Do You want your Children Back from Child Protective Services?

By Lucinda Pennington

If you're one of those unfortunate parents whose child has been placed in foster care, then the fight to get your child back home can be very difficult, extremely painful, and even appear hopeless at times. You may find yourself struggling with never-ending service plans, attorneys who don't care, over-worked caseworkers, and a system you don't really understand. But there is hope yet. If you're willing to put in the work, you can prove your value as a parent and unify your family once again! Join Now to Learn How!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: May 6, 2022
• ISBN: 9781387986552

Book preview

1: Take any accusations seriously if CPS shows up at your DOOR.

No matter how absurd or unbelievable the CPS/DCFS social worker’s claim(s) may seem, please understand that the social worker is dead serious, and most likely presumes – no… most likely BELIEVES that you are guilty as accused. Even if the social worker doesn’t admit that s/he is at your home to take your children, often times that IS EXACTLY why they are there.

It is our experience, over 20+ years, that the majority of CPS social workers develop a cynical view of life and assume that you are UTTERLY GUILTY until YOU PROVE that you are not: the opposite of the way the justice system is supposed to operate.

2: Ask what the accusations and charges are.

Most typically, the CPS/DCFS social worker wants to keep you from knowing exactly what you have been accused of — sort of keeping themselves on a general fishing expedition — but it is required by state and federal law to tell you the exact details of the accusations at first contact with you. Be wary! Do not settle for the vague and general charges called neglect or abuse. Neglect and abuse are broad categories – not the legally-required details of the accusations or charges! You are entitled to know the details & specifics of what you are accused of committing.

3: Say as little as possible. In fact – BE QUIET!

In criminal law it is ALWAYS strongly suggested that you talk to NO ONE but your attorney. Think about it. Virtually ALL CHARGES that CPS or DCFS levels against you are CRIMINAL CHARGES. And while CPS or DCFS is there ONLY to take your kids, the police can and often will show up later for the parents! In fact, open your mouth and tell the CPS investigator just enough to make their case and you can start packing an overnight case as the police will be called by CPS who will be at your door to take you away.

Sure, it is totally natural that innocent parents who have nothing to hide will want to explain everything to a CPS social worker because such parents would assume that ANY reasonable person would see that there is nothing wrong going on. But CPS and DCFS social workers are commonly ANYTHING BUT reasonable. They become entrenched in a culture that is uniformly cynical about ALL PARENTS.

Frankly, you are presumed guilty by the majority of CPS and DCFS agents. The exhausted, over-worked social worker who just fought the crowded freeways to make it to your home is there on a mission. That mission is most often to find evidence to support what the social worker already believes to be true – that you abused your child just as the neighbor, relative or anonymous tipster claimed.

If you don’t talk to them –just as you are always told to never voluntarily talk with the police if they are accusing, you of a crime– you take their power away. They will not be able to use your own admissions, statements, and your very words against you. For example, Have you ever spanked your toddler? Do you really think there is a good answer to that question? The majority of CPS and DCFS social workers abhor most any form of parental punishment.

4: The minute you become aware that your family is being investigated, YOU MUST find an attorney who has experience in fighting CPS or DCFS.

An attorney EXPERIENCED in CPS and DCFS cases and courts is mandatory! Juvenile Dependency courts are worlds unto themselves. Your most seasoned and experienced lawyers when first stepping foot into a Juvenile Dependency courtroom are totally dumb struct as if they stepped into It’s a Small World at Disneyland. Most lawyers –even experienced Family Law attorneys– who are not experienced with CPS/DCFS mistakenly think that it is their job (as it would be in any other court setting) to find out what CPS or DCFS wants and then communicate all the details to their clients. Shockingly, doing exactly that often leads to total disaster and the loss of your children.

5: Be courteous and polite to CPS social workers & investigators.

