When Matt and Takki Hernandez decided to start a family, they never dreamed they would experience the nightmare in which they find themselves today. The story of this couple is a complex and emotional tale, one that highlights the intricacies of the state’s child welfare program and how it often leads to tragic outcomes.

Matt and Takki met through an online service over a decade ago in New York City, where they began dating and later married. Matt was working as a newspaper photographer, and Takki was a live-in nanny from Thailand who worked for a police chief.

They later moved to Georgia and decided to start a family. They have two daughters, a four-year-old named Arya and a nine-month-old named Emma. The situation began in June when Takki took Emma to the pediatrician because she noticed that she had a swollen leg. Soon after, she found herself accused of child abuse and neglect.

The pediatrician examined Emma’s injuries and suggested that the parents take her to the Children’s Hospital of Atlanta (CHOA) for X-rays. The examination found that Emma’s ribs were fractured. The doctor immediately determined that Emma was a victim of child abuse, and Takki was arrested on four counts, including child cruelty and aggravated battery.

The authorities took Emma and Arya and placed them with Takki’s sister and brother-in-law. They had Takki sign a document relinquishing custody to the state, but she believed she was only consenting to have her sister take care of the child after she was discharged from the hospital.

About two weeks later, the police showed up at the Hernandez’s home to arrest Takki. She called her sister to tell her about the arrest and briefly spoke with Arya before heading to jail. During another call from the jail, Takki spoke with her sister and daughter for the last time. She was incarcerated for three days. As a condition of her bond agreement, Takki is not allowed to see or communicate with any of her family members, including her husband and children, who have not seen or talked to her since June.

At Takki’s first hearing, two medical professionals, a pathologist and a radiologist, both of whom had examined Emma’s records, testified that the child showed signs of underlying issues such as a metabolic bone condition or neonatal rickets, both of which could lead to easily broken bones. Matt told RedState that the medical experts pointed out that the hospital’s doctors “clearly didn’t do anywhere near enough testing to rule out medical underlying problems based on the reports he was given.”

The pathologist’s report noted that CHOA’s “diagnoses of abusive injury was made and confirmed almost immediately, based solely on the radiographic findings” and that there did not appear “to have been an expectation that any other laboratory studies would support any explanation other than inflicted abusive injury.”

He also pointed out that Emma “had been in a vitamin D deficiency state since birth.” The pathologist continued:

It is my opinion, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, that Emma Hernandez was the product of an otherwise normal near-term pregnancy, but was born with a severe deficiency of vitamin D, a vitamin she would have obtained exclusively from her mother while in utero.

He explained that the vitamin deficiency “was the marker for metabolic bone disease, which caused increased fragility and loss of normal structural integrity,” which were “interpreted as having been inflicted by another person, her mother.”

“Emma Hernandez was not the victim of child abuse,” he concluded.

The radiologist’s report produced similar findings. It noted that Emma “was deficient in vitamin D at birth” and that the child “was total-body depleted of calcium,” which causes “the demineralization of the bones.” The report also explained that the “lack of vitamin D is the cause of neonatal rickets,” which is a condition that renders bones soft and weak.

Both of the professionals testified at Takki’s hearing, but the judge dismissed their reports because they were not pediatricians. The state has not allowed any other medical professionals who are not affiliated with CHOA to examine Emma.

After placing Emma and Arya with Takki’s sister and brother-in-law, the infant developed a rash on her foot. The state Human Services Division of Family & Children Services (DFCS) responded by taking the children and placing them in foster care. While Takki has not been allowed contact with her children, Matt has had video calls and limited visitation with their daughters.

Several parties are now involved with the Hernandez’s case, including CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), Goshen Therapeutics, THRIVe, and the state’s children’s attorneys. Each of these entities has recommended reuniting the family. Nevertheless, DFCS is still pursuing non-reunification and seeks to keep the children in foster care permanently.

The ordeal has taken a severe toll on the family, especially the children. Matt discussed the changes he has seen in Arya, his oldest daughter who he said was “a little ray of sunshine” before the issues began. “She used to love to dance and swim,” he said. “I have a recording of her saying that she doesn’t want to swim or dance anymore until she comes home.”

“You can tell that she's starting to put it together that she might think that we don't want her home, which is why she's not here. But the last couple of weeks, she always comes to these visits looking exhausted. She has rashes on her face and her eyes and some dry skin… she's still very happy when she sees me. But at the end of every visit, it's always a brutal, sad goodbye. Now, Emma is young enough that she doesn't really know what's going on yet, but Arya does. Arya very much does know. And they're traumatizing this little girl because they refuse to admit that they're wrong.”

Matt later told RedState that Arya is not sleeping well and that she “sleeps with all the lights on…which was never a problem when she was with us or her aunt and uncle.”

These are the children that @GADFCS wants you to believe were "abused" by their mother.pic.twitter.com/9oTQit3Sky

— Spike Cohen (@RealSpikeCohen) December 10, 2023

The father also noted that both Arya and Emma have had bruises while in foster care. DFCS has not provided an explanation for this.

Emma, being nine months old, is unable to communicate her feelings, but she is also suffering. At first, she would not consume food due to being accustomed to being breastfed. The hospital put her on a feeding tube even though Takki had pumped and frozen her breast milk for her daughter. “They never give [the breast milk] to my baby,” Takki said. She recalled the hospital giving her conflicting explanations, first telling her that the nutritionist recommended not giving the child the milk and then telling her that the decision was made by the state. The hospital also gave Emma four vaccinations without the parents’ consent.

Matt expressed his frustration with how he and his family are being treated by the state of Georgia. “They have clearly shown that innocent until proven guilty does not exist,” he said. “You are guilty until you can financially get yourself out of a grave in the state of Georgia.”

Currently, the family is still going through the process to reunite with their children. The next hearing is scheduled for January. However, Matt was told that he would likely be facing an indictment as well, which could mean Emma and Arya might not be allowed to interact with either of their parents indefinitely.