CA10: Photographing partially undressed child at school for suspected child abuse gets QI

A state case worker who photographed a partially unclothed child at school gets qualified immunity for a special needs search of the child. No SCOTUS or circuit case says that the special needs doctrine does or does not apply here. The closest might be Ferguson on drug testing a pregnant woman in coordination with the police where the Supreme Court held the search was unreasonable. In other circuits, the case law is split 4-2 on whether a “search” like this is reasonable under special needs. Therefore, qualified immunity applies. The court also finds a Fourteenth Amendment due process right in familial associations lacking here because of the child abuse nature of the government action rather than it being wanton or gratuitous. Doe v. Woodard, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 112 (10th Cir. Jan. 3, 2019).*

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