Let’s face it, when a government investigator –without any advanced notice– knocks insistently on your door, well-dressed, looking all official with a county badge; exuding the authority of the government; is well-prepared, PRIMED and READY to level accusations of child abuse or neglect against you: most people would be SHOCKED! If you’re human you’d also be scared too. As government is getting bigger and bigger every year they are getting more and more powerful and intrusive in the lives of ordinary citizens. We are all a bit nervous and threatened by the power of the state as we witness weekly examples of government power wielded unfairly on Investigative TV News programs and in the lives of our own families and friends.

What could your reaction possibly be to a surprise home-visit from a government agent? No one appreciates surprise visits by anyone! Perhaps the dishes are unwashed; maybe you haven’t cleaned house for a day or two; say that there is a collection of beer bottles on the coffee table from the football game the day before; could be that you’re not dressed in appropriate attire as you would be IF EXPECTING guests… So, when you are surprised and ACCUSED TO YOUR FACE of child neglect or child abuse it might be natural that you are shocked, defensive, upset, angry and a little hostile. As Homer Simpson would say: Do’ah!

Guess what? An angry demeanor toward the CPS social worker or DCFS investigator is considered evidence of your guilt. You’re perfectly natural, upset and angry reaction to being accused of harming your child wills very OFTEN BE USED as evidence of your violent and abusive personality.

6: Never invite any CPS or DCFS social worker or investigator into your home unless he or she has a warrant or court order.

If a County CPS/DCFS social worker requests that you invite them into your home politely refuse. If he or she insists or suggests that not allowing entry will work against you or will ensure that your children are taken away from you HOLD YOUR GROUND. Politely ask to see their warrant or court order to come into your home. It the CPS social worker or investigator claims to have a warrant, insist on seeing it: in fact they owe you a copy! Why? Would a Social worker lie? YES.

Police and government agents often suggest they have a warrant or outright lie and claim to have a warrant when they do not. It makes their task of finding needed evidence against you so much easier! If the CPS/DCFS government agent cannot produce a warrant, firmly but politely tell them that they will have to remain outside until a warrant is presented. They will be annoyed. But you will be far better off – legally. If the agent says it is an EMERGENCY call their bluff. Insist that they explain how it is an emergency and what constitutes an emergency. Typically, in so-called emergency situations, the police and the CPS social workers come together and even then it is not necessarily an emergency but a working relationship that some CPS agents have with associates on the police force.

Do not even open the door to allow the CPS agent look into your home to see your children: they can see something that creates an emergency situation even if it is not true.

Be FIRM. You should not waiver nor give in to thinking: What’s the harm? There is no compromise here: no exception. If you invite a County CPS investigator or a Los Angeles DCFS social worker into your home, you have just waived your Federally-protected fourth amendment constitutional protection. Just like a police detective intent on hauling you to the police station for questioning would love for you to willingly invite them into your home, a CPS social worker who is openly or secretly intent on taking your children from you WILL FIND SOMETHING IN YOUR HOME TO JUSTIFY THE REMOVAL OF YOUR KIDS.

This happens every day all over America and even more often in Southern California where CPS and DCFS agents are the most ruthless social workers anywhere. The bar for removal is whatever it needs to be as far as the social worker is concerned. A legal prescription in your bathroom cabinet, a beer bottle on the coffee table, a kitchen knife not in the drawer, a broken window, a back door without a deadbolt, a missing smoke detector, a swimming pool without its own secondary safety fence: whatever might be necessary to fill out the paperwork to justify removal. If this particular social worker set out to take your child, allowing them innocently into your house will ensure that your child is taken from you. You now have a year or a lifetime of HELL before you.

7: Demand that CPS tape any interrogation of your child.

Subjective reports of what a child said or did not say is hardly ever adequate. Ask that any interrogation be recorded. You could produce your own recorder (as a back-up) just in case the CPS or DCFS investigator loses their tape between the interrogation and a subsequent court hearing where you might have wished that you had such a tape.

8: If you are accused of physical abuse, immediately have your doctor give your child a thorough physical exam.

