I think a word should be said about what that level of doubt is. I personally have many friends who have had CPS called on them for a range of "infractions," and not one of them was a child abuser. I know that because I know how the cases turned out, the evidence CPS submitted, what the judges ruled, etc. And I also know that every one of those children was subjected to many hours of invasive interviews that were inherently invasive, inappropriate, and even abusive in themselves, asking questions like, "Does your Daddy put his penis in your mouth?" EVERY CPS intervention does harm to a child, to parents, and to a family, and in every case the caller must ask, "What are the chances that the harm I'm calling about is more harmful than the likely CPS intervention?"
Keep in mind when deciding whether to call, or to promote a National Child Abuse Registry, that the parents of the accused will have no Constitutional rights preserved. There will usually be no presumption of innocence, no right to a speedy trial by a jury of their peers, no due process, no right to face their accusers, no right to avoid self-incrimination. Even if a judge finds the case should be closed, they will likely have to take parenting classes and will have a "record" with CPS that will be held against them if any other kind person in the future calls "just to be safe," even if no charges are ever brought against them. Keep in mind that unjust taking of children happens *daily* and happens disproportionately to families of color and disadvantaged families. Keep in mind that for these families, being able to escape an unjust CPS worker by going to another county or state can be life-saving.
In the Hart case, there's no question in my mind that the neighbors should have called. Certainly Texas, for as long as it continuing paying the Hart women, should have kept tabs on the medical and legal interactions with the children. But how about these cases, involving people I personally know?
- Young single poor black mother had breastfeeding newborn, 3yo with CP, and several other children removed dramatically & traumatically off the school bus without even a hug good-bye on Halloween after the mother took the 3yo to the ER for feeding problems that her doctors already knew she had. Forced to sign TPR on 3yo to get the other kids back, 3yo adopted out to Russian couple, never saw her 3yo again.
- Kids playing in front yard barefoot in the summer. Yes, CPS was really called over this. Yes, they really came out and did invasive interviews, trying to search the house and look into every nook & cranny of their lives to find some kind of abuse somewhere.
- Child accidentally hurts himself; CPS spends 8 hours interrogating children, trying to convince them to give up some dirt on sexual and physical abuse by their parents.
- Parents leave restaurant in two cars and accidentally leave one child behind. Dad is arrested and kept in jail overnight.
- Poor black child lives in motel with his mother. Drug dealers and prostitutes also live there. Mother keeps child fed, clothed well, in school, doing his homework, and completely away from the criminals at the complex. CPS puts the child in foster care.
Google Justina Pelletier, Sammy Nikolaev, the Stanley family, the Kenny A lawsuit, and the $10M Orange County had to pay out when CPS workers lied under oath about one of their cases.
I have many more I could list. CPS intervention is *not* benign. It always harms children (at a minimum by the invasive interrogation and the undermining of trust in their parents). Sometimes the harm done by CPS is less than the harm they're escaping, and thank God they're around for that. Sometimes it's not. But every time someone calls them for a child playing unsupervised in his own upper class suburban yard, the caller and the workers who bother to respond to such trivial accusations are taking resources away from the very children who so desperately need intervention the most. Calling CPS is serious business. Not calling is serious business. Think, reflect, weigh.
