- Target:
- WA State Legislature
- Region:
- United States of America
Before CPS comes knocking on your door remember this. They won't tell you why they are there and what your rights as a parent are. They don't tell you that you have the right to contact an attorney before they ever interview you or your child(ren).
They don't tell you that you do not have to allow them to speak to your child(ren) without you present. They don't have to explain the assessments they conduct and the scoring. They don't have to tell you if your family is working against you and it's them that made the allegations against you. They can tell whomever to seek third party custody during the investigation if they have no legal reason to file a dependency petition. If you are a father but not on your child's birth certificate but have established paternity they don't have to contact you.
They don't have to ask for a copy of the DNA test. If they don't have it you have no rights. If you're out of town they don't have to inform you of your rights to come get your child. They are allowed to stage a family team meeting and discuss placement as though it's a dependency placement meeting just to help facilitate a third party temporary placement. They don't have to inform parents of the findings of case if they are closing it until after you agree to "voluntarily" place your child. Parent's have no rights once you are contacted by CPS.
WE NEED TO MAKE SURE NO PARENT LOSES A CHILD BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT INFORMED
There needs to be a set of mandatory rights read to parents before CPS can even begin to interview a parent or parent/child. They need to be told they may obtain an attorney at their own expense before allowing interviews. They need to be informed of their rights throughout the entire CPS investigation.
Parents need to know what they are being accused of, by whom and what may happen if they do not participate. All interviews must contain both video and audio recordings. They must be informed if all findings and family involvement whether its good or bad. Before any FTDM a parent must be informed of the findings of the case and if this meeting is for dependency or if family is requesting placement.
Before any decision is agreed upon an attorney provided by a nonprofit organization should be there to explain to a parent the advantages and disadvantages to any decision prior to signing anything.
Not all parents involved with CPS have abused or neglected a child. Some have not even been accused of actual child abuse or neglect. Give parents the same rights accused criminals receive.
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The Inform parents of their rights petition to WA State Legislature was written by Bethany Jacobs and is in the category Civil Rights at GoPetition.