Ask your doctor to write a letter stating that there are no bruises or injuries observed, nor any other health-related issues that would raise any concern or suspicion of child abuse or neglect. Obviously go to a doctor whom you trust. If a CPS or DCFS social worker suggests a doctor for you or suggests that they know where you can see a doctor at NO CHARGE (as attractive as that may be), NEVER visit with a doctor recommended by CPS. What you may not know is that these doctors are a regular part of the CPS system, and they are commonly called as expert-testimony witnesses by CPS as a witness against the parents. They are paid handsomely for their testimony.

9: Create a list of relatives and friends who are willing and able to care for your children if CPS takes them.

If your children are removed from your home, or the court is demanding that your children must soon leave your home for some period of time it is always better that your children are taken in by relatives or friends. Are you aware that children placed in foster care are sometimes abused or mistreated by people working the foster care system for a pay check? There is the flip side to that where some truly loving foster parents sometimes become smitten with your kids and start their own campaign with the court and petition for adoption! Having your kids in foster care is simply adding one more level of stress and complexity to your plate.

10: Never admit guilt, even if pressured by a CPS social worker to do so in exchange for leniency or getting your kids back.

If you are innocent of neglect or abuse why would you buckle to the pressure of a CPS agent’s demands to have you admit to false accusations? If you are accused or charged with neglect because someone has informed the county CPS system that you are addicted to drugs or alcohol, the social worker who is investigating those accusations may have good-reason to be concerned for your kids’ safety.

Even if you privately agree that maybe you drink too often or too much that does not mean that you have to incriminate yourself in this investigation. Bite your tongue. Admit NOTHING! Even if you recognize that you have a problem that needs to be addressed this is not your DOCTOR; this is not your PRIEST; this is not your LAWYER. Wrong person! Wrong time! This person is not here to HEP YOU. This person is here to collect evidence to support the accusations made against you and to TAKE YOUR KIDS. Period.

Do not admit guilt. Instead, work with your doctor, pastor or even your private CPS defense attorney to find the professional help you might need  (and professional help that the courts will recognize – no sense paying twice because a treatment program is not court-approved).

By NOT ADMITTING GUILT, you can then honestly work on any issues you have and work with the court to keep your kids under your roof or to get your kids returned to you when appropriate.

By mistakenly thinking that admitting guilt to a social worker is justified is often a fast trip to jail – removing many of the options that you need right now to get your life in order. In any potentially-criminal situation NEVER voluntarily do anything until you contact an attorney: preferably a compassionate and understanding attorney who works with parents, kids and the Juvenile Dependency Courts on a daily basis. They will offer you frank advice that will be better than unnecessarily sitting locked behind bars. CPS social workers and investigators are not above lying to you to encourage you to confess or admit to something that you might not even be guilty of – just to get you arrested and your kids in their control.

24.  Do NOT sign ANYTHING!!!  NEVER turn over your children to DSS/CPS WITHOUT an actual Court Order with a judges signature!

A First Recommendation.

The first recommendation has to be NEVER SIGN ANYTHING, NEVER STIPULATE TO ANYTHING because DSS/CPS will turn whatever you sign around and use it as an admission of guilt when they take you to Court.  DSS/CPS will almost always threaten you, bully and lie to you that if you don’t sign their Safety Assessment Agreement or agree to admit to something just a little wrong, that they will take your children away from you. Record them saying this as this is blackmail! If you sign, they say things will go easier on you and your children won’t be taken.  Or if they are already taken, you will get them back soon.  Then they take the document you just signed to court to take your children for a very long time.

If you sign the documents DSS/CPS threatens you with, then you have agreed that there is a problem or that you have committed a crime.  The Courts (Judges) will take DSS/CPS documents you signed as an admission of YOUR GUILT, as in family court you are guilty until you prove your innocence! If you stipulate you cannot present evidence of your innocence. no matter what you might say later.  But at least you get to have your day in Court.

