This story originally published online by The Assembly and WBTV.

Garnell Hill said he used to be angry about how the child welfare system had treated him and his 9-year-old son over the last three years. But ahead of a hearing to determine his son’s future on Thursday, he said he felt “empowered.” 

As The Assembly and WBTV reported earlier this week, Hill didn’t learn he had a son—whom we are calling “Christopher” to protect his privacy—until 2020, after he was already in foster care. Hill has never been accused of abuse or neglect, but social workers recently recommended that Christopher be put up for adoption anyway. They pointed to Hill’s previous marijuana use, even though he completed a drug treatment program in September and hasn’t tested positive since. No one has alleged that he used drugs around his son. 

Hill said he’s received a groundswell of community support, including from the advocacy organization Operation Stop CPS, which asked activists to “pack the court” on Thursday. They arrived to find a half-dozen sheriff’s deputies in the hallway outside the courtroom, an unusual sight; family court hearings typically have one bailiff.  

Soon after the hearing began, Durham County District Court Judge Doretta L. Walker ordered activists, journalists, and other observers to leave, a decision supported by the Durham County Department of Social Services and an attorney for the Guardian ad Litem program, which represents Christopher’s interests in court. 

State law makes abuse and neglect hearings open to the public by default, but judges can close them for almost any reason. In this case, Walker cited a video of Christopher’s foster parent posted to a public Google Drive months ago and Operation Stop CPS circulated on Instagram last week. 

The video, which has since been removed from Instagram, depicted Christopher in distress, yelling at his foster father, “I shouldn’t even be here. I’m not in danger no more!” After the foster father told Christopher that he “can control where you’re going,” Christopher shouted through tears, “You think you can tell my dad what to do, my lawyer what to do, my social worker what to do, but you cannot!”

“The child is being exploited,” Walker said in court on Thursday. She argued that the potential harm to Christopher’s privacy outweighed the public’s right to watch the hearing.

Though reporters were exiled to the hallway, they could hear Walker repeatedly yelling from the bench, apparently voicing frustration with attorneys and social workers. The precise context for her comments was unclear. But Hill and his supporters have raised concerns—both on social media and in our recent story—about Christopher’s well-being in his current foster home, and DSS reports show that Christopher was recently hospitalized following a mental health crisis. 

Walker didn’t issue a decision about whether to put Christopher up for adoption. Instead, she continued the case until next year. Hill’s current visitation schedule of supervised visits for two hours every other week will remain the same. For the first time since Hill met his son in 2021, they’ll spend Christmas apart. 

For now, Christopher appears likely to be moved to another foster home—his sixth in five years. 

Jeffrey Billman reports on politics and the law for The Assembly. He is the former editor-in-chief of INDY Week in Durham. Email him at jeffrey@theassemblync.com.

Whitney Clegg is an investigative producer at WBTV. She has previously reported for Reveal, ProPublica, and CNN’s investigative unit, as well as for books on Jeffrey Epstein, Donald Trump, and Turning Point USA. Email her at whitney.clegg@wbtv.com

Nick Ochsner is executive producer and chief investigative reporter for WBTV. He is also co-author of the book The Vote Collectors. Email him at nick.ochsner@gray.tv.

Comment on this story at backtalk@indyweek.com.

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