statute of limitations for dss investigation?

[mattwlen]

Dss came and told me I had to be away from my daughter for 45 days for false allegations of child abuse. It's been over 45 days and they have not let me or my wife know the findings. Do they have to tell you that they are going to extend the investigation 15 days or can they just do it. They wanted to schedule another interview with my daughter but it's after 45 days. We live in south carolina.Our life has been turned upside down please help.

[good dad]

Hi matt

Welcome to the site

Depending on State law, CPS agencies usually have up to 30, 60, or 90 days after receiving the report to complete the initial assessment or investigation. They can take the extra time and not tell you anything.... Check your state laws on time allowed to investigate..

Be aware in the meantime, if they catch you there, they will use it against you and take the child..

Here is a federal link to check out on what they are doing: http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/userma ... s/cpsf.cfm

[mattwlen]

Thanks for the reply. The website states they have 45 days and can extend it by 15 days if they have good cause. But wouldn't they have to let you know if they did. I know we can call and just ask but I wanted to get some kind of info on what they can and can't do legally. I guess I need a lawyer but I've been thinking I didn't do anything so I don't need one. I know that's not the way to go based on this site.

[good dad]

The website states they have 45 days and can extend it by 15 days if they have good cause. But wouldn't they have to let you know if they did.

They just need to show a judge "good cause" after the 60 days if the allegations are "founded" and the judge will side with them every time for extending the time..

Is the daughter at home yet with mom?

[brookeycookie]

You deff need a lawyer. I think everyone here thinks in the beginning, why pay a lawyer when I'm innocent? Then midway through, see first hand the twisted legal mess cps creates, and scrambles for a lawyer to play catch up. ...I did. Hire one now.

Also, where are the kids? What hearings so far, if any?

Also, its crap, but there are loop holes in every time restraint written. 30 days....UNLESS cps finds extenuating circumstances. 45 days....UNLESS....90 Days....UNLESS....I learned the hard way, the judge is the important one and judges don't get excited until FEDERAL time restraints are broken on the big ticket items. ie; adjudication, disposition, permanency, and TPR.

[mattwlen]

Yes my daughter is with the mother. South Carolinas law from what I can find is very vague. But I found that Virginia dss has a law written that states they have to get the 15 days approved and a certified letter has to be sent to the accused showing what cause they have to extend the date. Don't know what to do. My wife knows nothing happened and we just want to get back to our lives. The social workers can just go home to there family's. I can't. no hearings so far. Just interviews from police and dss.

[good dad]

How old is your daughter?

How did they interview her the first time? (show up at her school or ?)

Any idea who turned you into cps?

[mattwlen]

She is 8. They just shows up at school. Then a interview at advocate center. They said that she knew things she shouldn't have know at her age. She has a 13 yo sister and a 15 yo brother. Who knows what she has seen or heard from them or from the 50 friends they have over all the time. We live in a brand new $220,000 house so they can't say she is living in poor conditions.

[good dad]

She can refuse talking to them again and keep asking for a lawyer, they may try and say you coerced her into it but she can say she saw it on police shows," I have a right to remain silent and a right to a lawyer right? then that's what I want" (This would fit into knowing things she shouldn't for her age )

First interview they ask questions.. Go back and talk to their supervisor, develop another set of questions...

Thing is, they didn't get enough evidence the first round, they are looking for more... If she refuses, they don't get a chance to gather more evidence

[brookeycookie]

Agreed. Your wife can insist on being present as well. That usually postpones interviews. She for sure needs either a lawyer or parent present. Has she had a videotaped forensic interview yet?

[mattwlen]

Yes she has been in a video taped interview. She has also had a physical exam with no evidence found. They also interviewed the other kids and they told them nothing happened to them or her. This whole thing is just crazy.

[good dad]

CPS... Create a problem so it has one to fix

[mattwlen]

Your right... Thanks for the help. Great site! Keep it up.