Now, DSS/CPS in North Carolina has figured out a way of taking your children without even going to Court.  First, DSS/CPS goes through the same process of threatening you and making you sign their documents.  Then, when you sign, they threaten you that they will have to take your children and put them into foster homes for a long time unless you allow DSS/CPS to take your children right then and there.  DSS/CPS promises some sort of kinship custody if you let them take your children.

All of this is under DSS/CPS control, and they never even go to Court at all.  And YOU don’t get to go to Court and speak up for yourself either.  DSS has your children, and you have to do whatever DSS/CPS says for as long as DSS/CPS says.  And YOU let all of this happen to YOU.  You have given up all of YOUR (and your children’s) Constitutional rights.

PLEASE DON’T DO THIS TO YOURSELF.

This is what we recommend:

 DO NOT SIGN ANY DSS/CPS DOCUMENTS.  DSS/CPS will always want their documents signed immediately.  But YOU tell DSS/CPS that you want to review the documents thoroughly and let your lawyer or legal advisor also review the documents before you sign or do not sign anything.  This is your legal and Constitutional right.  DSS/CPS cannot take these rights away from you.  But you GIVE your rights away if you sign.

If you are threatened that your children will be taken if you don’t sign, write down on a piece of paper what the DSS/CPS has just threatened you with and ask DSS/CPS to sign YOUR piece of paper.  Be sure that you list the date, time, and the full name of the DSS/CPS worker and anyone else that comes with DSS/CPS (including any law enforcement officer).  Ask for name tags or identification papers to make sure you get the correct names.  If DSS/CPS will not sign what they have threatened you with, Mark the document with the statement that DSS/CPS refused to sign and ask DSS/CPS to leave immediately. I also recommend you make sure the police officer has his camera on and record yourself as well.

NEVER let your children leave with DSS/CPS or even law enforcement at any time unless there is a Court Order in hand and YOU get to keep a copy.  You must demand a copy or they cannot take your children. If you have to, hold your children tight and do not turn loose of them.  ORDER DSS/CPS to leave your property immediately.  This is your Constitutional right, but YOU have to enforce it. I also recommend blasting them on a live facebook, tik tok, or youtube to record and have witnesses.

Without any signed Court Order, DEMAND DSS/CPS and law enforcement, if they are there, to IMMEDIATELY leave your property.  Remember that DSS/CPS often bring law enforcement with them in order to intimidate, especially when they want YOU to agree to do what they demand.  Do NOT be intimidated.

Write down everything that was said and done and save.  Make a note of any and all conversations with DSS/CPS and save those too. Documentation and recording is your best friend.  Do not scream yell threaten or the police will arrest you for disorderly conduct and take your children anyway.

26. How to relinquish your signatures!

Anyone who has been to a healthcare provider's office for the first time is usually given a copy of a HIPAA form. This form outlines the healthcare provider’s HIPAA policy and asks for the patient’s consent to share private health information, when medically necessary. When patients sign this form, they are giving the healthcare provider permission to use their personal healthcare information in certain situations. However, if the patient ever changes their mind, they have the absolute right to revoke the HIPAA agreement. This also applies to child welfare system as they bill Medicaid and insurance! So, when you relinquish your signatures for the medical you can get all your own records.  When you go to the hospital, drug testers, your children’s doctors they see while in foster care, you can get all their records by handing the doctor’s office a form that states you have relinquished your signatures for all health and human services agencies. Remind them you still have your parental rights and if they do not hand over your documentations that you are requesting that is a $10,000 federal fine. Give them 1 hour to hand them to you and wait for the documents do not come back for them See how quickly they hand them over.

What Is HIPAA?

HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. This Act included authorization for the Department of Health and Human Services to set national standards for the security of electronic healthcare transactions and to protect personally identifiable information.

In 2000, the Department of Health and Human Services put forward the Privacy Rule. This Rule sets the national standards to protect your uniquely identifiable health information. The rule was limited to health plans, healthcare clearing houses and most importantly, healthcare providers. This set the stage for the adoption of internal HIPAA confidentiality agreements.

