I am guilty until proven innocent to Child Services

My wife received a call last night from someone identifying themselves as being from the "Child Advocacy Center" informing us that an anonymous call had been received reporting that our daughter was abused. This person demanded that we all come down to the center (at 12:00am) and that if we did not come, they would come to our house with police officers and put our daughter into foster care.

This just seemed wrong on the face of it, so I called back the number that this person left and got voice mail. I then called the police and asked if this was proper, and if they could verify that this person was a verifiable authority and whether what I was being told was correct. The police informed me that they could not help me verify anything, but that the procedure for forcing us to come down to the center did not seem like the normal process.

The address we were given to come to is in a high crime district, so the alarms are going off in my head that we are possibly being scammed, and would either get mugged when we show up, or that our house would get robbed while we were out.

I could not get a cross check on the phone number by using the reverse phone directory. I could not find the agency name in the phone book. It seems inconceivable to me that on the basis of an anonymous allegation that police could be dispatched to invade my home and steal my child.

I called the Child Abuse hotline, and they verified that the person that called me worked for the agency, and that they would contact her to have her call me. She did, and repeated the threat that we had the option of coming down immediately, or having our child put in foster care.

I am very pissed at this point at the stupidity of this. I asked whether the person reporting the abuse is an adult, and why wouldn't the agency simply speak to my daughter on the phone and try to qualify whether this report was real. I stated that this threat is a huge reach on the part of the government on the basis of no facts other than hearsay. The agent gave me the ultimatum again.

We went down to the agency (12:30 am on a school night when my daughter has finals to take). A police squad had been dispatched to the agency because the agent thought I might be a problem when I got there based on my tone of voice. Imagine me not being upset when someone is threatening my family. It was prudent that they called the police, I could see where someone might get very violent when put in this situation, especially if they were an abuser. It was the only sign of good judgment that I saw that night.

The agent spent 10 minutes talking to my daughter alone and doing a cursory examination. Upon seeing that she did not have black eyes, bruises from being beaten by a 2x4, and a scalded hand from an abusive father holding her hand on a hot oven, she determined that the call was a prank. The agent apologized for the inconvenience, but was mainly concerned about having to chase false reports when she could have been helping someone that needed help. She did not apologize for the process or the threats. She was doing her job.

I understand the process the state put in place to try to protect children. I know that their intentions are good. But I cannot believe that they can be so utterly incompetent in thinking through a variety of issues such as easily verifiable self identification, confirmation of allegations, prior history, etc. Consequently they result to using a sledgehammer to force people into submission.

From the moment that some dick head kid called the agency to play a "joke" on our family, I lost all of my rights. I no longer was a free citizen. This situation could have been very, very ugly had I been unable to control my temper, or if an agent or police officer had provoked me further. I was none to happy about having to sit in a very public waiting room where they hold all of the parental suspects while interviewing children. Fortunately is was in the middle of the night, and there was only one other couple in there. But how embarrassing would it be to seen by friends, neighbors, associates, etc in the "guilty" room? The stain on one's reputation is not always cleansed in the light of truth. People always remember the sensational allegation longer that subsequent acquittal.

I don't know what my rights are in this matter. I need to find out what power the state has to invade my home and disrupt my life in the middle of the night, not given an opportunity to seek legal counsel. The worst part of this is that the burden of any decision I would make to resist would not fall on me, it would fall on my child. I need to understand my rights in this regard to be prepared for the next time the state wants to break down my door and order me to take a supine position.

I have to find the sections of the law books that cover the case of being guilty until proven innocent.

Child Protective Service Agencies don't act on one complaint, simply because of pranks like this.

was a psychologist for DCYF in CT for many years. In VA, there is no way they would act on one complaint. Too much room for error.

Sorry, I don't buy it. Just because it is the first complaint that they are telling you about, doesn't mean it is the first complaint they have received. They are under no obligation to inform you of the myriad of complaints they might have received prior to acting.

Which to me, means they'd go to your house, not have you come to them.

I agree, talk to a lawyer, and see what they'd suggest.

I'm so sorry you had to go through this. :hug:

And I'd sue their ass.

it is. They set up the ability of people to make anonymous calls so that people will call without fear of reprisal.

The agent says they will take action on the false report. I don't believe it. Perhaps a lawyer can force this information out and allow me to take action.

Family Services will always assume the worst. It happened to me twice, and both times the investigators found no substance to the allegations.

I would have told the person calling to come on out to the house and bring the police. The part about automatically putting your child in foster care regardless of the situation is an abuse that should be reported to this persons superiors.
It sounds as if this person has a serious problem if she thinks she can threaten a citizen.

Those are the first people I would consider when determining who it is that perpetrated this complaint. As Midlo said, they don't usually act on the basis of one call, but if the situation is severe enough they might. Most people have trouble sticking to their story and filing a false complaint is a crime.

I would look at your immediate circle of family/ friends etc. for anyone vile enough to have made this complaint.

Also, have you had any conflicts with your daughter recently to where one of her friends may have done this?

If I were you, I would rack your brains to determine who the perp may be and make sure there are legal consequences to them.

And yes, seek the advice of counsel, but they are going to ask you the same questions I just did.

My wife and I have no known enemies or conflicts, so it is inconcievable to us that an adult did this. We are pretty sure it was one of a group of boys that keep pulling other cranks on our daughter.

If we are correct, it will make a lawsuit pretty meaningless, but I would like to push the issue to get the little shit into probation, and get some visibility to the problem of doing this into the school system so other kids don't think this is more fun than ordering a pizza for delivery to your unsuspecting neighbor's house.

