THE SCOPE OF THE PROBLEM
Throughout the United States, child protective organizations investigate homes of approximately 3.5 million children on a yearly basis. In approximately 5% of these situations CPS or ACS find there has been physical or sexual abuse of the children. In almost every case they seek entry into the family’s home and pretend they have the absolute right in violation of the constitutional rights of the families to enter their home and investigate the family.
THE THREATS
In situations where the parents stand up for their constitutional rights and deny the CPS or ACS workers entry to their homes, the CPS or ACS workers threatened to bring the police if the homeowner still says they cannot come into their home.
THE POLICE
The CPS or ACS Investigator will call the police and stand next to the police officer and say we want entry to your home and further try to intimidate the homeowner. However, the police have no right to go into their home. Police require court orders called search warrants to go into people’s homes except in rare emergency situations. CPS and ACS is involved in millions of warrantless searches of people’s homes on an annual basis in violation of the parent’s constitutional rights.
INVESTIGATION
Caseworkers coming to the family’s homes seek to examine the refrigerator and the cabinets in the kitchen. What does child abuse or child neglect have to do with what’s in the refrigerator or the family’s cabinets. Nothing! They look into the cleanliness of the house. They look into the organization of the closets. They look into where the garbage is maintained. They ask the children when they come into people’s homes to lift up their shirts and pull down their pants, leaving their underwear on to look for scrapes, bruises and scratches.
MIRANDA RIGHTS – TYPE OF WARNINGS
There is a bill pending in the New York State legislature to force ACS and CPS Investigators to give Miranda type warnings to families who are investigated. Unfortunately, this bill has not yet been passed by the New York State Legislature.
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.
