State: Request to remove infant not retaliation

By The Associated Press

LITTLE ROCK — State officials say a petition to remove a 6-month-old boy born to members of Tony Alamo Christian Ministries cannot be retaliation.

The parents of the boy say they believe the state Department of Human Services is trying to take the boy because the father filed an affidavit in support of a federal lawsuit accusing DHS of acting in bad faith.

DHS officials say in a document filed Friday that the claim of retaliation can't be true because child welfare officials were not aware of the affidavit at the time they filed the petition to remove the boy.