Recording CPS

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Tsundere
Posts: 13
Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2012 12:37 pm

Recording CPS

Postby Tsundere » Sun Sep 02, 2012 2:10 pm

Has anyone successfully gotten CPS to agree to being recorded for legal purposes only?

I've been having such a hard time with CPS and DSS agencies lying to me and with holding vital information purposefully.

By MD law, both parties have to be informed of intent to record and both/all parties have to give their permission for it to be recorded.

I have informed my CPS worker of my desire to record any and all conversations from here on out. They were not willing to do so. I then spoke with their supervisor and said the same to them. They kept on trying to change the subject and dance around answering if I could record the supervisor themselves or someone else willing in the agency. Finally with much reluctance they said "I will speak to our attorney about it" and after a little more reiterating, they said they would get back to me on what their attorney said.

I've heard nothing... it's been weeks. I can only but assume that they only told me what they did on the phone to try and pacify me and hope that I drop the issue. I'm sure if I brought up the issue again, they would claim that such a matter had never been addressed.

treytrey1
Posts: 279
Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2010 12:32 pm
Location: Tennessee

Re: Recording CPS

Postby treytrey1 » Mon Sep 03, 2012 9:08 am

Check the laws in your state, see if recording is allowed. If it is do it. In our state its allowed as long as one of the
partys is aware, well we were aware. :)

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Eljay
Posts: 2645
Joined: Thu Jan 20, 2011 10:01 am

Re: Recording CPS

Postby Eljay » Mon Sep 03, 2012 9:20 am

So you use "implied consent" ... inform them that you WILL be recording your conversation and state the obvious: "you have been informed... if you continue to speak, your consent is implied." If they don't want to communicate verbally, then they need to put EVERYTHING in writing. Simple as that.

Also, if you're dealing with court, then you'll not likely be able to easily submit the recordings, so after your conversation, transcribe everything into a written record and file the audio recording. If/when you need to use what they said in court, you've got the transcription. If they deny they said it, tell the judge that you have an audio recording to back it up if he/she wants to hear it.
Advice & opinions provided are no substitute for genuine legal assistance. Laws & rules vary by state/jurisdiction so do your homework and get
an education in CPS laws, rules & practices so that you can FIGHT for your children's rights. I am not a lawyer. Your mileage may vary.

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Tsundere
Posts: 13
Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2012 12:37 pm

Re: Recording CPS

Postby Tsundere » Wed Sep 12, 2012 4:10 pm

In this state, as I said, both/all parties have to give permission to be recorded. I can get in trouble if I record ANYTHING prior to them giving me permission to record. This states laws are incredibly strict on recording video or audio. When I tried to talk about this with them before, my main CPS worker basically just stopped talking. If I called her back to to tell her that this is a recorded conversation I'm sure she would just hang up on me.

If I wanted to use any recordings in court, included in the recording would be them saying that they have given permission to be recorded, along with their full name, and notice of when the recorded started.

I would like to do only mail with them, but then I get into the problem of my mail service, it's notoriously slow here. By the time I received notice of something important by mail, say like a meeting date, the mail might not even arrive until after the meeting date had passed.
I have told them of my problem with my mail service, and my problem with my phone service (my entire town is like a dead zone) so my phone often does not tell me when ppl call, or my calls constantly drop, or I can't make calls out, sometimes it's even taken almost 2 days to tell me I even had a voice mail.
CPS has only used this against me, as a way of saying that I'm never around, not complying and being negligent.

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Eljay
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Joined: Thu Jan 20, 2011 10:01 am

Re: Recording CPS

Postby Eljay » Thu Sep 13, 2012 9:44 am

As I said on the other post, it is THEIR choice to not continue the conversation. They are refusing to communicate with you, not the other way around.

Send them a letter that tells them your phone is not a reliable form of communication and they are to no longer use it to communicate with you. Since they made a choice to refuse to be recorded, then all communications will have to be either in writing with a 5-business day lead time *OR* in person with you transcribing everything that is said.

DON'T MAKE IT EASY FOR THEM!!!!!! They thrive on easy kidnapping!
Advice & opinions provided are no substitute for genuine legal assistance. Laws & rules vary by state/jurisdiction so do your homework and get
an education in CPS laws, rules & practices so that you can FIGHT for your children's rights. I am not a lawyer. Your mileage may vary.

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fatherofthree
Posts: 170
Joined: Thu Nov 10, 2011 1:15 pm

Re: Recording CPS

Postby fatherofthree » Mon Sep 17, 2012 3:14 am

They should not be afraid of being recorded, and in fact encourage it along with their own recording to ensure both sides do not alter the recording. Unfortunately it goes against their tactics which is side.
DISCLAIMER: I am not an attorney and am not providing legal advice.

survivorsofcps
Posts: 182
Joined: Wed Sep 19, 2012 2:50 pm

Re: Recording CPS

Postby survivorsofcps » Wed Sep 26, 2012 10:52 pm

I know this is going to sound sneaky but use two recorders. Pretend to turn off one when they ask you to. Make a big show of turning that one off when they say they do not want to be recorded, and then have a smaller one in your pocket but make it a good one. They will usually not bother to record so your will likely be the only audio copy. :twisted:

thepenguinpitt
Posts: 45
Joined: Sat Dec 15, 2012 2:10 pm

Re: Recording CPS

Postby thepenguinpitt » Sat Apr 27, 2013 6:55 am

I recorded a phone conversation with my caseworker without her knowing, I know I probably couldnt use it in court, but it was so helpful to be able to listen to the way she answered questions and the kinds of statements she kept repeating. I really feel this will help me when it comes time for our trial to prepare what to ask her and what to steer clear of. Plus its fun just to listen to her stuttering and dead silence when she cant answer my questions, and boy oh boy are they good at trying to change the subject when they feel uncomfortable.

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Eljay
Posts: 2645
Joined: Thu Jan 20, 2011 10:01 am

Re: Recording CPS

Postby Eljay » Sat Apr 27, 2013 12:33 pm

So very true.

You don't really *NEED* the recording.... you need to write down what was said, per your "recollection" at the time. Then, if/when you get to a place in your case/trial where you claim that the social worker said something (that is significant), and she denies it, you say, "this is my record of what was said that day" and submit the transcripts. THEN, if she still denies it, you can tell the judge that you have a recording to impeach the claims of the social worker.
Advice & opinions provided are no substitute for genuine legal assistance. Laws & rules vary by state/jurisdiction so do your homework and get
an education in CPS laws, rules & practices so that you can FIGHT for your children's rights. I am not a lawyer. Your mileage may vary.

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survivorsofcps
Posts: 182
Joined: Wed Sep 19, 2012 2:50 pm

Re: Recording CPS

Postby survivorsofcps » Mon Sep 29, 2014 3:00 pm

that is even sneakier :twisted:

*Lady Liberty
Posts: 169
Joined: Fri Jul 10, 2015 4:53 pm

Re: Recording CPS

Postby *Lady Liberty » Tue Aug 04, 2015 4:11 pm

I really liked what Eljay had to say. Very good. I wanted to point out as well, always, always, always document. You then write your summary of what took place and send it in email to the case worker/supervisor/whoever. You add on the bottom of the email something to the effect, "This is true and accurate to the best of my knowledge. If I do not hear back from you in X amount of days, it will become fact." They might respond, "I dispute everything that was written." Try and pin them to exactly what they dispute. You want to make them work.


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