What is the name of your state? Georgia
DFCS and the Sheriff's Dept. visited our home a few weeks ago. They stated that the complaint was that our house "was a disaster". I stated that our children are homeschooled, so yes there is a lot of kid clutter, becasuse they are here most all the time, and they are young, it's hard to pick up after them.
I was asked if I would allow them inside to interview our children and I said no. The case worker stated that she could petition a judge and get a "court order to search the house". I said, "Fine....do that." [a court order...not a search warrant. I thought that was odd] I didn't tell her that my wife and our children were not in the house and that they were on a prearranged "weekend at Nannie and Papa's house". Their grandparents and my Inlaws.
They did not come back with a warrant, but rather a court order, which I was not allowed to make a copy of. I was not really allowed to read it. The second visit was DFCS and the Sheriff and one deputy. They questioned me at length. Why aren't the children in school? THere are allegations of neglect, etc. The DFCS office in the town they were located in called and asked to see the children. My wife took them over. The case worker wanted them to come inside and my wife refused. She stated that our son is autistic and strange people, tense situations, and strange places makes his extremely irrational. The case worker called the local PD, and when the Officer showed up, it was one of our old friends that my wife and I went to school with. The DFCS case worker looked dejected when the Officer stepped out of his car and smiled and said, "Hey Tina, How's David(me) doing!" So the little examination happened outside. Our 5 year old sat by the lady and read her a book(she is 5 but reads on a second grade level). Our son refused to speak to her but was happy to play with the Officer.
The meeting went well. THey all left.
We were called by DFCS when they got back home, and the case worker here stated that she needed to interview the children alone, and that it is the same as an admission of guilt to not allow that. We don't let people whom we don't know to spend ANY AMOUNT OF TIME ALONE WITH OUR CHILDREN. And we told her this.
DFCS came out to the house. Our daughter chatted with them for a bit, our son refused to speak to them.
We taped video and audio of the meeting. We have signed posted at each door of our home stating that the premises are under constant video and audio surveillance.
I asked if the person who made the false accusation this time, does so again, is our home and our privacy going to be invaded again. She stated that yes, they have to take every report seriously. I said that if the person makes 10 allegations over ten months...then each time we are going to have our lives turned upside down, and there is no way to stop that? She stated that they have to investigate every allegation.
We were told that there was concern because the children had not been seen by anyone. My wife was livid. She stated that the children had just had complete physicals the day before their intial visit to our home(while she and the children were away). Both children had been seen at the elementry school the same day, where our son receives part of his speech therapy(three one hour visits per week). They had been seen by one of his occupational therapists the same day, at church, where the OT is the children's choir leader. My wife stated that our children are seen by many people, in positions of authority, every week.
Another issue to all this is that this is an ongoing problem with visits to our home.
We purchased a home that two politically elite community members each wanted. They own properties that ajoin ours. Examples:
1)We had a deputy show up at our home because our grass was to high. We are zoned residential/agricultural, and were were growing hay on the back side of our acreage. We told the deputy about our problems with the neighbors, he laughed and said that he would file a report stating our zoning, and that would solve that problem.
2)We had another deputy show up and state that there was a report of "shooting going on that sounded like World War Three, and that people were brandishing firearms in front of children." It was me. And they were our children. I was sighting in my little .22 that my wife had bought me as a squirrel gun, for Christmas. I was firing into a specailly build 10 foot berm. The deputy looked over the property and was satisfied that all was well and safe.
3)We had a deputy show up and sit in our front yard for half an hour and do nothing. He was just sitting there. When I approached him and saked if I could help him, he stated that he was just entering some data into his computer. I told him that that was fine, but he was sitting in an area that I had just sown a cover crop of clover, and that him sitting there and driving on my property was damaging my work. He said sorry, and left.
3)Then one day we called animal control because we had a stray dog show up around our place and we called animal control. The Sherriff's Dept. showed up instead. The deputy stated that animal control would come by and pick the dog up tomorrow. Then he started asking some extremely leading...just...weird questions. I thought I was talking to a crazy person. I told him that I appreciated him coming out and to have a good day. He sat in our driveway for about 20 minutes...entering data into his computer.
Then the DFCS thing happened. We THINK that one neighbor or the other is trying to run us off. One family is into several businesses in the area, and the other is a family of politicians, and lawyers.
What we would like to do is find out if there is any recourse with all of this happening. It is starting to feel like harrassment. We had retained an attorney for $500. He found out who the other parties involved were and the retainer jumped to $3000. We got our $500 back and then started calling other lawyers, but not one of tehm would touch it for less than $3000. And at the time that we started trying to get a lawyer, all we wanted was for them to send a paralegal over as a witness to the things that were said during our dealings with the SD and DFCS.
That is it in a nutshell. Do we have ANY recourse? I would love to send a clear message that we want to be left alone. We've done nothing wrong. Our children our in excellent health. Aside from toys all over the playroom floor, our home is in good repair and is safe.
