Parents are warned their children could be put in foster care over lunch debt

"This is a failure to provide your child with proper nutrition and you can be sent to Dependency Court for neglecting your child's right to food," the Pennsylvania district wrote.

July 19, 2019, 10:49 AM EDT / Updated July 19, 2019, 11:36 AM EDT
By Minyvonne Burke

An eastern Pennsylvania school district is coming under fire for sending letters to parents demanding they pay their school lunch debt or risk having their children placed in foster care.

In one letter shared on social media and obtained by NBC affiliate WBRE, the parents are informed that their child has a balance of $75.25 and if they do not pay it, the parents could be reported to Luzerne County dependency court.

"Your child has been sent to school every day without money and without breakfast and/or lunch. This is a failure to provide your child with proper nutrition and you can be sent to Dependency Court for neglecting your child's right to food," the July 9 letter reads.

If the parent is taken to court, they risk their child being removed "and placed in foster care," according to the letter.

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David Usavage, the vice president of the school board, said on Saturday that when he first read the letter, he had thought it was a “joke.”

“It was not approved by anyone,” Mr. Usavage said of the letter. “We have a policy that says everything should go through the superintendent.”

He said the letter was written by Mr. Muth and the district’s lawyer, Charles R. Coslett. Mr. Usavage said Mr. Muth has apologized. Attempts to reach Mr. Muth and Mr. Coslett on Saturday were unsuccessful.

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