Ruling on Interviewing children at public school..
Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2005 8:58 pm
In the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeal's most recent decision issued last week, Jones v. Hunt, 2005 WL 1395095 (10th Cir. 2005),
In a critical footnote in Jones v. Hunt, the court noted that "we do not imply that a social worker investigating allegations of abuse or neglect necessarily requires a warrant, probable cause, or exigent circumstances before questioning a child on public school property. Where a social worker merely conducted an interview of a child at a public school, and thus did not remove the child nor interfere with the sanctity of the private home, we have applied the Terry standard." (a search of a child by a government official is reasonable if "justified at its inception" and "reasonably related in scope to the circumstances which justified the interference in the first place")
The court concluded "it may be that the Terry standard applies even where a social worker removes a child from her parents' custody at a public school following a legitimate investigation into child abuse and neglect."
In a critical footnote in Jones v. Hunt, the court noted that "we do not imply that a social worker investigating allegations of abuse or neglect necessarily requires a warrant, probable cause, or exigent circumstances before questioning a child on public school property. Where a social worker merely conducted an interview of a child at a public school, and thus did not remove the child nor interfere with the sanctity of the private home, we have applied the Terry standard." (a search of a child by a government official is reasonable if "justified at its inception" and "reasonably related in scope to the circumstances which justified the interference in the first place")
The court concluded "it may be that the Terry standard applies even where a social worker removes a child from her parents' custody at a public school following a legitimate investigation into child abuse and neglect."