What can I do? Thanks!
DFCS and the Sheriff's Dept. visited our home a few weeks ago. They stated that the complaint was that our house "was a disaster". I stated that our children are homeschooled, so yes there is a lot of kid clutter, becasuse they are here most all the time, and they are young, it's hard to pick up after them.
I was asked if I would allow them inside to interview our children and I said no. The case worker stated that she could petition a judge and get a "court order to search the house". I said, "Fine....do that." [a court order...not a search warrant. I thought that was odd] I didn't tell her that my wife and our children were not in the house and that they were on a prearranged "weekend at Nannie and Papa's house". Their grandparents and my Inlaws.
They did not come back with a warrant, but rather a court order, which I was not allowed to make a copy of. I was not really allowed to read it. The second visit was DFCS and the Sheriff and one deputy. They questioned me at length. Why aren't the children in school? THere are allegations of neglect, etc. The DFCS office in the town they were located in called and asked to see the children. My wife took them over. The case worker wanted them to come inside and my wife refused. She stated that our son is autistic and strange people, tense situations, and strange places makes his extremely irrational. The case worker called the local PD, and when the Officer showed up, it was one of our old friends that my wife and I went to school with. The DFCS case worker looked dejected when the Officer stepped out of his car and smiled and said, "Hey Tina, How's David(me) doing!" So the little examination happened outside. Our 5 year old sat by the lady and read her a book(she is 5 but reads on a second grade level). Our son refused to speak to her but was happy to play with the Officer.
The meeting went well. THey all left.
We were called by DFCS when they got back home, and the case worker here stated that she needed to interview the children alone, and that it is the same as an admission of guilt to not allow that. We don't let people whom we don't know to spend ANY AMOUNT OF TIME ALONE WITH OUR CHILDREN. And we told her this.
DFCS came out to the house. Our daughter chatted with them for a bit, our son refused to speak to them.
We taped video and audio of the meeting. We have signed posted at each door of our home stating that the premises are under constant video and audio surveillance.
I asked if the person who made the false accusation this time, does so again, is our home and our privacy going to be invaded again. She stated that yes, they have to take every report seriously. I said that if the person makes 10 allegations over ten months...then each time we are going to have our lives turned upside down, and there is no way to stop that? She stated that they have to investigate every allegation.
We were told that there was concern because the children had not been seen by anyone. My wife was livid. She stated that the children had just had complete physicals the day before their intial visit to our home(while she and the children were away). Both children had been seen at the elementry school the same day, where our son receives part of his speech therapy(three one hour visits per week). They had been seen by one of his occupational therapists the same day, at church, where the OT is the children's choir leader. My wife stated that our children are seen by many people, in positions of authority, every week.
Another issue to all this is that this is an ongoing problem with visits to our home.
We purchased a home that two politically elite community members each wanted. They own properties that ajoin ours. Examples:
1)We had a deputy show up at our home because our grass was to high. We are zoned residential/agricultural, and were were growing hay on the back side of our acreage. We told the deputy about our problems with the neighbors, he laughed and said that he would file a report stating our zoning, and that would solve that problem.
2)We had another deputy show up and state that there was a report of "shooting going on that sounded like World War Three, and that people were brandishing firearms in front of children." It was me. And they were our children. I was sighting in my little .22 that my wife had bought me as a squirrel gun, for Christmas. I was firing into a specailly build 10 foot berm. The deputy looked over the property and was satisfied that all was well and safe.
3)We had a deputy show up and sit in our front yard for half an hour and do nothing. He was just sitting there. When I approached him and saked if I could help him, he stated that he was just entering some data into his computer. I told him that that was fine, but he was sitting in an area that I had just sown a cover crop of clover, and that him sitting there and driving on my property was damaging my work. He said sorry, and left.
3)Then one day we called animal control because we had a stray dog show up around our place and we called animal control. The Sherriff's Dept. showed up instead. The deputy stated that animal control would come by and pick the dog up tomorrow. Then he started asking some extremely leading...just...weird questions. I thought I was talking to a crazy person.
I told him that I appreciated him coming out and to have a good day. He sat in our driveway for about 20 minutes...entering data into his computer. Then the DFCS thing happened. We THINK that one neighbor or the other is trying to run us off. One family is into several businesses in the area, and the other is a family of politicians, and lawyers.
What we would like to do is find out if there is any recourse with all of this happening. It is starting to feel like harrassment. We had retained an attorney for $500. He found out who the other parties involved were and the retainer jumped to $3000. We got our $500 back and then started calling other lawyers, but not one of tehm would touch it for less than $3000. And at the time that we started trying to get a lawyer, all we wanted was for them to send a paralegal over as a witness to the things that were said during our dealings with the SD and DFCS.
That is it in a nutshell. Do we have ANY recourse? I would love to send a clear message that we want to be left alone. We've done nothing wrong. Our children our in excellent health. Aside from toys all over the playroom floor, our home is in good repair and is safe.
What can I do? Thanks!