No evidence of officials threatening to 'keep' children of Helene victims who can't find shelter

A social media user claims that Hurricane Helene’s victims stand to lose their shelter — and their children — after the storm.

Helene hit western North Carolina on Sept. 27, causing record flooding in the state’s mountainous areas. The storm killed at least 100 people in North Carolina and displaced hundreds more. 

In a Nov. 12 X post, an account called "The Disrespected Trucker" posted a TikTok video by a man who calls himself "Appalachian Prepper." In the video, the man says authorities planned to take custody over children whose parents had not found a place to live.

"Red Cross is set to close shelters across North Carolina on November 15th. Families staying in these shelters are being told: ‘If you don’t have a safe place to take your children, you won’t be leaving with them. The authorities will keep them,’" a man says in the video. 

We saw similar claims on other social media platforms. 

PolitiFact North Carolina contacted the man in the TikTok video using the email he included in the video. He said his goal was to help families that need shelter. He did not provide evidence proving that officials — either within the Red Cross or within the government — were threatening to keep children whose parents didn’t have a place to stay when a shelter closed. his claim. 

Government entities and their partners are often the target of misinformation following natural disasters such as Helene, and PolitiFact North Carolina has fact-checked multiple misleading claims since the storm hit. Among them: the false claims that federal agencies tried to seize land and resources in western North Carolina.

Likewise, this video features claims that are inaccurate.

First, the American Red Cross is not planning to close its western North Carolina shelters on Nov. 15 — because the humanitarian nonprofit organization has already closed all of its shelters in that region, a Red Cross spokesperson said.

"As of (November) 12th, the Red Cross was no longer managing any shelters in Western North Carolina," Stephanie Fox, a spokesperson for the group, told PolitiFact in an email.

On Nov. 9 and Nov. 10, the Red Cross transferred management of its last remaining shelter to Western Carolina Rescue Ministries, Fox said. That shelter, at the Gold’s Gym in Asheville, will remain open through at least Dec. 31, Fox said.

Closing shelters is also a sign that Helene victims have successfully found shelter, Fox said.

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"Less shelters being open means residents have been able to secure — whether on their own, through our support, or through the support of other partners — viable housing solutions," she said. "Those who still face barriers to securing housing solutions remain at the facility being managed by the Western Carolina Rescue Ministries while they, the Red Cross, and other partners continue to work with them to identify the many ways we can help with transitioning to a new normal."

The Red Cross doesn’t take custody of children, Fox said. "We do not serve in any role that involves separating children from their families," she said.

There’s also no state-driven effort to assume custody of any Helene victim’s children, said Hannah Jones, a North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson. The accusation that social service departments are threatening to remove children from their parents is false, Jones said. 

Legal Aid, a nonprofit law firm providing free legal services to victims of Helene in western North Carolina, hadn’t received any concerns about those victims losing custody of their children, said Jonathan Perry, Legal Aid’s western regional manager. 

"I was in the Asheville area Red Cross facilities for seven days, spoke with hundreds of people and many Red Cross Officials," Perry told PolitiFact. "Not once did this question arise in those shelters nor the other mountain shelters we visited. I have not heard one report of this on the ground."

State law allows North Carolinians to file a Child Protective Services report if they believe a child’s lack of shelter could lead to maltreatment, Jones said. However, Legal Aid experts said removing children from their parents typically requires an investigation and approval from the courts. 

In cases where families have lost their homes to natural disasters, such as Helene, county government officials would try to find shelter for the whole family so it could remain together, said Jones, the health department spokesperson.

To support that effort, state lawmakers recently approved disaster relief bills that included millions of dollars for local county governments in disaster-affected areas. Government and community agencies have the resources to help families find shelters, housing programs and rental assistance, Jones said. 

"When local departments of social services respond to (child welfare reports), efforts would be made to assist the family in locating a safe place to live so that the family could remain together," Jones said. "Child Welfare Services’ priority is to preserve families when this can safely occur."

A man in a social media video says the Red Cross "is set to close shelters across North Carolina on Nov. 15. Families staying in these shelters are being told: ‘If you don’t have a safe place to take your children, you won’t be leaving with them. The authorities will keep them.’" 

The American Red Cross has already closed the shelters it manages and rebutted the claims in the video. The nonprofit says it’s not involved in taking custody of children, and independent lawyers helping families in western North Carolina say they haven’t heard of this happening.

North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services also called the claim false, saying state lawmakers distributed money to local governments specifically to help families find shelter.

Without  evidence to support this claim, we rate it False.