Remember, parents are responsible for their children's actions. They may not give a crap about what the kid is doing until it hits them in the wallet.

I can sorta see their point but I totally see your point as well.

The worst part is that it makes parents feel they need to protect their children from Children's Protective Services.

When we were trying to get our baby to sleep through the night in his own room, we were so afraid to let him cry because we were afraid someone would report it, and that Children's Services would come over on a day that the dishes were piled up and the cat box needed cleaning and that they'd take our son away and lose him.

Sad thing is, this is not an unreasonable fear.

The whole system is set up with mandatory triggers so that human judgment is completely removed.

I'm so sorry that happened to your family. It's horrible.

It happened to my friend after arguing with a former business partner, now her life is a nightmare. I was so relieved when my son turned 18, not because I was doing anything but because I've seen the scars that nonsense can leave on a family. At the same time they were harassing my friend they placed a child under their care back with a step grandparent who had a history as a child predator, he raped and strangled the child. My friend and I wondered if they hadn't spent so much time on her case, if maybe they would have noticed this child's circumstances. As a nurse I won't work peds or babysit. I don't know what I'll do if I ever have grandchildren. This is so common and now you have an open case with them, almost forever or until all your children are 18.

So sorry it happened. Really, bless your heart.

Don't fight with them or they'll just get meaner.

you are about to find out that you will be guilty even after being proven innocent. Your name is flagged, your daughter will be marked at school for special watching and if she gets a paper cut or falls and skins her knee and you are 500 miles away at the time, you will be considered responsible.

We went through this with my youngest when he was about 10. He had bruises on his arm where his dad jerked him away from a live wire...to keep him from being electrocuted. He didn't come home from school the next day. Instead we got a visit from the cops saying he had been taken into protective custody and no we couldn't know where he was. The social worker who invaded our home flat out lied to us and told us we would not be permitted an attorney for the hearing to be held. We BEGGED for them to investigate at the school, offered to sign permission for them to get his medical records...I'm involved with kids through Girl Scouts and know that there's history with abused kids, if you look you'll find it. They refused to do anything.

When we got to the hearing, thinking everything would be ok when we were allowed to explain. We weren't allowed to say anything. Not allowed to respond. We were guilty. Period. If we wanted our child back we had to agree to all their terms...oversight by DSS for no less than a year, family counseling at the most expensive psychologist in town (we weren't even allowed to pick one) and instructions to our son that he had us over a barrel. Anything we did that he didn't like, all he had to do was call them and they'd come and get him and we'd end up in jail. Great power to give a 10 year old.

And even when we got a lawyer, had her put together the package showing my son did not live in an abusive home, and a deposition from a neighbor who had actually seen my husband pull the child away from the wire (we didn't know she had until our lawyer investigated) and present it to the court, it didn't matter. The child had bruises, he was abused, we were guilty and nothing was going to change it.

So I feel for you. You just don't know how bad it's going to get.

...talk about abuse of power. Almost nothing puts me into a flat-out rage faster than shit like that. I'm so sorry you had to go through that. :hug:

Wouldn't be willing to provide a description/name for the social worker, would ya? :evilgrin:

But the same thing is still going on to others and it's not just this state, either. Family court and allegations of child abuse are the only place where the accused is ACCEPTED as being guilty (not just presumed...if you're accused, you're guilty) and not allowed to prove innocence.

Editing to add; they refused to believe my son who told them exactly what happened. Kept telling him that he didn't have to lie to protect us and, in effect, threatened him that he'd never see us again unless he told them what they wanted to hear.

address in the middle of the night. Maybe that's how they do it in your state, I don't know. I do know that in my state if they had received a call of a beating that was that severe in nature it would have been turned over to the police immediately and the police would have been knocking at your door at that time of the night. I was a 9-1-1 dispatcher and we used to get calls from caseworkers in the middle of the night requesting an officer present during a call that was deemed an emergency. The officer would respond first, assess the situation and the scene for any kinds of weapons or ongoing violence and then the caseworker would come in for questioning.
The other posters are correct-you should get a lawyer. But I would also find out what kind of protocol should be followed. If they had really suspected that it was an emergency situation wouldn't they have called the police immediately to respond to your home and remove your child from what they thought was a dangerous situation? If they thought it could wait long enough for you to respond to the location of their choice I would think that they would have made an appointment in the morning to speak to you in your home as a way to assess your home life(weapons in the home, food, sanitation, etc)?
Something's not right. I'd call an attorney ASAP.

Freedom is an illusion peddled by politicians and "patriots." Any society in which things such as this can happen is not free.

I believe it also depends on the state as well. I lived in Texas when my kids were little. In Texas the law stated that the kids belong to the state and if they think you have harmed the child they set the rule because they are the "parent". I am not sure if this is still true. Maybe someone in law enforcement will look at this and tell you. The police are usually taught these things in the academy or an atty versed in family law in your state.

The total dysfunction of the system in place to protect kids amazes me. Having been on the other end of that scenario, I can tell you that abusive parents are given too many "chances," imo.

My son has custody of my grandson after 4 years of trying. Contacting social services over and over, not just by my son but by the woman's own family because of the neglect and abuse going on. They gave her a case number and worker, and someone periodically talked to her. They didn't see the abuse at that moment, so never did anything. They sure never demanded a command appearance. No legal action was possible until strangers saw the abuse in public and called the police. My son was able to gain possession, and then custody, of his son while she served her sentence.

So why did they come down so hard with you, but allow that psychotic addict to abuse my grandson for 4 years until the general public finally made sure she got put away? :shrug: