aI don't know California law, but in Ohio a child cannot be removed without a court order. If an order is granted, a hearing on continued removal must be held by the end of the next business day. I guarantee that this kind of crap wouldn't fly in my court.
Your Ohio law comes from a ruling by SCOTUS.
I am not ashamed to admit that I worked CPS for 14 years. I removed a heck of a lot of kids from their homes, but only when they were in imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury due to neglect or abuse - pretty much the same standard that we use for self defense cases. It says more about the motivation of their parents to straighten up abnd do better than it does about me, my counseling "skills" or the effectiveness of the (any) services provided to help improve the home situation that most of the kids could safely be returned home within 6 months. I also left a heck of a lot more kids in their homes and arranged for goods. services, and/or financial assistance that was needed to reduce/eliminate the abuse/neglect to a level that was tolerable by both agency and societal standards.
That right - the goal when a child was removed was never to eliminate abuse/neglect, just to stop it from being a threat to life or serious bodily injury. When it was below that level the situation was monitored and goods, services, and/or financial assistance was provided to work towards eliminating the abuse/neglect. That's the way it is supposed to work. Unfortunately, in the current societal atmosphere do-good busybodies have upped the ante to not only eliminating the abuse/neglect reported, but removing all possible abuse/neglect
and ensuring that there will never again be any abuse/neglect. That's a standard that Jusus Himself could never meet!
With the scant details provided here, it sounds like CPS responded to someone at the first hospital who freaked out because the parents took their baby out of the hospital without crossing all the
i's and dotting all the
t's. It sounds like they took the kid straight to the second hospital for a second opinion - not like they called up and arranged for an appointment several weeks down the road. But someone did not follow all the rules!
It also sounds like CPS did not conduct any meaningful investigation, and that there was not a court hearing to decide if the kid should remain outside the home. Denying the parents/their attorney access to the medical record is another huge misstep - in itself that could cost the taxpayers lots of money. Denying pictures/video of the kid is arbitrary, caprecious, and probably meets the state's definition of emotional neglect
1. The punitive damages for that will probably be massive.
There is no way CPS can cover their hind parts. Not if the parents get even a barely mediocre lawyer.
stay safe.
1 - Did you know that in most states emotional neglect is a felony, while physical abuse is only a misdemeanor? Parents/caregivers I dealt with that did anything that left a mark (let alone broke, burned, cut, or removed a part) were never charged with abuse. They were charged with felony A&B. And in spite of that, many of them got their kids back when it was safer.
ETA - went here
http://www.dss.cahwnet.gov/getinfo/pdf/cws2.pdf afterwards to see just what the rules of engagement CPS operates under. To say they screwed the pooch is to be so kind and forgiving. Little Sammy should come out of this with his medical care for life paid for, college all the way to a PhD paid for, and still have enough left over to live quite well for the rest of a long and happy life.
