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WILKES-BARRE &#8212; A federal lawsuit filed Tuesday by a Yatesville mother of two alleges Luzerne County Children and Youth Services workers had her referred for psychiatric care and took her children away when she sought a protection-from-abuse order against their allegedly abusive father.Current and former county and state employees are individually named as defendants in the suit, along with the county and Children and Youth Services.In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Brooke Ciprich, of Willow Road in Yatesville, claims the defendants violated her civil rights when they conspired in 2013 to prevent her from keeping custody of her children, ages 4 and 2.County officials said Friday they had no knowledge the lawsuit had been filed.In the complaint, Ciprich says she was assaulted in her home on Nov. 18, 2013, by Eric Phillips, her children&#8217;s father.According to a police affidavit, Ciprich reported Phillips had choked and beaten her and had fired at least three rounds from a handgun at her while she was holding her child, who was one month old at the time.In a statement to police, Ciprich said Phillips told her &#8220;the first bullet is going in your head and the second is going in mine.&#8221;During the argument, Phillips said he had several magazines for the handgun and would shoot any police that arrived at the residence, the affidavit says. Police later used a Taser to subdue Phillips after he ignored several warnings to drop the weapon.The complaint says Phillips&#8217; 4-year-old child, who was thrown to the floor during the fray, was transported to Geisinger Medical Center in Danville for a depressed skull fracture.Phillips was arrested the same day and the incident was reported to Children and Youth.The complaint says Ciprich sought and obtained a PFA against Phillips on Nov. 20 and a hearing was scheduled for Nov. 26, but Ciprich missed the hearing. A temporary PFA was later granted Dec. 5 and a hearing on the matter was set for Dec. 12, according to the suit.The complaint further says following the incident with Phillips, Ciprich was staying with a friend, Catherine Yankovich, on Nov. 30 when Yankovich lashed out in a &#8220;severe psychiatric episode&#8221; spurred by a bipolar disorder. Ciprich, with one of her children nearby, was forced to use pepper spray to keep Yankovich at bay.Children and Youth on Dec. 10 held an internal meeting where it was decided that what occurred was a &#8220;near fatality situation,&#8221; even though there weren&#8217;t records to support the claims, the complaint says. An emergency petition for shelter care of minor children was filed and granted.During a visit to Ciprich&#8217;s home the same day, caseworkers took custody of the two children to place them into foster care, alleging Ciprich should have informed them Phillips had been released and because of the pepper spray incident that occurred with Yankovich, the complaint says.The suit alleges at a later meeting, supervisor JoAnn Costanzo, &#8220;without foundation or factual support,&#8221; opined that Ciprich had a &#8220;diminished capacity.&#8221; Caseworkers requested Ciprich undergo psychiatric evaluation despite her not having any such history. An evaluation found she did not suffer from any psychiatric illnesses, the suit alleges.After a hearing on March 14, the children were found not to be dependent and the Children and Youth action was dismissed.The county&#8217;s Children and Youth agency has been struggling to rebound in recent months after the state downgraded its license to provisional status, citing &#8220;serious concerns&#8221; and &#8220;regulatory violations&#8221; discovered through inspections sparked by a child&#8217;s death.The county and state largely blamed staffing shortages and enacted a corrective plan that includes intensified recruiting of caseworkers and possible raises to fill numerous vacancies.A license downgrade forces the agency to undergo and pass more frequent inspections to restore its compliant status.County officials also are seeking a new administrator because Children and Youth Director Krista McIlhaney has resigned, effective Dec. 31, to accept a position outside the area.McIlhaney had been on the job a little over a year. She was hired for the $78,000 position in September 2014. Frank Castano, her predecessor, had resigned in October 2013 to accept a local school district position.Named in the suit are Costanzo, Castano and caseworkers Jamie Stuart and Kayci Konopki. Laureen Yeager and Nicole Bednarek, attorneys employed by the county solicitor&#8217;s office, are also named.The lawsuit further names Trisha Godshalk and Brian Waugh, employees of the state Department of Human Services, state attorney Amanda Young and police officer Tracy Shultz.According to the complaint, Ciprich is seeking an amount to be determined at trial, including punitive damages against both the county and Children and Youth and the individual defendants with interest.<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Brooke Ciprich claims organization violated her civil rights</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Joe Dolinskyjdolinsky@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Joe Dolinsky at 570-991-6110 or on Twitter @JoeDolinskyTL</shirttailMeta></div>

Yatesville mother files federal lawsuit against Luzerne County Children and Youth Services