“They Said They Were Helping—Then My Kids Were Gone”: Pepper Woodworth’s Todd County CPS Story
If you’ve never dealt with Todd County Child Protective Services, it’s easy to believe the stereotype:
“They don’t take kids unless there’s a reason.”
Pepper Woodworth says that line is exactly how the system survives—because the public cannot imagine what it feels like to be handed “help,” only to realize it was a case file opening… and a countdown to losing everything.
Her children were taken in 2007.
Nearly two decades later, Pepper says she still lives with the consequences every day—broken relationships, sealed records, and the haunting fear that the next phone call will bring another funeral.
This is her story, organized into a clear timeline based on her recorded testimony.
What Pepper Says Is Happening in Todd County (and Nearby Counties)
Pepper opened with a direct claim:
She believes Wadena County, along with Todd County and Otter Tail County, has been unlawfully removing children for years.
She says families are routed to the same providers, dissent is punished, and disability-related cases—especially involving autism and TBI—are handled in ways she believes violate due process.
Pepper specifically alleges patterns involving:
Parents with autism or traumatic brain injury
Children with special needs
Families lacking financial resources to contest the system
“A Pool That Never Existed”
Pepper says her first CPS involvement began with an allegation that her daughter fell into a pool.
She says there was no pool and no incident.
At the time, she was separated from her husband and struggling financially. She says CPS framed their involvement as support:
“We can help with daycare. We can do this. We can do that.”
As a single mother of four without child support, she accepted assistance—later realizing she had unknowingly consented to an open CPS case.
Labor, a 72-Hour Hold, and Removal
While pregnant with her youngest, Pepper says she argued with her parents and told the social worker she could not continue living there.
She says she was promised “full family foster placement”—meaning she and her children would stay together in foster care temporarily.
Instead, she alleges:
Her children were removed without a court order
She was placed on a 72-hour psychiatric hold despite not being suicidal
She gave birth while under psychiatric confinement
Pepper says she was allowed only a few hours with her newborn before the baby was removed and she was sent back to the psych unit.
Dropped at a Shelter
After discharge, Pepper says she and her children were transported and left at a homeless shelter instead of being placed together in foster care as promised.
She says no housing services were provided.
Within two weeks, she secured housing independently—but she says the instability created by CPS was later used against her.
Domestic Violence and Hospitalization
On New Year’s Day 2007, Pepper alleges her husband attempted to kill her in front of their children.
She did not call police, she says, because she feared CPS would remove the children.
Shortly after, she was hospitalized with severe pneumonia and extremely low iron levels.
She says drug tests showed she was clean.
While hospitalized and reportedly delirious, she says CPS again removed her children.
“I Was Clean. They Said I Was Unfit.”
Pepper believed sobriety and medical documentation would lead to reunification.
Instead, she says CPS declared her unfit because she did not call law enforcement during the domestic violence incident.
She says the argument presented was that if she did not seek help appropriately for herself, she could not be trusted to do so for her children.
Voluntary Termination Based on Promises
Pepper states her parental rights were not terminated through trial.
She says she voluntarily signed termination paperwork after being told:
Her children would remain together
She would maintain contact if she remained sober
She later learned adoption was already underway.
She says she was informed only after the appeal period that her children would not be kept together.
The Death That Changed Everything
Pepper says one of her daughters later died by suicide.
The anniversary is approaching.
She believes the trauma of removal, separation, and placement decisions played a role in her daughter’s mental health decline.
Pepper describes her daughter struggling deeply after being placed with a father she characterizes as abusive. She says her daughter entered an abusive relationship later in life, and the emotional damage compounded.
Pepper’s words during the interview were not political at this point. They were maternal.
She talked about:
Missing proms
Missing graduations
Missing heartbreaks
Fighting just to attend her daughter’s funeral
She says she had to fight to go to that funeral because she “didn’t have a relationship”—a relationship she believes the system severed.
Her daughter is gone.
And Pepper says she lives every day wondering what would have been different if her children had never been removed.
Ongoing Mental Health Crisis
Pepper says:
Her son has attempted suicide multiple times
One attempt required ICU hospitalization
He later aged out of the system
He is currently homeless
She says she fears getting another call that one of her children is gone.
The trauma, she says, did not end with adoption paperwork.
It compounded.
Sealed Files and Denied Records
Pepper says she has repeatedly requested her full CPS file and has been unable to obtain it.
She believes false statements were told to her children—including allegations of fetal alcohol syndrome and extreme neglect—which she says she cannot disprove without records.
She says sealed files prevent both truth and reconciliation.
Cancer, Reconnection, and Arrest
Pepper says she was diagnosed with cancer and later reconnected briefly with her daughters through social media.
She says she went to see them while medically fragile—tubes, surgery recovery, no hair.
She alleges she was later arrested under a restraining order she says she was never served.
She describes fearing she would die without seeing her children again.
Where Things Stand
Pepper says:
Her son, now 25, is homeless
One daughter lives in the Twin Cities
She does not know where one daughter is
She lives daily with fear of another suicide attempt
Pepper’s Position
Pepper does not argue that CPS should be abolished.
She argues for:
Mandatory licensing and oversight
Stronger due process protections
Disability-competent advocacy for parents
Transparency in placement decisions
Accountability in Todd County Child Protective Services
Why This Was Published
Pepper chose to go on record.
Father’s Advocacy Network documents testimony involving Wadena County CPS, Todd County CPS, and Otter Tail County Child Protection to encourage transparency and public accountability.
If you have documentation supporting or disputing any claims in this article, we invite submission for review.
Pepper says:
“All I’ve wanted for fifteen years is my kids.”
The anniversary of her daughter’s death is approaching.
She says she cannot undo the past—but she can speak.
If you are in Todd County and believe this cannot happen, Pepper Woodworth is saying it did.
If you are living something similar, you are not alone.
Let the silenced speak.