[brookeycookie]

They also VERY rarely close a case saying "oops, we were wrong, alls well". MANY times, especially in cases like yours, when they can't hang the father then they trump up smaller allegations against the mother. They pit you against each other. They use "risk" assessment and keep kids EVEN when cases have ZERO evidence. If wife defends husband, they try to remove kids from the home for "failure to protect" . Lawyer up, now. Have they involved law enforcement? Psych evals?

[mattwlen]

Yes I have been interviewed by law enforcement but no charges. In the last interview I had with dss she started asking questions like if I went back would I consider going to counciling for the family and if they decide it is unfounded it's all just over but she doesn't know how they decide right now. who has to decide? Is it a group thing or just the case worker?

[brookeycookie]

She means cps/dss. Caseworkers work behind the scenes with law enforcement, their supervisor and the juvenile office. Likely, law enforcement will soon drop out. No real evidence . Have they asked for a polygraph yet? Most lawyers will advise against it. Cps is NOT legit, nor honest. I'd spend tomorrow finding suitable council. Important, if they've banned you until they investigate, there obviously is a signed safety plan? That's not a court bound document. You are voluntarily staying away, until they see she's safe. Right? If dss has a safety plan on your family, soon there will be a service plan. Fast forward a year.......same horror you have now. False allegation lawyer, now. You will regret if you don't. My opinion. Even if they clear you, they'll attack mother.

[Eljay]

You never know how things are going to go with CPS/DSS, but from what I've read, my intuition is that things are going well for you. CPS really only has the right to be involved when kids are neglected or abused. You've not indicated that they have proof of either. Reading between the lines, it sounds like someone was concerned about something your 8 yr old said that was inappropriate for an 8 yr old to know (i.e. of a sexual nature), called CPS, and maybe she was aware of some things, but it doesn't sound like anything *happened* to her. If so, I think you'd see them moving to get you into a service plan or something, like NOW.

If I'm barking up the right tree, here's my take... Whatever your daughter was exposed to, in the eyes of CPS, it's a red flag. In our investigation, our 12.5 yr old son and 11 yr old daughter were asked if they had ever seen any pornography and they didn't even know what that was... this was very impressive to the CPS investigator, especially since we're in southern California (apparently it's something kids are often exposed to at young ages whether at school, home, etc.). Whatever your daughter knows/saw, CPS is going to have the perspective that:
1 - she should NOT have that knowledge/exposure
2 - the father/stepfather/baby daddy/boyfriend is statistically the one most likely to be the perp
3 - parents of the child "allowed" it to happen by allowing her in that situation, thus "failure to protect"
4 - whatever the case, your daughter needs counseling to help put things in perspective, know what is right/wrong, when to tell, blow the whistle, protect her body, etc.
5 - the whole family will benefit from counseling or services of some kind

The good news, again, if I'm barking up the right tree, is that whatever has happened seems kind of mild. In our case, they called the day after the initial "investigation" saying that they wanted dad out of the house for 6 months to start (three years prior, when dd was 8, she was sleeping in our bed between us and IN HIS SLEEP he rolled over and his hand landed on her chest... they labeled this "child sexual abuse" ... seriously... not kidding). So, if that's the type of reaction they're going to have, I don't see that they've got anything on your situation to move you into the courts.

The bad news is that they are not likely going to just walk away. They will want to stay involved, because that is what they do (that's how they get funds from the federal government). They will present a "service plan" and probably want to make you and your wife take classes and your kids to go to counseling/therapy. You can negotiate. Decide what would be best for your family, maybe something like family counseling for your entire family for 4 months and individual counseling for your daughter until her therapist says not more is necessary. Agree to let them check in with the family once a month until the case is closed in a few months (they run on a 6/12/18 month schedule so be prepared for that).

