WNC Grassroots Media Anchor/Reporter Sarah Scully releases findings on Madison County Department of Social Services Oct. 29.
Multiple people reached out to me after the Madison County Sheriff’s Office stories on Sheriff Buddy Harwood and former Chief Deputy Coy Phillips aired, asking me to also look into the Madison County Department of Social Services.
I’ve confirmed that Madison DSS consistently violated state rules, policies and law when it comes to one of their most consequential duties - the removal and care of children taken from their parents for abuse or neglect - all outlined in this report obtained by records request from the state agency that oversees the department, which placed Madison DSS under a Corrective Action Plan, a CAP, for the failures on Nov. 26, 2025.
Turns out, parents’ constitutional rights were not upheld by Madison DSS social workers and DHHS investigators also found Madison DSS had a total of 7 violations going against “rule, law and policy.”
In North Carolina, each county runs a DSS, but must report to and follow DHHS.
If they don’t, they can get taken over by the state and that’s what almost happened to Madison DSS.
So what brought on the investigation in the first place?
An email inquiry to DHHS discovered the investigation into Madison DSS kicked off on Sept. 8, 2025 when they received “concerns alleging the lack of professional boundaries of a program manager with families being served by child welfare in Madison County which impacted court outcomes.
“Further concerns were expressed that social work staff were not following court orders and lacked knowledge of trauma impacts and permanency planning processes and concepts,” as seen in the report sent to Madison DSS Board Chair Billy Roberts, Madison DSS Director Connie Harris and County Manager Rod Honeycutt.
Madison DSS did not inform the public in a press release about the investigation, violations, what it meant for the families affected or the state-required Corrective Action Plan outlining improvements needed to keep the state from taking over from the board.
When asked, Roberts did not have a response.
It is unclear at this time, just how long this has been going on in Madison and how many people - especially children - have been affected.
But who was the program manager alleged to have a lack of professional boundaries and who were these social workers not following court orders?
DHHS Press Information Officer Hannah Jones said in an Aug. 18 email that confidentiality laws prevented naming the identities of the program manager and social work staff mentioned in the initial Sept. 8, 2025 concerns leading to the investigation and which families were affected.
The report said the investigation found that missing documentation and information prevented full record reviews and that the “practice of social workers in Madison County is not in line with law, rule and policy. The constitutional rights of parents are not upheld when family service agreements are not in place to identify what must be done to achieve reunification with their children.”
To help explain what these Madison DSS violations mean for local families, a social worker recommended a source with a verified story to sit down with me for an interview.
She has been granted anonymity for fear of retaliation and will only have her altered voice played.
“They took my children from me and didn’t give me a choice or offer me help or anything,” said the mom.
This former coach lost her children five years ago after a Madison DSS case worker and Harwood’s then Chief Deputy Phillips showed up one day at her home requiring her to place her children somewhere else.
“They just told me I had 24 hours or they would put them in foster care, and I’d never see them again,” said the mom.
She didn’t learn the truth about her case until a Madison County judge told her a few months ago that there was never any paperwork taking her away from her children.
Sarah: Does that mean you never needed to lose your kids at all?
“Pretty much,” she said.
“Because I was under the impression for 5 years that I didn’t have my rights until one of my children got a DSS case opened on herself for running away from where she was staying,” said the mom.
“And I went down to find where she was at, and they told me that I had my rights, and I could go to their school and do whatever I wanted to…that they had no record of anything."
“I’ve lost enough time away from them that it’s not fair on them or me,” said the mom.
So, you will notice that there’s two pieces of information that share the same date.
The state first received allegations about “the lack of professional boundaries of a program manager” at DSS on Sept. 8, 2025, the same day Phillips was demoted from chief deputy to jail administrator.
Neither the sheriff’s office nor the state health agency would say whether Phillips’ demotion was related to the allegations. Phillips resigned from the sheriff’s office 10 days later.
I also reached out to Phillips through his lawyer Sean Devereux by text Oct. 28 and to Harris and the Madison DSS board by email Oct. 29. I have not heard back by press time.
The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation arrested Phillips on June 14, 2026 for allegedly committing 5 felonies and 2 misdemeanors while serving as Harwood’s second in command. Phillips is currently awaiting trial. Harwood is up for re-election as sheriff Nov. 3.
The investigative review revealed 7 violations, including:
94% of cases did not have monthly supervisory consultation and 91% of the supervisory consultations did not include required areas.
0% of the mothers had their needs identified, and 0% of mothers and 25% of fathers had their Family Service Agreements completed within timeframes. Nearly half of parents did not have FSAs at all.
0% of family time was documented between child and parents. Visitation plans weren’t in the record, and there was no evidence of shared parenting between the removal parents and the caretakers.
Approximately 4 in 21 children in foster care had plans of reunification despite insufficient family service agreements.
Madison County social workers did not engage parents in completion of their case plan.
Monthly foster care contacts were insufficient to ensure safety and appropriate service intervention
89% of cases did not have documentation clearly showing case activity and decision-making.
Sarah: How did you know there was no file ever opened (on your kids)?
“When a DSS worker and a judge reopened the case for one of my children, they said there was no record of me ever having a case opened, ever,” said the mom.
Sarah: How has this affected your family?
“Pretty screwed up from it,” said the mom.
So, what does Madison DSS say caused these violations?
Harris said in an Aug. 16 email that her department’s deficiencies came because of “longstanding staffing issues,” and they are fully cooperating with NC DHHS.
They have to meet the CAP improvements within certain timelines or the Secretary of NC DHHS may “intervene by divesting the Director of oversight of Child Welfare Services and assuming direct oversight of provision of child welfare services for the county.”
Jones said in the Aug. 18 email that “progress is being made on their CAP, and more time is needed to increase consistency.”
Harris pointed to low pay, long hours and the demanding nature of child welfare responsibilities to explain the cause, and said she worked with the county to increase pay by 20% in the last 2 years.
I asked what she had to say to families affected and - if staffing challenges was the issue - did that mean the county commissioners and manager were at fault for not properly funding the department?
She did not respond.
County Manager Honeycutt said in an Aug. 17 phone call that the DSS budget is approved as they present it, and a lot of their funds are passed through the county from the state.
In response to the CAP, he said, “The county operated as efficiently as we could and put corrective measures in place as quickly as we could.”
So, why don’t people in Madison County and beyond know about these violations?
When asked about why there wasn’t a press release sent out to the community about these found violations, Harris’ leadership of Madison DSS, why they let it get to such a level, and what does the Madison DSS board have to say to all the affected families, Chair Roberts said in an Aug. 20 email that “During a period of significant understaffing, leadership and employees of the Madison County Department of Social Services worked tirelessly to ensure that services continued to be provided to our community.
“The Madison County Social Services Board stands firmly behind our leadership and employees as they work through the corrective action plan. We recognize and deeply appreciate their dedication, professionalism and commitment to serving our residents throughout this challenging period.”
“I got my kids taken, and it should never have happened,” said the mom.
I have submitted requests for further information from multiple agencies, which will be released when those stories fully develop.
The next Madison DSS Board meeting is Thursday, Nov. 5 at 4 p.m. at the DSS office on the Marshall bypass.
Note:
Originally intended as a 3-part series to be researched and released all at once, these stories will instead unfold as they develop.
Special thanks to journalists Sally Kestin, Catherine Komp and others for peer-reviewing this story. Also, thanks to those journalists and Kate Martin for helping point me in the right direction for follow-up stories.
