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!!
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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. **}
...
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:
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!
....
Governments around the world, are using "Child Protection Agencies" to take children away from loving families and place them in foster care or group homes or place them for adoption. THESE FAMILIES NEED PROTECTING.
Share your own story and use the tag #familyprotection
TOGETHER LET'S STOP LEGAL KIDNAPPING
Don't open your door for an agent of the state either. Keep the door closed, and talk to them through a nearby window if you must say anything at all. You never know what they may see or say they saw to justify further injustice.
I recommend people have entrance cameras for their own protection too. It isn't just to stop people from stealing packages from your porch. No, they are also there to document any interactions you have with people that come to your door.
They will be recording you. Make sure you're recording them! When in a government court too, the court will naturally side with the agent of the court when it is a he said / she said situation. Use an entrance type security camera to always have proof.
thank-you for this good advice.
I do have a security system with a camera at the front door and I can speak to them over the device in my kitchen or over my cel phone app. But that only records for half a minute before it turns off.
I must go shopping for a better system that could record long conversations at the door camera.
Thanks for sharing this post
Good advice. My step daughters case has gone further than this already because she didn't use a lawyer. Now she lives in a house provided by the private care company and has to allow them in for 3 hours each day>
It's patently obvious that they are going to protect their income first and my step daughter second! They are already doing it..We have just switched to the private care company model.
THE WORKING CLASS COMMUNITY HAVE BEEN MADE A COMMODITY EVEN IN THIS AREA IN UK
Hola amiga @canadian-coconut como esta tiempo sin poder ver una publicación de usted cuando vuelve a compartir con nosotros sus conocimientos
Of all of your fantastic posts, this has to be the best one yet in regards to stating what people should and should not do when dealing with these legal kidnappers. My husband always says when you have to explain a complex topic, do it in a way where both a child and a grandmother will understand it- gifted teachers do this. Well, you have proved yourself a gifted teacher! And I only hope this finds its way to every 'student' (victim) in need of it. Truly, the points you've made cannot be stressed enough.
We just talked about @familyprotection on @r0nd0n's show @freezepeach.
@fracasgrimm and @intuitivejakob are featuring @familyprotection on their shows on @msp-waves.
The shift of consciousness is starting - thank you for bringing all these cases to light, Linda, Mark!
We sure are! We will be discussing what @familyprotection is all about and helping to raise awareness of the importance of this cause!
Look forward to doing this and so happy to know all this support is being channeled like this!
You’re an incredibly important beacon of light on this subject Linda.
I’m sure there are many who have read the disturbing stories you have recounted over the past few months and taken solace in the fact that the are not alone, you will have woken many up to the horrific injustices being perpetrated by an insipid agency purporting to have the best interests of the families and children involved which lets face it clearly isn't the case.
Kudos to you and Mark for the relentless, on-going work you’re doing to get this message out and help those being targeted.
Resteemed.
Thank you for helping keep people informed on what is going on. I wanted to add onto this statement you made.
Any parents who are currently the target of a fishing expedition, please know that if your child is in the public school system, this private interview will take place at school. At daycare as well, if you use one. When my son was a child just such an interview took place at the daycare. Luckily there was nothing to find, but I can assure you the types of questions he was asked at his age planted questions in his head no child should be pondering on.
Thank you so much for providing these solutions Linda. Every parent needs to read this and have this information firm in their minds, I'll be sharing all over the place.
So important that everyone learns this one:
I certainly did not know this - there is so much we don't learn, as a society about the laws of our land.