Federal Lawsuit Filed Against Dr. Channing Petrak, Among Others

Federal lawsuit filed by Jacob & Patricia Krueger makes national news this week—Greg Bishop published an article for The Center Square on February 28, 2022 that details the lawsuit filed against a child welfare investigator contracted by the state of Illinois, and others, wherein three children were taken away from their parents for more than a year for arbitrary reasons.

Bishop writes, "In 2019, three children of Jacob and Patricia Krueger were taken into custody by the Department of Children and Family Services (DFCS). Attorney Aaron Rapier represents the family against Dr. Channing Petrak, a contractor for DCFS, and others. He says one of the children was being treated at a hospital for a complex medical issue and was being prepared for discharge..." Read the full article from The Center Square here.

The Daily Wire also reported on this story with an article by Ashe Schow on March 3rd. Schow writes, "Rapier, the family’s attorney, said that the family had previously endured a 17-month long investigation that had found no medical neglect of the middle child being treated, but because Petrak changed her finding at the last minute, according to the lawsuit, all three children were taken from the Krueger’s for 467 days... Rapier told the outlet that “It’s just too scary that someone has that much power and can act so arbitrarily.”

The article goes on to quote Michelle Weidner, FJRC Executive Director, saying “a wrongful allegation can happen to anyone... For children under about age of 3, any birth injury, medical condition or accidental injury can launch an investigation. When children have complicated medical situations, the parents need to be able to trust the hospitals and providers to make their child better. All too often though, when a child has an unexplained medical finding the hospital calls in a child abuse pediatrician who DCFS relies upon to find abuse and write medical opinions in anticipation of litigation.”

The article concludes with a quote from Rapier, stating “Sadly, this one is not isolated and we are investigating other cases where children have been removed and the allegations of abuse and neglect are false."