Jatoia Potts’ problem was that she couldn’t explain what happened to her son.
Just a few weeks after his premature birth in late 2017, her youngest son had been rushed to the ER with “a head bleed, seizures, and possible blood loss in the abdomen,” according to court records.
Doctors attributed the injuries to “non-accidental trauma.” Potts and the baby’s father denied harming him, but they could not offer any explanation for the injuries.
Potts was quickly swept into a child welfare system that she wasn’t prepared to handle. And after a slow, drawn-out process, Potts’ parental rights were eventually terminated in July 2021.
Since 2018, North Carolina courts have terminated the rights of nearly 1,200 parents per year, including an average of 32 per year in Durham, according to state records. Only 30 percent of the 5,020 North Carolina children who left foster care in the 2022-23 fiscal year were reunited with their parents. In Durham, the reunification rate was just 22 percent, less than half of the national average.
Even for many lawyers, this part of the legal system is particularly opaque–and it disproportionately affects Black, low-wealth parents who have been accused of abuse or neglect in Durham and across the state. According to state records, Potts, who is Black, was one of 34 Durham parents who lost their rights in the 2021-22 fiscal year; only one was white.
“I think that goes back to the roots of this type of courtroom,” said Elizabeth Simpson, an attorney at Emancipate NC who took on Potts’ case. “Family courts are supposed to be more touchy-feely and looking at holistic-type things. But what it’s led to is a lack of advocacy, a lack of adherence to the legal standards.”
Today we bring you the second in a three-part investigation from The Assembly and WBTV on a state child welfare system that wields enormous power with little accountability.
Jatoia Potts lost both her children because she couldn’t explain her baby’s injuries. She never stood a chance against the state’s child welfare system.
Potts hasn’t seen either of her boys in over four years, but she hasn’t lost hope.
“I see them in my dreams sometimes,” she said. “To live every day without my children, without seeing them, not knowing what they’re doing, not knowing how they are, not getting any updates, not getting any pictures—it’s hard.”
Potts said she wants to share her story to “leave a trail for my children. They’re going to look for me one day. And they’re going to see that [I] never stopped fighting.”
The Brief
Last week, federal judge William Osteen Jr. declined to stop a Judicial Standards Commission investigation into state Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls. As we wrote about after the hearing, Earls argued that the investigation violates her First Amendment rights, as it targeted her comments to North Carolina Lawyer and Law360 about changes the court was considering and the lack of diversity in the court system.
Earls filed a notice of appeal to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday and has asked Osteen to stay his ruling while her appeal is pending.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill graduate student charged with murdering his professor has been deemed mentally incapable of standing trial, ABC 11 reports.
Federal District Court Judge James Dever denied a request to speed up hearings on a motion to block new state Senate maps on Monday. Black voters have filed suit over the maps, which they say amount to unconstitutional gerrymandering. But the judge questioned the timing of the suit and request, as WRAL reports.
“Plaintiffs do not explain why they waited 26 days to file this action and 28 days to move for a preliminary injunction,” the judge wrote. “In so waiting, plaintiffs belie their ‘claim that there is an urgent need for speedy action to protect their rights’ or that their entitlement to a preliminary injunction is clear.”
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Back in the News
After a nearly week-long federal trial in Greensboro, Carlisa Allen, 46, was found guilty on five charges, including conspiracy to distribute cocaine and fentanyl, distribution while in possession of a firearm, and distribution resulting in the death of Josh Zinner, a former UNC-Wilmington student who lived in Raleigh.
She faces a prison term of 25 years to life. Her partner, Cye Frasier, pled guilty to similar charges last month, and will be sentenced in January.
The fentanyl-laced cocaine that Fraiser and Allen sold also killed Elizabeth Grace Burton of Charlotte, a 19-year-old UNC student who died after overdosing at Duke in March. But neither dealer has been charged in her death, to the dismay of Burton’s mother and uncle.
Charlotte Kramon, who has been reporting on Burton’s death for The Assembly, covered Allen’s trial and what it revealed about campus drug culture.
They Were Go-To Dealers for College Students. Now They’re Headed to Prison.
A trial in federal court last week stemming from the overdose of a 23-year-old Raleigh man exposed the inner workings of a drug-dealing duo and their college-student clients.
Have suggestions for improving this newsletter or news tips? Email us at courts@theassemblync.com.
Recent Stories
The Poverty Trap
The first of a 3-part series on the child welfare system looks at the case of a Durham mother who fled an abusive partner, only to have her children taken.
Clouds Over Columbus County
Dozens of people have been subpoenaed in a wide-ranging federal investigation into abuses of power at the Columbus County Sheriff’s Office.
Conclusion, But No Closure
A Davidson County murder case drew international media coverage, but the conclusion brought little closure.
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