These internal HIPAA confidentiality agreements are in place to protect a person’s private health information.

Giving Informed Consent

Typically, a patient gives consent at the beginning of the relationship with their healthcare provider or caseworker. The healthcare provider should explain the nature of the consent they are providing and that they have the ability to limit who can have access to their information and for how long the healthcare provider can have access. A patient must receive a copy of the healthcare provider's HIPAA Privacy Policy and it must outline the procedures by which a patient can revoke consent. I never recommend signing anything for child welfare if they need anything you tell them you will get them a copy of what they need.

Revoking HIPAA Consent

At any point during a patient’s relationship with their healthcare provider and, especially if the patient discontinues their relationship with their healthcare provider, they absolutely have the right to revoke consent at any time. However, they must revoke consent in writing. Many healthcare organizations have forms through which a patient can revoke consent. You can also write your own affidavit and get it notarized. You can also go to the federal Hipaa website and download a form to fill out and sign.

In instances where a patient is dealing with a major healthcare organization, they should either call the healthcare organization or go to the provider's website for instructions on how to revoke HIPAA consent.

Typically, a patient will be able to download a form, complete the form and send it to the proper department in order for their revocation to go into effect. It's a good idea for the patient to follow up a few days later to ensure that their revocation was received and is in full effect.

Revoking Consent in Writing

However, a patient can also revoke consent through a simple letter revoking all consent given when they first signed the form. It would be helpful for the patient to have a copy of the healthcare provider’s HIPAA policy form and a copy of the consent they originally provided. Their letter should be tailored to cover all of the areas of consent they originally gave to the healthcare provider or agencies. The patient should be sure to either give the form directly to the appropriate person at the healthcare provider's office or mail it by certified mail, so that you will have proof that you did indeed revoke consent. I recommend also sending it to the lawyers if you have one so they have a copy that you no longer give consent.

The patient should include themselves and their children on this form then wait a few days to a week to follow up with the healthcare provider’s office to ensure the letter was received and that the revocation is in full effect. The patient should be sure to note the name of the person they spoke to, as well as the date and time, in case any problems or issues arise in the future.

If you revoke authorization and the provider or agency continues to share your information, the law requires that the provider or agency correct the consequences of this disclosure within a month or face prosecution, according to the UC Davis Health System.

26.  TITLE IV-E Funding Program

Title IV-E Prevention Program | The Administration for Children and Families (hhs.gov)

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/cb/title-iv-e-prevention-program

Current as of: November 22, 2022

Program Description

The Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA), enacted as part of Public Law (P.L.) 115—123, authorized new optional title IV-E funding for time-limited prevention services for mental health, substance abuse, and in-home parent skill-based programs for children or youth who are candidates for foster care, pregnant or parenting youth in foster care, and the parents or kin caregivers of those children and youth.

Legislation

Public Law 115-123 Visit disclaimer page - This webpage provides the text of the Family First Prevention Services Act.

Public Law 116-94 Visit disclaimer page - This webpage provides the text of the Family First Transition Act.

Federal Guidance

To support implementation of the title IV-E prevention program, the Children’s Bureau issued subregulatory guidance in the form of Program Instructions and provided clarifications about the program requirements through Information Memoranda.

Program Instructions

ACYF-CB-PI-18-07 - Among other things, this Program Instruction clarifies that if a title IV-E agency requests a delayed effective date for certain provisions of the Social Security Act (471(a)(37), 472(k), 472(c), 475A(c)), the effective date for claiming for title IV-E prevention services is also delayed for the same period of time.

ACYF-CB-PI-18-09 - This Program Instruction provides instructions to state title IV-E agencies on the title IV-E prevention program requirements. Attachment C of the program instruction provides the HHS Initial Practice Criteria and First List of Services and Programs Selected for Review for the Title IV-E Prevention Services