BRADENTON, Fla. (WFLA) — Blanca Trinidad never imagined the state would take custody of her children until after a disagreement with her oldest spun out of control.

It got worse, according to Trinidad and her daughter Yarrellis Martir, who was removed from her mom’s care last year after she ran away.

“They should’ve never taken them,” Trinidad said. “It was awful. I cried. I threw up. Just very sick.”

The Department of Children and Families (DCF) got involved and Martir would spend the several few months in foster care.

“It didn’t make any sense,” Martir said. “I had a perfectly good bed to sleep in [at my mom’s home.]”

Her mother called the ordeal “nerve-racking.”

“Are they safe? Are they not safe?” Trinidad said. “Are they sleeping?”

Trinidad said they’ve had six caseworkers involved in the reunification process, amplifying the shortage and high turnover in social work.

Martir, who just turned 18 after recently graduating from high school, said there are other issues.

She claims one low point involved a foster parent kicking her out of their home after a “brutal” argument that her mom heard on the phone.

“I could hear them screaming and yelling and pulling and pushing,” Trinidad said. “And she got thrown out and I had to go pick her up.”

Martir said the altercation got physical.

“I had gotten shoved. I got pushed. I had bruises on me,” Martir said. “I had scratches on me. She told me to pack my stuff and go. She kicked me out.”

They said their case has also been marred by a shortage of beds they claim prompted one suggestion to sleep in an office.

A conversation involving Trinidad, Martir and caseworkers was recorded.

“What we were told was that I would stay in the office while you guys found a place for me,” Martir is heard saying on the recording.

A social worker tells Martir she “would stay in the office until placement found somewhere to go.”

“That sounds so safe,” Martir said in response.

Martir said she refused the office placement.

“They were saying that is where they were going to make me sleep,” she recalled. “I said no. If I have a perfectly fine bed [at my mom’s house], why am I going to sleep in an office?”

Jacqueline House, spokesperson for DCF contractor Safe Children Coalition (SCC), said she is restricted from discussing child welfare case details.

House said placement is “generally secured within two to three hours” of a request but she acknowledged sometimes offices are used.

“To keep the youth safe while the placement match is made, the youth may stay at the child protection investigator’s office or case manager’s office while the placement team makes the appropriate match,” House said.

According to House, SCC currently serves 1,256 children, with 456 placed in licensed foster care. House said 461 are back with their parents and 339 are with relatives or adults known to the child.

Trinidad said the ordeal gave her a look inside a system she calls “broken,” and she is not sure if the scars caused by the investigation will ever heal.

“All the damage that’s been caused, and they just won’t admit that what they did was wrong,” Trinidad said. “I want an apology and they say if they apologize to me that means I get to sue the state.”

DCF Deputy Chief of Staff Mallory McManus said information about Trinidad’s case and all child welfare cases is confidential.

DCF has held several job fairs recently to recruit staff members to fill open positions.