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In this article, you will discover:
The key is not to make it look like you are doing anything out of the norm. You don’t want CPS to think you took steps to prepare your house for a home visit.
Parents should understand that all CPS is looking for is to ensure that the house is safe and appropriate for a child of that age. Does your child have an age-appropriate place to sleep? Does your child have age-appropriate food? Is there anything dangerous in the home? Over 90% of parents are able to pass a home visit from CPS without resorting to any “safety precautions.”
This issue is another example of a very real and significant part of most CPS investigations into medical child abuse. You must document every interaction with CPS because they are not necessarily going to recall and report what you say accurately.
Some of that may be accidental, innocent or without malicious intention. The investigator may have misheard or misremembered something you said. They may forget to write a report, or they may not take accurate notes.
However, to be clear, CPS workers in general have a strong negative bias against the parents that they are investigating. They see the worst in people. They become jaded, skeptical, and cynical. They have a confirmation bias to look for abuse and neglect, and if you’re looking for it, you’re more likely to find it.
That’s why it’s critical to document your cooperation, conversations, and visits with CPS to ensure the record is clear, accurate, and reflects what was actually said.
An attorney can act as a buffer for the parents and prevent CPS from engaging in the kind of hatchet job report that is frequently seen in connection with an allegation of medical child abuse, shaken baby syndrome, or abusive head trauma. However, challenging their conclusions is difficult.
If a child is removed or a petition is filed in juvenile or family court, a preliminary hearing must be scheduled and held in a short timeframe (almost immediately). During that preliminary hearing, the role of the defense attorney becomes crucial.
The attorney can (and should) challenge the conclusions found in the CPS investigation and the CPS report. The attorney can (and should) attempt to present an alternative explanation for what happened and why. More importantly, it’s critical at the early stage of a CPS termination of parental rights case for the defense attorney to address two issues: placement of the child and access to the child.
Placement is ensuring that the child is in a place that the parents can agree is safe, whether that’s with a grandparent, an aunt or uncle, or a trusted family member.
Access involves decisions about whether:
Attorney Mark Satawa is a skilled lawyer based in Southfield, Michigan, who has helped numerous clients like you navigate the intricacies of child abuse law. With years of experience, he is prepared to assist you in protecting yourself during a CPS or a police investigation to ensure that your version of events is well documented and substantiated.
Still have questions? Ready to get started? Contact Satawa Law, PLLC, today to schedule an initial consultation.
The key is that the attorney must ensure that the parents are doing everything they can to provide any explanation they can. In terms of the child’s physical condition and health history, the attorney should instruct the parents to immediately come up with a substantive and comprehensive timeline. The timeline should start with the day the parents found out the mother was pregnant. It must chronicle everything, in painstaking detail:
The timeline must be supplemented, if at all possible, with documentation such as the OB/GYN records of the mother, the labor and delivery records from the hospital, and the pediatric well visits and sick visits of the child up to that point. If there’s any other necessary documentation, it should be cataloged as well.
For example, if there was an incident witnessed by multiple people where the child bumped his head, almost fell off a changing table, or had a seizure, that should be included as well. Information in these cases becomes critically important. The information you are able to chronicle and develop is the most essential legal tool an attorney can use in working with you to prevent a bad situation from escalating and becoming even worse.
The most common misconception parents have about cooperating with CPS is that CPS is motivated to do what’s best for the child and has the child’s best interest in mind. CPS caseworkers are jaded, cynical and skeptical.
CPS caseworkers see the worst in parents about children. They assume everyone they’re investigating is guilty of abuse or neglect. CPS is not there to help. They’re there to involve the government in the lives of parents and children, and far too often, they’re there to terminate your parental rights.
Even in cases where there has been potentially some abuse and neglect, the question that CPS should ask and doesn’t is: Where is this child best off? Do we really believe that a child is better off being taken away from biological parents and family who have a natural relationship and connection with that child? Is the child truly better off in foster care? Is the child better off as a ward of the state?
Maybe CPS is not 100% certain what happened to this child, but they could err on the side of protecting them, rather than automatically presuming the child would be better off elsewhere. It’s a dangerous misconception and one that is unfortunately at the root of far too many decisions and actions taken by CPS.
For more information on medical child abuse investigations in Michigan, an initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (248) 356-8320 today.
Attorney Mark Satawa is a skilled lawyer based in Southfield, Michigan, who has helped numerous clients like you navigate the intricacies of child abuse law. With years of experience, he is prepared to assist you in protecting yourself during a CPS or a police investigation to ensure that your version of events is well documented and substantiated.
Still have questions? Ready to get started? Contact Satawa Law, PLLC, today to schedule an initial consultation.