What Should I Do When Child Protective Services Knocks on My Door
Don't make the mistake of thinking that it can't happen to you. Before it happened to me, I would have never thought it was possible. Although my wife and I were approaching age 50, neither of us had any experience with courts, lawyers or investigators of any kind. We had each received a couple of traffic tickets in our lives, which we dutifully pled guilty to and paid the fines. We had hired a lawyer twice for closings on house purchases. My wife had served on a jury once.We had been married for 25 years, raised two boys who were model citizens, extremely bright and had never had any trouble with the law. We both worked. My wife graduated from community college with a 4.0 average and was a charge nurse at a local nursing home. I had an M.A. degree in English and ran my own business. We paid our taxes, went to church, helped our neighbors, voted in every election, put up the flag on holidays-in short we were the kind of people that supposedly were the backbone of America.
The number one piece of advice I can give people who have been falsely reported for abuse or neglect is to hire a good lawyer. (I am not a lawyer, by the way, so please don't take any advice from this article without consulting a lawyer first.) But don't just hire any lawyer. Your lawyer must be familiar with family law and social services law. He or she must also be aggressive. Child Protective caseworkers and social service lawyers are very aggressive, and they will run right over a mealy-mouthed lawyer. I know because it happened to the first lawyer we had.
Another mistake we made was cooperating with CPS. It's just like cooperating with the police. It generally buys you nothing. When CPS investigators come to your door, you do not have to let them in the house, unless they have a search warrant. All of your constitutional rights are in force, and you need to maintain them.
Get the investigator's name and business card if possible. Speak as little as possible and as politely as possible. Close the door as soon as you are able and contact your attorney right away.
Before closing the door, ask what the allegations are. CPS will not give you a copy of the report but will generally tell you what the allegations are. Ask the investigator to read the report to you and write it down word for word. If possible, and legal in your state, record the conversation.
The CPS investigator may say she can't tell you the allegations unless you let her in the house. That's a lie, and CPS investigators are not beyond lying to get what they want out of you. They will bluff and try to intimidate you. Ignore all such actions. They will do anything to get into your house in order to snoop around and in order to talk to your children. Never let them talk to your children, unless a court forces you to or your lawyer advises you to.
Once CPS leaves and you have contacted your attorney, begin gathering any evidence you can to refute the false charges. These may include medical, dental and psychiatric records. If the allegations involve abuse, ask your lawyer about getting your child an immediate physical examination with accompanying photographs. If the false allegations involve a specific day and time, try to remember what you were doing at that time. If you were with other people, call them and ask them to be witnesses.
It's enormously important that you know all of your state's laws regarding Child Protective Services, neglect, abuse, as well as your rights under your state's constitution and the United States' constitution. Learning these laws now, before anyone falsely accuses you, will save you a lot of trouble in the future. And don't assume your lawyer knows the law. Make sure both you and he know the law.
Whatever you do, keep records of everything. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of documenting everything if you have been falsely reported. Get a blank notebook. Record the date and time of every conversation you have with Child Protective Services caseworkers, every visit, every visit or phone call with your lawyer and any visits you make to your child's doctor or counselor. In short, document everything that might have any bearing on your case.
Just one investigation by CPS, and your life can be altered forever. Mine has been. Yours won't be if you prepare yourself in advance.
Published by Dan Weaver
I am an antiquarian bookseller and free-lance writer. I have a bachelor's and master's degree in Literature. View profile
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26 Comments
Post a Comment3 years ago child protection ripped our small family apart! we had just given birth to our second child no more than 2months after we brought our sweat little boy home from the hospital cps came knocking at our door and, with in a month temporarily owned our children! because we did not have a lawyer on the first day in court,due to the simple fact that we were in need of a court appointed attorney the judge paid no mind to use as the parents of our children!we were not even permitted to talk that day,only cps THE STATE OF NEW YORK!this judge a person who is given oath a person whom is suppossed to protect our rights, "innocent until PROVEN guilty" threw that moto out the window that morning!we were given the paperwork that day for our lawyer "oh we sure were" but,not before they removed our children! it took us 6 months to regain our family back & plenty of gruiling tasks inwhich we did not need but,cps will come up with any type of "SERVICE PLAN" is what
cps case worker came up today,he said i was under investigation for at least a year now and someone a year ago reported that i raped and beat my twelve year old boy and my wife wich i take full tyme care of,becouse of a car wreck 6 years ago.he wants me pass a drug test,i proubly wont pass,ive been avoiding him/what should i do ?the rep[ort is a lie and everyone,i mean everyone i know know it.
a cps investigator came to my home one day when no one was here but my mom. she wanted to come in and my mom refused so she went into the court house that day and filed the papers to take my kids on false allegations of failure to protect, that is the only excuse she could come up with for taking my babies and the judge fell for it
My husband and I know from personal experience how messed up this system is, and how they do damage to families. They go after those who are innocent (in their eyes, guilty until proven innocent) yet many times let those who are truly being harmed remain in danger until great damage, or even death, occurs. So wrong! Thanks for sharing your story.
I think every parent needs to be aware of these sorts of situations and be ready to guard against them. Learning about your legal rights is one way to guard your family from tyrants. I have found a great resource at http://www.nfpcar.org/eBook/. They talk about foster parents, but they go over laws and how to protect yourself in the event of allegations that everyone needs to know. They walk you thru a process of putting together an attorney/client notebook that will assist you and your attorney in defending against allegations.
it's awful...folks,do you understand fact we are living under dictatorship ? its no democracy and freedom nomore...cps=gestapo..domestic violence reform was created by Josef Goebbels students Lynn Rosenthal and Joe Biden
You are quite right Aaron, a good Children's panel Solicitor is the only possible option.
Other so called professionals are a blight, within the Family Courts,such individuals give conflicting Medical evidence, to gratify Local Authority Adoption targets within the UK.
Parents are denied their documents, which they are entitled to under section 7 of the data protection act 1998, which can be detrimental to their case.
Social Services, disregard the Public Law Guidelines on a daily basis,and very rarely are they made accountable for shoddy practice.
Corrupt High Court Judges, is another problem.
One such Judge,admitted in a High Court Adoption appeal, that there had been a definite miscarriage of Justice, but would not put his neck on the line,and overturn the Adoption Order.
Alison Stevens Parents Against Injustice UK.
Good job Aaron. Legal action appears to be the only way to stop these tyrants.
Well, I have met with CPS and they have nothing to go on. we have had our dughter's pediatrician talk to the school and cps. He also wrote a letter demanding they don't call cps but him and he will make the necessary calls if he feels something is going on. We also have met with NAAMI. We have also written a letter stating that our daughter is not allowed to talk to cps because of her mental illnesses. The doctor stated the same. The principal, school psychologist and the superintendent of our district all have copies. we also have sent copies to the Commisoiner of education for NYS. the accusations were so fabricated and even my daughter told cps she never said those things. We are taking legal action against the school.
I am currntly going through a battle with CPS. I have not talked to them yet but my girlfriend has. We have a bipolar daughter who has just got out of a mental hospital. She was mad one day and said i gave her a bloody nose. It is so far fron the truth. She doesn't even remembering telling the school . We also have nothing in writing about the report or have been told our rights, which in NYS they have to give you the details of the report and a copy of your parental rights within 7 days. I am scared. We have 3 kids altogether and are afraid of losing them for false accusations. I haven't been able to eat, sleep and stop shaking. I don't even yell at my kids. I can't understand this. Just need some help I guess.