NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Tennessee State Representative Aftyn Behn has gathered interviews and signatures from 400 families who allege that the Tennessee Department of Child Services (DCS) is systematically negligent and failures of compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) when caring for children in state custody. She has now filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.
Behn argues that DCS needs a complete overhaul. "I want to give a lot of credit to the legislators who have perennially filed legislation to hold them accountable for their negligence. But we are at a tipping point. Because I ran for Congress, I became a person that a lot of Tennesseans decided to reach out to because perhaps they looked at me as a fighter. Throughout the past few months, we collected dozens of testimonials from families alleging systematic negligence, and structural displacement of kids with disabilities, which we know is a federal issue. And these families felt like they have not been heard — not been heard by their state legislators or by their local leaders, so I decided as an organizer to move forward with the process of filing this complaint with the Department of Justice."
Behn is also looking ahead politically — she plans to run again for State Representative in District 51. During this legislative session, she continues to champion her “Pot for Potholes” proposal and promote “Homes Not Hedge Funds,” following recent policy shifts: President Trump signed executive orders downgrading marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III and imposing stricter limits on private equity firms, barring them from owning more than 100 single-family homes.
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