A good friend of mine got rotten advice from a lawyer about CPS/MCFD a couple of years ago.
I used to have Leah (not her real name) over for coffee at least once a week while our children played together. In the spring of 2014, her toddler son had slipped on her freshly mopped kitchen floor, landing in the splits position face down, which resulted in a really unusual leg break. They had to travel into big city Children's Hospital to get a specialist capable of making the right type of cast for his leg. The cast went over both legs and around his hips and down to his knee.
Social Workers showed up at the hospital to investigate.
They were asking some odd questions. Finally Leah confronted them
--- "JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK I COULD HAVE DONE TO MY SON?" --
The Social Worker's answer sent chills through her and made her feel ill.
The woman put her hands in front of her as if holding an object (a child's leg) and simultaneously twisted a hand one way while the other hand twisted the opposite way with a good, strong jerk.
They thought that she had maliciously and with intent broken her boy's leg with her own hands!
Finally Leah got some good news from the doctor. A body scan with a specialized x-ray machine clearly showed that this was NOT A CASE OF ABUSE.
It was an accident pure and simple.
So my friend finally got to come home to our small town with her child.
But it was not all over.
Now the local Social Workers showed up at her home.
The investigation should have ended at the hospital. Leah did not want to let them in, so she phoned a lawyer first and asked what she should do.
The HORRIBLE advice that she got from the lawyer was to go ahead and let them in. Cooperate she was told! He said that If you don't cooperate it will make you look guilty! So she ended up letting them into her home. WHAT A HUGE MISTAKE that she would live to regret!!
They had no accusations against her. It turned out that the only issue they pursued at first was that she was under a lot of stress and they were going to help her.
Of course their investigation added MASSIVE amounts of extra stress into her life. Fortunately she listened to some of my warnings as I shared with her what I had already learned from my friend, Anna.
I warned her that they would be fishing for something -- ANYTHING -- that they could use against her. As the investigation unfolded it proved to be very true.
{** I will be writing more about Leah's case in a follow-up post. **}
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Now let's consider -- What would an informed and experienced Lawyer have told her?
An experienced CPS Defense/Family Lawyer in Houston, Texas named Julie Ketterman, has this to say:
Original Article: ➜ What You Should Know if CPS Targets You or Your Family
You must find an attorney who has experience in fighting CPS, as soon as you realize your family is being investigated. Notice I said experience in fighting CPS.
Many attorneys- if not most – believe their role is to find out what CPS wants and make sure their clients do it.
That way often leads to disaster – and the loss of your children.
In other words, MOST LAWYERS have no idea how to best protect you from CPS!
Another thing to consider is that if a Family Lawyer represents CPS in court cases, he will probably not want to make huge waves with them when he also represents parents.
Feel free to speculate in the comment section below why you think many lawyers don't give out proper counsel that will best protect a client's interest in these types of cases. Lawyers seem to fight for a criminal's rights much harder and smarter than they will fight for an innocent parent's rights!
Lawyer, Julie Ketterman goes on to advice:
Never let any government agent in your home unless he or she has a warrant or order issued by a court.
Ask to see the warrant or order, because the CPS worker may lie and say she has one when she doesn’t. When she doesn’t have one, politely but firmly tell her that she will have to stay outside until she gets one.
If she claims it’s an emergency, make her tell you what it is. Call her bluff – if it were a true emergency, she would be there with armed police officers, forcing her way in. Do not even open the door to let her look at the children.
There is no compromise on this. There is no exception. If you invite an investigator into your home, you have waived your fourth amendment protection.
And if the investigator is intent on taking your children, SHE WILL FIND SOMETHING IN YOUR HOME TO JUSTIFY IT. Understand that you may be threatened. You may be lied to. She may tell you that the 4th amendment doesn’ t apply to CPS investigation. That is a lie. She may tell you that she doesn’ t need a warrant. That is a lie. She may tell you that she’ll return with police officers. And she will. But that changes nothing. Even a man with a gun on your porch doesn’t change the fact that she still has no right to enter your home.
The best way to avoid trouble with CPS is to know and protect your rights right from the beginning.
PLEASE DO NOT THROW AWAY YOUR RIGHTS by cooperating when there is no court order telling you that you must cooperate.
If the Social Worker actually had enough evidence to remove your child, they would show up with a Court Order in the first place. If not, they want access to your home and private interviews with your children so that they can fish for evidence to use against you. DO NOT GIVE THEM AMMUNITION.
If they do have a court order, read it carefully because it may state that it is only for one specific purpose like to inspect the inside of the house. Do not let them talk to your children if that is not listed on the Court Order.
I will leave you with one last important bit of advice from the experienced CPS lawyer.
DO NOT TALK.
More specifically, do not try to explain what may or may not have happened.
It is important that you not talk to anyone but your attorney.It is natural that innocent parents who have nothing to hide want to explain everything so that a reasonable person can see there’s no problem here. But CPS agents are not reasonable.
You are presumed guilty. The investigator is there to find evidence to support what she already believes to be true – that you abused your child
Please use your words sparingly when dealing with Child Protective Services. Do not volunteer any more information than is absolutely necessary.
Let's keep our children and families safe!
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