Truth or Dare with the Social Worker in California

[Mattruiz]

I have primary custody of 3 children. I have an interview with Social Services next week over "alleged child neglect." This stems from the fact that I recently was placed on house arrest (or electronic monitoring) to serve a 90 day sentence conviction in which I plead nolo contendere.

The crime, if you can call it that, is irrelevant in regards to my ability to raise my children properly. My ex wife found out about the "house arrest," added some false accusations of her own and called Social Services to take advantage of the situation. This is the third time she's called Social Services and she has established a pattern of "false accusations."

My problem:
When the Social Worker contacted me to set up an appointment she wanted to know why I was placed on house arrest. What, if anything should I tell her? Do I legally have to answer?

Thank you for your time

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

My response:

No, you absolutely do not have to tell the Social Worker anything. You can make the Social Worker's job as difficult as you want to. Don't do their job for them . . . make them work !

That's because the Social Worker will find out everything s/he needs to know about you and your arrest and conviction anyway. You forget - - your arrest and conviction are public records.

Then, because of your attitude and conviction, the Social Worker will recommend to the judge that your children be removed from your care.

Pretty slick, huh ?

IAAL

 

[qadaq]

You don't have to answer her. IAAL said so. What I would do is refer her to the public record. You may have forgotten the exact charge, or you may give the wrong term. Don't be beligerant. Tell her you just want her to have the correct information. If she's that curious she can look. If it never made it to your record, oops! Does Social Service know that the previous accusations are false? As you're fond of pointing out IAAL, I don't know about these things. Could that be defamation of character? Is that like making false statements to police?

 

[Mattruiz]

Social Worker

I realize the conviction is a Public Record but she obtained the information illegally. Her uncle is a sheriff deputy. He accessed my record while he was working. ISN'T THIS ILLEGAL? For a sherif deputy to look up someones record this way and share that information.

Thanks for your help. I am going to tell the Social Worker the truth.

Matt

 

[LegalBeagle]

It's an interesting concept.. illegally obtaining something which is public record..

 

[qadaq]

Why not? If he's not supposed to use that system to retrieve info for the public who cares what he acquired.

 

[VeronicaGia]

In MI, what the deputy did was ILLEGAL. A member of the police force cannot run information on people for personal gain or personal interest. They must have a legitimate reason for doing this. However, good luck getting the system to go after itself! They stick together.

If you can prove these allegations, I suggest you go to the CA Attorney's General office.

 

[Princess02]

For starters, I would suggest you come clean with the Social Worker. Unfortunately, they have a great deal of power - and they are extremely biased!!!!

The concept of social workers is a wonderful thing, but to me, their skills are questionable.

My ex took pictures of my daughter, and put makeup on her to appear that she was beaten. Mind you, his girlfriend was a makeup artist for an entertainment company. They sent the pictures to social services and I went through two months of trying to proove I did not beat my children and the pictures were fakes. There were no bruises or marks on my children, when they examined them. The children went to a regular doctor, and he also indicated there was no proof of emotional or physical abuse. However, because there were pictures - and to the social workers, they appeared to be very serious "marks"... my children were required to stay at my mother's for a couple months. It took them one month to interview my babysitter, and on the second month I got an attorney, and then - and only then - did they finally interview my children's doctor. My children just happened to have gone to the doctor days after the "supposed" pictures were taken, for one of their vaccinations. This vaccination was injected on the same arm that the pictures showed to be bruised - but the doctor stressed there was no bruise on the children, and it would still be there two days later. The doctor saw my children frequently, as one has respiratory problems, and the other is always with me when we go to the doctor too. Immediately after interviewing the doctor, I was permitted to take my children home. It took the doctor and my own mother, calling almost daily to the social services office, before they agreed that the pictures were fake. They indicated early on that if they felt the charges were false, they would take legal action against my ex-husband for falsifying a report. No action was ever taken. Now I feel that the system does not work, and through all this - my children were suffering from not being with me for those two months. Mind you, my mother pretended it was a vacation, and I was allowed to call them... but the abuse from that experience remains, as they still don't want me to go away for a day or two, without them.

Yes, the social services program is necessary. However, when children are involved, it's important for them to make those interviews (doctors, babysitters, etc.) quickly - as they waited so long to talk to him... and no matter how large their caseload is... there is no excuse for continuing the abuse their father is putting on the children through these actions, by dragging on something and not making the follow-ups.