You can try to tell them that you did no wrong so they don't need to be involved in your lives and pound sand and get lost, but THESE PEOPLE DO NOT PLAY FAIR!!! If you piss them off, they will write up a petition to take your children and will go before a judge and make up a huge pack of lies, exaggerations and dangerous omissions. For example, they will ask if you ever touched your daughter's chest and you'll said, "well, when she was 2-3 I used to put sunscreen on her" and they'll put in their report, "father confessed to fondling child's body".

Also, you indicated that she asked about you going back home... if that's an option, YES! What's important is that you'll be home with the kids. She seems ambivalent or vague about how they are moving forward? Well, in our experience, we found that caseworkers can be somewhat powerless, they are "managed" by supervisors who are a bit closer to the accounting office and farther away from the families they are destroying. Our 'dependency investigator' wrote up her report saying there was NO molestation, NO reason for CPS to be involved in our lives, that I/Mom was acting in every way to protect and serve my children and that CPS should step out completely. Her supervisor said, "no.... we have to stay involved... make it so that we confirm they are going to counseling and that we check in with them for six months." BTW, in our case, our daughter did not know the difference between an accidental touch and intentional touch at 8 yrs old... it was "real" for her and she buried it for three years, afraid of the consequences of what happened, that we would get divorced if she told. So, for her, she needed help and *I* made sure that happened by taking her to counseling. The effed up thing is that she should have been told from the beginning that it was accidental, dad would never do that, but we couldn't talk to her in order to preserve the integrity of the investigation. Regardless, I wanted her to get the help so that she she WOULD feel comfortable telling me or a trusted friend if anything like that ever happened to her. With our without CPS involvement, she was going to get that help, so if they wanted to confirm she was getting the help, fine with me. After two sessions, the counselor said, "she's just FINE and dragging her in her over and over again with nothing to discuss could be detrimental... we are DONE" and wrote a letter to CPS stating that. It helped us close our case.

The thing is this, working from the foundation that you've done no wrong, your daughter needs her mom and dad to help get her on the right track to overcome whatever has happened and that you are fully on board with working to make that happen. Do you need to be out of the house to do that? No. In fact, she is likely to feel MORE vulnerable with daddy gone. Tell them you want to move forward with closing this case and can you start by moving back home and making sure your daughter feels the security of an intact family again.

[mattwlen]

Wow. Thanks for all the help. I set up a consultation with a lawyer today. I go tomorrow. My wife called and talked to the detective that was involved and asked why we(she) haven't heard anything from them about extending the days. Well she was basically told that it didn't matter how dss found the case that she need to just keep me away until they tell me I can go back. We are so confused. I hope the lawyer can shed some light what they can and can't do. Obviously all party's involved are concerned with safety of our child but only we REALLY know that nothing happened. It's just hard to deal with that someone can just turn your whole life upside down. I wish I found this site a long time ago. Thanks.

[Eljay]

About that, yes, if you're on a "safety plan" to stay out of the home during the investigation, then, yes, DO stay away. Work towards getting the investigation to end, thus bringing about the end of the safety plan period. If you don't, if you go to the home, see your kids w/out authorization, they will not only characterize you as uncooperative, but will label your wife with "failure to protect" and move to take the kids from both of you. What you *can* do is ask the social worker if you can visit with the kids with your wife as the supervisor. Affirm that you know your daughter is safe with you and that you've been impressed with your wife's full cooperation w/CPS in the interest of protecting your children, that you KNOW she will protect them, not that she needs any protection from YOU, but that you know your wife will comply with whatever restrictions they put on her. In my case, they let ME be the supervisor of my own children with my husband, it just had to be at "neutral territory" which meant not at home or where he was staying. *SHE* needs to press them for what their investigation has revealed that she should be on the look out for. Sure, she has to protect the kids, but from WHAT? If there is nothing you've done or have indicated you will do, then there is nothing she has to do that she hasn't already been doing.

