A reader sent me this article and asked me to comment on it.

In this article, a couple is accused of killing their foster daughter, who had a heart condition. The initial report showed “blunt force trauma” to her head and internal bleeding. Upon a THOROUGH investigation, it was discovered that the internal bleeding was from her heart medication and the trauma to her head occurred during the autopsy.

One of the comments in the article is that with abuse allegations you are presumed guilty and have to prove you are not.

I could not agree more. When our investigator showed up at the door, she had her opinion of us formed (which was not a good one) and she set out to prove it. She would interview people, and if there was one negative comment in a 45 minute conversation, that was the only thing included in her report. The other 44 minutes never appeared. She “paid” Sammy to say negative things against us by buying him gifts each time he said something she wanted to hear. Sadly, things like this DO happen during investigations.

The couple in the article was cleared in a court of law, but social services was unwilling to mark their file as clear. They felt that the abuse happened, so they marked it substantiated. This hurts this family in ways you cannot begin to imagine. They cannot have another child in their home because of what social services put on their record. If the couple does not take this ruling to court – again, and have it overturned, it will stay on their record until their youngest child turns 24 years old.

How much does this family have to do to clear their name? Our three month case cost us $15,000 and we never went to trial. This family has already gone to trial and been cleared, and now they are looking at another court hearing to get their record cleared. I cannot imagine what this is costing them financially, in addition to what they have gone through emotionally.

The last sentence of the article sums up pretty adequately what social services decision means to this family if they don’t appeal it:

Parents who don't challenge the state can't open a day care center, be foster parents or be awarded custody of a relative's child should something happen to its parents.

What the article doesn’t mention is that it can prevent them from obtaining a job in virtually any child care field. This includes things like teaching and nursing. The employer would be perfectly justified in denying them employment with this on their record, and if we didn’t know the story, we’d want their employment denied.

There are times when things can slip through and a child can still enter the home. Our case is a perfect example. When our kids left our home, all three of them lived with my cousin and his wife for a month until Kory and Mackenzie were moved to a new pre-adoptive placement. Sammy remained there until we were cleared. My cousin’s wife had a child neglect conviction on her record, but it was under her maiden name. Social services only looked under her married name. My son saw my cousin, his godfather, abuse his wife while he lived there. My cousin and his wife now have custody of my cousin’s nephew, and they were awarded custody after my cousin was convicted domestic battery and ordered into anger management classes. I cannot imagine what that child is seeing in this home. Yet social services is worried about cases like mine and the couple in this article.

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