The father of three children who have names associated with Nazis is accusing the state Division of Youth and Family Services of taking his children under false pretences and said one appeared neglected when he saw them last week.
Heath Campbell said on Saturday that he and his wife, Deborah, have been allowed to see their children once since state child welfare workers removed them from the family's home on January 9.
Campbell said his two-year-old daughter, JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell, appeared sick and had a runny nose and dirty diaper when he and his wife visited the children last week under the supervision of state social workers.
DYFS has not said why JoyceLynn and siblings Adolf Hitler Campbell, three, and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell, who will be one in April, were removed. Kate Bernyk, a DYFS spokeswoman, said on Saturday that confidentiality laws prevent the agency from commenting on specific cases.
Campbell said the agency told him the children were taken because they were in "imminent danger", but he believed the removal was spurred by publicity surrounding the children's names.
"In three years, they've never been involved with us," he said, referring to DYFS. "They said it's not about the newspaper articles, but they took them because of their names. I don't care what anybody says."
The family made headlines in December when a ShopRite supermarket in Greenwich, near the family's home in Holland Township, refused to decorate a birthday cake with their son's name.
A Wal-Mart in Pennsylvania wound up decorating the cake, but the resulting publicity put the family under media scrutiny. Heath Campbell said he and his wife are staying with relatives because neighbours and others are harassing them.
Police in Holland Township are investigating a mailed death threat that was received by a woman whose last name is Campbell but is not related to the couple.
A hearing in Hunterdon County family court was postponed earlier this month because the Campbells were unable to retain a lawyer. Heath Campbell said on Saturday they still have not done so.
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