Another good thing you seem to have going for you is the police involvement. While CPS will pooh-pooh the police saying "we do our OWN investigation" it is helpful to have the police confirming the facts of the case. In our case, the police officer and caseworker walked out of the interview with my daughter having the same perspective (no big deal) but the next day, the caseworker and her supervisor had concocted a horrible scenario of sexual abuse. When I asked, "what abuse?" they tried to paint me as "in denial" of the abuse and guilty protecting my husband. I pressed them for what the heck they were talking about and they said, "we can't tell you for confidentiality reasons." Bullshit... I called the officer and said, "did my daughter say anything other than x, y, z, which I already know about?" He said no and was willing to go to bat for us, although admitted that CPS does whatever the hell they want with no oversight.

There was a case on here about a year ago where a woman and her husband both/together picked up their 1 yr old baby from daycare, got her home and upon changing her diaper, found a significant bruise. They called the police to start an investigation of the daycare center, and the police called CPS. CPS pulled the woman into another room and wanted her to send her husband away on a safety plan. Fortunately, she had the wherewithal to say, "are you nucking futs? We JUST picked her up from daycare together and found this bruise.... it was NOT my husband!" It's just the way CPS works... pitting husband and wife against each other. She needs to let them know that she will protect her kids at all costs, but let's be honest about the risks here.... there are none where dad is concerned, and if there are, you all need to let me know what they are! If there are none, then let him come home!

[mattwlen]

Your case sounds so similar to ours it's crazy. My wife has done nothing but tell them that her kids come first. Oh.. I have forgot to mention that the kids are my step kids. I'm just so used to calling them mine I forgot. I have raised my daughter sense she was 3. She is mine and she calls me daddy. That automatically makes it worse for me in there eyes. My wife is so scared they are going to think she is just protecting me. I know we have to be very delicate so we don't make them mad or make them think she isn't worried about her daughters safety but she knows nothing happened and it's hard for her to not just say I want my husband back. They are so secretive about everything. Like when we call dss and ask them something about what is going on they say well we haven't heard from the detective and vise versa. Like we are dumb.. we know they are talking together. I wish we had a detective that was as willing to help us as yours. The dss caseworker told me in the interview after she asked me if I would consider counciling for the family that if it came back unfounded that it was over. She said nothing about them making us go to counciling. I guess she could have been lying, but why?

[fatherofthree]

They should have given you a handbook for the investigation time frames, what it is about, ect. If not check their website.

[Eljay]

Unfounded & closed would be great! Let's hope that's the case. Keep asserting that is your expectation.

What else could they be investigating to drag this out? They may be just "fishing" hoping to be able to find something on a doctor's report or have somebody slip up and say something that they might twist (oh, you mentioned that you had a few beers at the superbowl party... now we want you to go to rehab!) If there's nothing there and you guys aren't easy targets, they may just move on. It's SOOOO much easier to kidnap small children, fill their mouths with words, to get them adopted out. Plus, they don't get money for leaving kids at home with mom or dad... foster care, yes, but at home, no. They may get money for enrolling folks in classes/counseling, but, again, there are easier - and more profitable - targets out there. Like... children who really ARE abused and neglected! They also seem to target single parents, poor parents, folks who don't have a good back-up system.

Plus, not *all* case workers are evil, money hungry monsters. They may actually be real human beings who care about what is best for your children.

[good dad]

Plus, not *all* case workers are evil, money hungry monsters. They may actually be real human beings who care about what is best for your children.

I agree... We have had a couple, maybe a few(?), on the site over the years who would answer what they would do as a caseworker in someones particular case... Honest and genuinely good caseworkers with good insider info,,, but some parents couldn't help but attack them as if they were the caseworker in their own case screwing them over... It sucks that they were "chased off" because they were a wealth of info

[monkette31]

really?...Gee, were they really here to be helpful?... Last one I saw on here was kerbs86...I think we need some Reformed caseworkers on this board who can help.

[mattwlen]

Well my daughter went to the interview with dss again and she told them nothing happened again and my daughter told my wife they called her a lier. That pisses me off. Can they do that?