Attorney Connie Reguli of Brentwood, Tennessee, is known for being an outspoken warrior who fights legally on behalf of families who are dealing with Child Protective Services. Now, she is being arrested after trying to help a parent secure due process.
On the morning of Tuesday, July 16, 2019, Connie Reguli received a phone call notifying her that there is a warrant out for her arrest.
She turned herself in to the Brentwood Police Department on Wednesday morning.
Connie has never been arrested before. The founder of the Family Forward Project has no criminal history, nor have there been any allegations of criminal activity. Yet, for doing her job as an attorney to have the voice of her client, a parent, be heard, she is being criminally charged.
Retaliation like this, Connie says, is the reason that families often cannot get legal help when their children are taken from them. Attorneys who fight for clients’ Constitution rights such as due process and who fight against corruption are often threatened or bullied into backing down.
This makes it difficult for parents whose children are taken by Child Protective Services, no matter how unjustly. Many attorneys are simply scared.
More often than not, the allegations against parents are baseless and end up being unsubstantiated. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services “Child Maltreatment” Report, only 17% of allegations against parents are substantiated. (See link.)
The charges against Connie Reguli are facilitation of custodial interference and accessory after the fact of custodial interference in the case of a client she represented. The client is also facing charges of custodial interference.
The client’s children were seized by the Tennessee Department of Children and Families (DCF) based on an “ex parte order.” That is, the order was brought before a judge and signed by a judge without notifying the mother or her attorney.
As the mother’s attorney, Connie Reguli asked for her client to have due process and get a court date where she could be heard after the children were seized on the basis of an ex parte order.
Ex parte orders are supposed to be reserved for times when there is an emergency situation, one in which there is risk of irreparable harm if parties have to wait for a court hearing. All too often, however, they are the normal practice in Child Protective Services cases.
In the case in question, there was never any evidence of the allegations against the mother, and the petition against her was ultimately dismissed. However, DCF took her children away from her, put them in several different foster homes, and subjected the children to almost a year of trauma before the case was dismissed and the children returned home.
Connie Reguli, a Family Attorney and Family Advocate was told by the DA, they had a warrant for her arrest. She turned herself in on 7/17/2019. Victurus Libertas gave an update from Connie on exactly what happened, and what will happen later regarding this circus the State of Tennessee is running.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy–09KP6Ec
