A Valparaiso mother and father have their kids back after they say the Indiana Department of Child Services wrongfully accused them of abusing their baby.
It’s an update to a story Indiana’s I-Team first brought you back in May about Amanda Denney, an emergency room nurse, and her husband Louis Stanford.
They contacted Kara Kenney with Indiana’s I-Team for help.
On June 30, Porter County Magistrate Kristen Mulligan dismissed the CHINS (Child in Need of Services) case against the Stanfords.
“The children shall return to the care of Mother and Father,” read the court order. “This matter is hereby closed in its entirety.”
For the past seven months, the children had been staying in their home with their grandmother while the couple slept at the grandmother’s home.
“It’s over,” said Amanda. “We were robbed of seven and a half months of our children's lives.”
'It was terrifying': Couple says DCS took children amid abuse allegations
The Stanfords say their daughter, Clara Stanford, appeared happy and healthy at four weeks old.
On November 6, 2025, her mother, Amanda, saw something about Clara that concerned her.
“I looked in the inner corner of her eye, and I just noticed a red mark, and I'm like, 'What is that?'” asked Amanda.
The next day, Clara’s other eye also had bleeding, according to Amanda.
Amanda took Clara to the pediatrician, who referred them to Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago.
As a nurse, Amanda knew to expect a lot of questions and tests at the hospital.
"They did the CT, did the X-ray, which was, in fact, a skeletal survey, which, from my research, automatically triggers a consultation to a child abuse pediatrician,” said Amanda. “I don't think we were concerned at all because there was, nothing was going to show up on a scan or an X-ray to substantiate our child was abused.”
Clara’s parents say the child abuse pediatrician asked them a lot of questions, including about Clara’s birth and family history.
“She said, you know, an infant cannot injure themselves like this; something had to have happened,” said Amanda.
Amanda said she explained to the doctor that Clara had been straining to make a bowel movement in the days before.
“She was bearing down, like purple face, arms over her head, trying to have a bowel movement, and we're like, 'Could that have caused it?'” asked Amanda.
Doctors contacted the Indiana Department of Child Services, and a DCS caseworker came to the hospital.
“She's like, 'I can detain your kids,'” said Amanda. “I freaked out. It was terrifying, absolutely and utterly terrifying.”
DCS removed Clara and her older sister from the Stanfords through an emergency detention, where the agency can remove a child without a court order.
“I bargained, yelled, screamed and cried on the floor for like a good two and a half three hours because I was in just such shock and disbelief that this was even happening to us,” said Amanda.
Indiana DCS paperwork provided to WRTV Investigates by the Stanfords shows DCS noted, “Parents cannot explain cause of injury to infant who is not mobile enough to cause injury on their own,” and “believe to be trauma caused by shaking, hitting, blunt force, or other unknown causes.”
- Indiana’s I-Team: What do you say to people that say, you know, is it possible that one of you somehow hurt your baby? What's your response?
- Amanda: Nope, not at all.
“Doesn’t seem real”: Case Dismissed by Porter County Magistrate
Amanda and Louis hired an attorney and experts who testified at hearings last month that despite Clara receiving Vitamin K at birth, the baby still had a Vitamin K deficiency which caused the bleeding in her eyes.
The Stanfords said their Court Appointed Special Advocate also testified that the couple had sought help for Clara who had been straining to have a bowl movement.
“The CASA said Mom and Dad still did not hesitate to go and receive further care for her,” said Amanda.
In her ruling, the magistrate said that the preponderance of the evidence did not point to abuse.
“The child experienced issues with constipation as early as mid-October,” read the order. “Mother sought guidance from the pediatrician on more than one occasion to address the child’s constipation. The child’s blood work from Lurie Children’s Hospital showed a low level of vitamin K.”
Amanda said she cried when the judge issued her ruling.
“I said ‘wait, we get to go home now?’” said Amanda. “It’s weird. It almost doesn’t seem real.”
The Stanfords say they’re not the only family wrongfully accused of abuse.
“We're going to be advocates for change in the system, you know, because the system needs to be changed,” said Amanda. “The system is broken.”
“It's so messed up that the system is so backwards that you're guilty until proven innocent,” said Louis.
The Indiana Department of Child Services received 213,938 reports of suspected abuse and neglect in 2025, records show.
Indiana’s I-Team reached out to DCS, and they declined to comment on the magistrate’s decision to return the children to the Stanfords.
The agency told us broadly last year, “Statute and case law guides how DCS determines when to remove a child from the care of a parent."
DCS also says in general they must receive authorization from a juvenile court to "keep the child in custody if the child was removed under exigent circumstances."
“Somebody handed them a hammer, and they kept looking for a nail,” said Amanda.
“They kept looking for abuse, and you know, you took the word of a child abuse pediatrician.”
The couple says what happened to them could happen to anyone.
“Be cooperative, be as pleasant as you can be, but also don't stop fighting for your family,” said Amanda.
