Concerns Expressed By Ohio Parents, Part 2

 These Ohio parents want multiple child services agencies investigated

King, Danae. Columbus Dispatch, Feb. 19, 2026.  

A group of Ohio parents went to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost's office on the morning of Feb. 18 in hopes of speaking with someone about various concerns they have about children's welfare.

"We are a group of parents who have connected over our shared experience of trying to navigate the child welfare system and the judicial entities involved, like family court," said Khaula Zafar, a mother of three who lives in Grove City.

Zafar and her husband, Faraan Qureshi, have been trying for three years to first find, and then make contact with the brother of their adopted son so the two can have a relationship. But she said they have been thwarted by child protective services at every step along the way.

"We have all experienced significant hardship, but have also encountered what may be criminal violations and indications of public corruption," Zafar said.

With her in the first-floor multipurpose room of the Rhodes Tower, where Yost's office is, were five other parents.

Deqa Haji and her husband, Said Abdullahi, have been trying for four years to get back custody of their son. He is a twin and was harmed during birth by medical professionals performing a C-section, Haji said. They are raising his twin and their two other children, but have not been able to get custody of him back from the foster parents.

"Our children are not case numbers," Haji said. "They deserve dignity, respect and justice. ... What we're seeking is systemic accountability."

Joining the group as well was Tina Savage, of Carlisle, in southwestern Ohio. She has been trying to get back custody of her 2-year-old grandson, whom she said she raised until he was 1-year-old.

Martha Matteson, of Marion, has been trying to gain full custody of her 7-year-old daughter for two years.

Talisha McKenzie, of Dayton, was also present and fought for the custody of her children for nearly two years before successfully getting them back. She came because she knows what happened to her – losing her children and fighting the system to get them back – is happening all the time to other parents, she said.

She believes it's a violation of due process. Federal child safety laws are also being violated, Zafar said.

All the parents have reached out to multiple state agencies for help or to ask who can help. But they each said they were sent to different agencies every time, eventually ending up at the one they started with and getting no help.

"Make it make sense," McKenzie said.

Savage said she's found that there is no accountability for county child protective service agencies – none of the parents have found someone who will hold agencies accountable.

Zafar has spent months trying to get answers and hold agencies accountable, so she gathered other parents she's met in similar situations to go to the Ohio Attorney General's help desk.

Advertised on the office's website is a toll-free number, daily hours and an address for a "help center" on the 14th floor of the Rhodes Tower.

"Why can't I go in?" Zafar asked, after the security desk asked her and the others to wait in the first-floor multipurpose room.

They arrived around 11 a.m. and waited as security guards called upstairs, though the families were continually denied an opportunity to speak to someone and told to wait in the room downstairs.

At one point, McKenzie alone was allowed upstairs to file a report and was told she could only live chat with someone via her phone, that the person there could not help her.

"What is the accessibility of our government that I can't go ask?" Zafar said. "We've all independently tried to report these concerns across many different entities throughout this state – many levels, local to state – and have not had any success gaining any accountability."

Around 3 p.m., someone from Yost's office went down to speak with those assembled, but the office would not offer further comment except to share their constituent services hotline.

A spokesperson for the Attorney General's office said they didn't know the parents were down there until someone else alerted them. As to why the parents were asked to wait on the first floor, the spokesperson referred The Dispatch to lobby security, noting that is not part of their office.

The constituent services representative from the Attorney General's office listened to their stories for nearly two hours, took down their information and shared his, Zafar said. At first, he tried to tell them it wasn't in his office's jurisdiction, but the parents kept persisting, Zafar said.

"It's just a whole mess," Zafar said. "They tried to run us around, but we know the laws."