sexually abusing his daughter. D was told that the child slept with her parents and that she had recently been out of the house naked and had walked to a neighbor's house knocked on the door and told the neighbor's that she was sleeping with mommy and daddy. P then explained the incident in that the child had gotten out of her bed without waking the parents, locked herself outside and then went to her babysitter a short distance away wearing her pajama tops and holding her pajama bottoms with a soiled diaper in it. P agreed that his daughter had seen him naked and that the family vacationed as nude beaches and that the child had slept in her parents' bed so they could be nearby to take care of her seizures and that she slept naked rarely. Ps slept clothed P admitted to applying creams to the vaginal area when she had a rash but that he had never molested his daughter. D gave P an ultimatum that unless he left the home immediately, she would take the child and place her in foster care. The interview with the wife was done, and she confirmed the stories. There was no sign of sexual abuse or abuse of the child, but D restated the ultimatum. P complied with the ultimatum and left the house. D was uncertain whether sexual abuse has occurred. Ps filed a complaint against D and alleged that Ds had impermissibly interfered with their Fourteenth Amendment liberty interest in the companionship of their daughter. D filed a motion to dismiss based on qualified immunity. The court granted the summary judgment, and Ps appealed.