A Georgia couple acquitted at trial of abusing their baby daughter say their family has been torn apart by the law enforcement officers, medical staff and state workers who repeatedly ignored signs she was sick and instead treated them as unfit parents.
Matthew and Wilairat “Tuckey” Hernandez filed a lawsuit Tuesday against two investigators from the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office, several doctors, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and six employees of the Georgia Department of Human Services and Division of Family and Children Services.
The couple claims the defendants failed to properly investigate their daughter’s injuries, falsely accused them of abusing her and placed her and her older sister in foster care against policy and procedure. They said DFCS staff were hostile and retaliated against foster parents who saw through the false abuse allegations.
A spokesperson for Children’s Hospital of Atlanta declined to comment on pending litigation. Attorneys for Matthew and Tuckey Hernandez and a representative of the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to questions about the case Wednesday. A spokesperson for the Georgia Department of Human Services said it has not been served with the complaint and that it usually declines to comment on pending litigation and is constrained by confidentiality laws.
The lawsuit comes after Georgia legislators raised concerns about DFCS overstepping its authority in seeking expanded powers for case workers and juvenile court judges. The agency also faced criticism recently over its involvement in the parenting of a child who wandered less than a mile from his home in North Georgia.
DFCS has recently enhanced protocols for handling physical abuse investigations involving an assessment by a child abuse pediatrician, according to a February 2025 memorandum.
In their lawsuit, Matthew and Tuckey Hernandez said the defendants “worked together to deprive innocent families of their parental rights while denying adequate medical care to medically fragile children suffering from undiagnosed conditions that lead to their illnesses and injuries.”
A similar case in Florida ended with a jury verdict of more than $200 million for the family of Maya Kowalski. That case inspired the Netflix documentary “Take Care of Maya.”
The Kowalski verdict in 2023 shone a spotlight on a widespread problem, according to the Family Justice Resource Center, a nonprofit based in Illinois that says it helps families facing “medically-based wrongful allegations of child abuse or neglect.”
“Countless family members are left deeply traumatized by wrongful accusations initiated and perpetuated by child abuse pediatricians who are embedded in the hospital setting while simultaneously acting as agents of law enforcement and child protective services,” the center says on its website. “Many families who are wrongly accused don’t have a fighting chance for exoneration or vindication.”
Matthew and Tuckey Hernandez said their daughter, Emma Hernandez, was born in March 2023 during a difficult delivery. They said they took her to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta in June 2023 because she had a swollen leg and a bruise behind her ear.
They claim a child abuse pediatrician examined her and hastily concluded she had been abused, without considering her full medical history. That triggered the involvement of DFCS and law enforcement, who ambushed Tuckey Hernandez at the hospital, according to the complaint.
Tuckey Hernandez spent several days in jail and was not allowed contact with her children or husband once released on bond, the suit alleges. It says the children were initially placed in the care of an aunt and uncle, then were moved around several foster homes before returning to their relatives.
Emma Hernandez’s injuries persisted while she was outside her parents’ care, according to the suit.
Matthew and Tuckey Hernandez were indicted in December 2023, accused of fracturing their daughter’s ribs, leg and foot, court records show.
The couple says their children were not properly cared for by DFCS employees, who, among other things, let them be taken out of the state without their knowledge or permission. They also allege they were not made aware that Emma Hernandez received unnecessary and invasive pelvic examinations, vaccinations and other medical treatment authorized by DFCS.
The state department is further accused of retaliating against a foster couple who stood up for Matthew and Tuckey Hernandez and reported medical concerns about Emma Hernandez.
The child was diagnosed in February 2024 with a medical condition that causes hands, feet and other parts of the body to turn a blue, white or gray color, the complaint says.
Matthew and Tuckey Hernandez were found not guilty in May 2025 on two counts each of felony cruelty to children in the first degree and aggravated battery-family violence, court records show.
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
