The standard of evidence utilized by the Family Courts in the State of New York is called the “Preponderance of Evidence Standard”. This means 51% of the evidence. This is unlike the evidence standard in the criminal justice system, which is “beyond a reasonable doubt”. This litigants in the Family Court involved with CPS and ACS are subjected to the influence of the CPS and ACS workers, which involves discrimination, prejudice, junk science, nonsense and arbitrariness.
REMOVAL OF A CHILD FROM HIS OR HER HOME
CPS or ACS may seek to remove a child from the child’s home for up to 18 months. They can go into the Family Court and seek a court order. To remove a child, there should be a system of oversight that keeps in check overzealous CPS and ACS workers. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
LAWS IN NEW YORK INVOLVING CPS OR ACS
The laws are involving CPS and ACS in the Family Court are vague and tend to be open-ended. The preponderance of the evidence standard is the lowest judicial standard of any court. This often ends up being the “more likely than not” standard. CPS or ACS only needs to support their allegations by providing some evidence. This is a much lower standard than the “beyond the reasonable doubt” standard used in criminal cases, before a person can be convicted of a crime. What I am saying here, is to be clear criminals have much more rights than parents have in cases brought by CPS and ACS in the Family Courts of the state of New York.
FISHING EXPEDITION
Parents in cases pending in the Family Courts in New York have additional problems beyond the 51% of the evidence standard. The courts take into consideration the opinion of the CPS or ACS worker. The CPS or ACS workers often supports their opinions by fishing expeditions or conclusions not based on facts but based on supposition.
THE MISTAKE MOST PARENTS MAKE
The mistake most parents make when CPS or ACS knocks on their door in the middle of the night is they assume CPS or ACS are there to help them. In this context, they open their hearts up and tell all of their intimate and personal information to the CPS and ACS workers. The workers can then utilize this information or twist this information in court proceedings to remove the children from the household and label the parents as child abusers or being negligent.
There is a legal axiom about power. Unchecked power tends towards abuses of the power. The power of CPS and ACS is, to a large extent, unchecked by the legal system.
Elliot S. Schlissel, Esq. has been representing clients who have been investigated by CPS or ACS for more than 45 years. He can be reached at 800-344-6431 or emailed at elliot@sdnylaw.com.
