Left: Mentally disabled mother arrested with no charges to a crime, no arrest warrant and no reading of Miranda rights. Right: Disabled mother handcuffed to a bed in a mental health facility after being arrested. Photos provided by family.
by Health Impact News/MedicalKidnap.com Staff
Police have arrested a mother in Virginia. She was charged with no crime. There was no warrant. Tara Chapman, who has a mental health disability, was reportedly dragged out of the house, placed in handcuffs, and taken away in a police car yesterday, March 7, 2018.
Whitney Manning is her mother, and she has been fighting Tennessee’s Child Protective Services for her daughter and grandchildren for several years. She is terrified for the very life of her daughter.
Attorney Connie Reguli told Health Impact News that she believes that Tara’s arrest was “all retaliation” for their story being exposed. She said that Tara was not a threat to herself or to anyone else.
She was TRULY medically kidnapped. They are treating her like a criminal. This is true abuse of the mentally ill.
We reported the family’s story in January. See:
Tennessee Kidnaps 3 Boys from Mentally Disabled Mom – Refuses Grandmother Custody in Favor of Adoption to Strangers
Since that time, Whitney has been gagged by the family court from talking about the Termination of Parental Rights (TPR) case against her daughter. Whitney has served as conservator over her daughter, whose mental health seriously declined after the children were taken from her family.
The chancery court, in which the conservatorship case is held, has been reportedly “following suit” of the family court in trying to bully Whitney Manning into silence.
Her attorney clarified to Health Impact News that there is no gag order on the chancery court case, but it is under seal. It is clear, however, that Whitney is afraid to speak out, but she is even more afraid of what will happen to Tara if she doesn’t speak up now.
Tara Was in Danger in Tennessee Facility
For many months, Tara has been a resident of the Gibson Place, a voluntary, residential treatment facility in Johnson City, Tennessee. Her family has been concerned for her safety there because she has eloped, or run away 4 times to date from the facility. Each time, she was sent to a mental health hospital for a few days, and then she would be returned to Gibson Place.
It was obvious to Whitney that this arrangement was not working. Tara’s needs were not being met there, and she wanted to go home.
There was also a lab report showing that she had high ammonia levels in her blood. Tara was also in a back brace. A doctor’s report said that she had severe pulled muscles and ligaments. It happened at Gibson Place, but nobody can tell Whitney how it happened. Whitney has been greatly concerned for Tara’s safety in the facility.
On Friday, February 16, 2018, Whitney picked Tara up for a weekend visit with family in Virginia. The following Monday, they sent word to the voluntary treatment facility that Tara was not going back.
It should have been their choice.
For 3 weeks, Tara did “excellent.” Though her sons remain in foster care in Tennessee, she was with other family members, and that was good. They enjoyed having meals together and being a family again.
During the past 3 weeks, Tara enjoyed spending time with family and even helped to provide meals. Photo provided by family.
Whitney has told Health Impact News in the past that she believed that being around her family would be very therapeutic for her daughter.
Tara had graduated with honors from college and had a teaching degree. The Tennessee Department of Children’s Services (DCS) became involved during a time when Tara was being abused by her sons’ father. She had struggled with depression and bipolar disorder to some degree before that, but her children being taken literally drove her crazy.
Whitney Manning (left) with her daughter Tara. Photo provided by family.
After her mother took her out of the Tennessee group home, Tara began seeing doctors in Virginia for medical treatment. It appeared that, even with Tara’s mental disability, there was hope for her to get somewhat better.
Tara was doing great. She and her mother went out shopping on Wednesday for craft supplies.
Then the police showed up.
Arrested in Virginia Without a Warrant
Whitney says that her daughter had not done anything wrong. Attorney Connie Reguli told us that Tara Chapman was not a threat to herself or anyone else. If she had been, there would have been clear grounds for the police to take her into custody. Those conditions did not exist.
The police didn’t have a warrant. They reportedly told Tara and her family that they have something signed by a court and they don’t need anything else. Whitney was on the phone with her attorney, but Connie says:
They refused to produce a warrant or court order.
No Miranda rights were read.
The 4th Amendment to the United States Constitution states:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Apparently, a Tennessee magistrate had signed an emergency custody order for Tara, even though she had been in Virginia for 3 weeks, safely in the care of her mother and family.
Adult Medical Kidnapping – Tennessee Takes Custody through Conservatorship
There was reportedly an ex parte hearing in Tennessee without the family or their attorneys during which Whitney Manning’s conservatorship over her daughter was taken from her and placed with someone else. Who that “someone else” is, no one connected to the family knows.
Police took Tara Chapman to a local mental hospital where she was handcuffed to a bed. Whitney had to ask for a pillow to cushion Tara’s arm from the metal bed rail.
Posted to Family Forward Project Facebook page: “This is how our government treats a mom with a mental health disability…. The corruption is rampant. Disability rights trampled on. Due process annihilated.” – Connie Reguli
Connie Reguli reports:
The mental health exam showed that she did not reach the criteria of admission. [But] they still held her hostage.
From the mental health hospital, Tara was transported to a police station in Virginia.
Where Is She Now?
The Virginia police refused to allow her to go home with her family, insisting instead that they would only release her to the conservator who had been appointed (“Ex parte,” Reguli adds.) Tara has never met the conservator before. The family and the attorney still do not know who this person is.
As it stands now, Connie Reguli says:
We don’t know who picked her up or where they’ve taken her.
Whitney is terrified for her daughter.
According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the law requires that the disabled be in the “least restrictive environment” possible. It is her legal right to be with her family if they can care for her. It is a violation of ADA to force her into captivity.
Connie Reguli with Whitney Manning. Photo from YouTube video.
Tara’s children should have been placed with her family, also according to ADA. As we wrote in the story of disabled father Matthew Marble (see link):
Connie Reguli writes that under both state and federal guidelines:
…the state child welfare agency is required to place with a relative when the child cannot be returned to a parent. Kinship foster care is codified in Tennessee Title 37 and is also a requirement put down by the United States Department of Health and Human Services under Title IV E of the Social Security Act for any state child welfare agency receiving federal funds.
Story Shared in Public Forum before Gag Order
Our previous coverage of the family’s story came before the Tennessee family court issued the unconstitutional gag order.
See more on the constitutionality of gag orders here:
Family Court Judges’ Unconstitutional Gag Orders On Parents
Also before the gag order was this YouTube video showing Whitney Manning speaking in a public forum on August 11, 2016, about what DCS has done to her family:
How You Can Help
Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam may be reached at (615) 741-2001, or contacted here.
Senator Jon Lundburg represents the district in Tennessee where Tara’s conservatorship case is involved with the chancery court and where her boys are being held. He may be reached at (615) 741-5761, or contacted here.
Representative Bud Hulsey is the Representative for that district. He may be reached at (615) 741-2886, or contacted here.
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