If your CPS social workers are lying, violating court orders, or just being unreasonable, you might get some relief from their tyranny by contacting your state legislator. I’ve done this many times when dealing with unscrupulous agencies, and each time had a pleasant resolution to my situation.

Let’s go back to how I discovered how effective this could be. Back in the 80’s I was a welfare eligibility worker for the Department of Social Services. Occasionally unhappy clients would contact their legislators, and whenever that happened we’d see the supervisor scrambling to get the case file to take it into the program manager’s office. We knew that these people hated to have anyone call their legislators because then the head of the entire Department of Social Services would get a call from Sacramento where our State Department of Social Services is. In other words, a lot of pressure was applied from the top management because they didn’t like getting these calls! What was even more frustrating to the supervisor was that every time there was a call to a legislator, the client got what she wanted.

A few years back a local Department of Social Services caseworker was harassing me after learning about this site. He came out here four or five times with totally facetious or trivial complaints, such as the accusation that I was homeschooling - something that is legal in all fifty states. After the last time, I decided to take action before he got the bright idea of detaining my children on the basis of the number of complaints he’d either manufactured or followed up on. What I did was to write a letter to this caseworker detailing each of his visits to my family, telling what his reasons were each time and what my response was. I sent him a copy of the letter, and sent a copy to his Program Manager, my county supervisor, a few legislators, and a few newspapers. Maybe a few other people, but I honestly don’t remember who at this point. There was a list of these people at the bottom of the letter, so he knew who was getting it. The state legislator wrote to me telling me he had contacted the head of the Department of Social Services for California. Talk about applying pressure from the top! Then the pressure no doubt reached the local office and I didn’t hear from the guy again for years.

I’ve done similar things regarding other agencies. My experiences with writing to state legislators for help have all been good, and so I’m telling you about it in case anyone wants to try it. If you do, here’s some pointers.

1) Write the legislator a formal letter. Handwriting is OK - it looks authentic. Second best is a typed letter. Worst, and probably useless, is email. I’ve heard that legislators in Washington DC have to delete a lot of email unread because they have no way of processing it. I don’t know if a state legislator would do that, but I wouldn’t trust email. In this case, paper is better.

2) Be sure you use proper spelling and grammar. I know that’s a problem for many people who use this site, but if you know you have a problem then you can ask the local high school English teacher or some other expert for help making the letter look good.

3) Tell the legislator in the first line that you are his constituent. And by the way, you should be sure you’re writing only to legislators that preside over your section of the state. As a constituent you are a person who can vote or not vote for him next time he runs for office.

4) Keep it short! One page is sufficient. Three paragraphs, better. When I wrote the letter I mentioned above, I sent the entire three page letter I’d sent to the social worker, but the cover letter to the legislator was only three very short paragraphs. The letter will probably be read by a staff member who doesn’t have a lot of time to wade through many pages of case information. They want to know your specific complaint and needs, and will be able to process it and act on it quickly. It wouldn’t hurt to attach any evidence you may have on hand.

You will probably get a letter back from the legislator’s office telling you whether or not they took action on your complaint. They are there to watch out for their constituents, so in most cases they’ll try to do something to help. They need to know when the laws they make aren’t being followed properly. They can’t change a court order, but if a CPS social worker is violating a court order or in any way breaking social service regulations, they can probably do something to create change. After getting your letter, you might want to write back and thank them for helping.

If you’re a parent living in the USA with young children, and if you don’t know what the Fourth Amendment is, please pay attention. This information could save your family.

The Fourth Amendment states that government workers can’t enter your home without your permission, unless they have a warrant based on ‘probable cause’.

Here’s the exact text of the Fourth Amendment:

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

It has been established that this protection applies to Child Protective Services (CPS) caseworkers just as it applies to law enforcement officers. Despite the clear text of this section of the Bill of Rights, many caseworkers still think they can force parents to allow them into their homes.

Recently, near the end of January 2007, a child protection caseworker showed up at the door of a Michigan homeschooling family. She would not read a paper the mother handed her regarding her rights, and yelled at the mother, insisting that she should be allowed to enter immediately to do a “strip search” of one of the children. She was basing her intrusion on an anonymous tip stating that the children listened only to Christian music, that they “ate their cheerios dry”, that their only socialization was through the church, and that the mother pinched and hit her children in church to keep them quiet.

Since when is listening to Christian music or socializing in church a form of child neglect? And eating dry cheerios - is that a crime? If the caseworker had kept her complaint to ‘pinching and hitting’ she wouldn’t have lost her credibility and we wouldn’t be laughing at her now. However remember, this was all based on an anonymous tip, and who knows what the motivation of that phone call might have been?

The mother contacted an attorney, Chris Klicka, of the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA). He sent the caseworker a letter regarding her rude and unprofessional behavior toward the family. He noted that she obviously hadn’t received the social worker training in the Fourth Amendment. A year and a half earlier HSLDA helped pass a law in that state which requires all caseworkers to be trained in their “duty to protect both statutory and constitutional rights of those being investigated.” Klicka also informed the caseworker that she would be held liable for violating the family’s civil rights.

Meanwhile the mother responded to the investigation by getting a statement from her children’s doctor indicating that her children were not abused. She also got letters from people who stated that they were good parents to their children.

The caseworker continued to try to interview the children and strip search them, and threatened to get a court order to do so. Klicka informed her that she had no ‘probable cause’ for a warrant because anonymous tips don’t qualify as credible evidence. The caseworker insisted she would get a court order, but instead, a few days later she contacted the family saying she would drop the case.

I guess she finally figured out what the Fourth Amendment was, and what ‘probable cause’ meant.

HSLDA, the Home School Legal Defense Association, serves mostly homeschooling Christians, but will provide legal defense for any homeschooler regardless of religion, so long as the dues are paid. This defense extends to homeschooling families facing accusations and investigations from Child Protective Services. HSLDA lawyers have been instrumental in going to court for homeschooling families with CPS problems, and have managed to establish very positive case law protecting anyone facing false accusations of abuse. For that, HSLDA lawyers should be praised by all families, forever.

[Note: I am not a member of HSLDA and never have been. I am not trying to get new memberships for them. However I very much appreciate what they’ve done for families facing false child abuse allegations.]

References:

Homeschooler Listening Only to Christian Music Turned in for Child Abuse

US Constitution, Fourth Amendment