By Luca Cacciatore
A community of individuals on the internet forum Reddit is targeting a Christian homeschool family from Lubbock known for their uplifting Instagram content.
Husband JD and wife Britney Lott feared that the Florida Department of Children and Families might confiscate their eight children after the anti-Christian group—r/FundySnarkUncensored—falsely accused them of child neglect.
In a three-part video series posted on their family Instagram account, AmericanFamilyRoadTrip, JD explained that he received a phone call from the Florida DCF demanding that they inspect their children by the end of the day or face a nationwide removal order.
JD said that the Florida officer “used the same exact terms” as an individual who reached out to them privately on Instagram direct messages shortly after they posted a photo following the birth of their youngest child in April.
The individual had audaciously diagnosed the baby with “severe jaundice, severe sunburn, lethargy” and wrote that he was “being trampled on by his siblings.”
“So basically, she (the investigator) calls and I was talking to her on the phone, and she used the same exact terms. She said, ‘Severe … sunburn, lethargy, and jaundice. We’re worried about your children. We need to check on them,’” shared JD.
“I explained to her that we saw an Instagram comment like this days back…and the next thing you know, we talked about it. Seemed like it was okay,” he continued. “Come to find out though, it wasn’t okay.”
A supervisor for the Florida DCF then called the family, now traveling in Georgia, threatening to issue a nationwide order that the Lott’s kids be taken from them if they do not complete a wellness check by the end of the day.
The DCF officer cited an Instagram comment when JD asked about the basis of the investigation.
In response, the Lott family reached out to the Family Freedom Project, an affiliate of the Texas Home School Coalition, which connected them to Attorney Lynn Salvatore.
Salvatore organized a Georgia urgent care facility visit for the family, which verified and reported back the good condition of their children. The medical professional also expressed indignation over the incident, believing its foundations to be spurious at best.
Text messages from the Florida DCF supervisor to the Lott family later confirmed that the agency had closed the investigation.
Further investigation showed false accusations against the Lott family originated on Reddit and bordered on intrusive and disturbing at times. The group sought to pinpoint the family’s location and planned ways to take them down through Child Protective Services.
After the Florida DCF incident, the family repeatedly sounded the alarm on r/FundySnarkUncensored for continued harassment. A quick overview of the community shows that the dubious claims against the Lott’s have not yet disappeared.
In conjunction with the FFP, the Lott family has started a petition to launch a criminal investigation into the individuals responsible for making false accusations against them.
FFP posted a video detailing the situation on its X account this week and included a statement.
“JD and Britney Lott and their eight children faced multiple years of online harassment for their values and lifestyle,” wrote FFP. “This harassment escalated when Florida Child Protective Services (CPS) responded to an anonymous online allegation against the family, threatening to remove the children.”
“The Family Freedom Project intervened quickly, securing legal help to protect the Lotts just hours before the CPS deadline,” the group continued. “The Lotts are now advocating for comprehensive CPS reforms, emphasizing the need for accountability and protection for families from unfounded accusations.”
Texas Scorecard contacted Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office for a comment but had not received one before publication.
Erroneous investigations by CPS and similar state agencies into children are fairly common.
A 2017 study in the American Journal of Public Health estimated that, in the U.S., 37.4 percent of all children receive a CPS investigation by 18. Researchers said those numbers were consistent with previous studies, which found that black children were the most affected, at 53 percent, and Asians were the least affected, at 10.2 percent.
Another 2021 study in the same journal found that 26.3 percent of California children were investigated by CPS during their childhood between 1999 and 2017. When isolated by race, approximately half of black and Native American children were investigated.
Originally published by the Texas Scorecard. Republished with permission.
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