Hacker News Reader

> Do you just let Umbridge into your house and hope that the quick look around is enough to close the case? Or do you recognize you're dealing with an Umbridge and not take the chance?

In the US at least, you absolutely do not give consent for anyone from the government to come into your house. It can only hurt you. Call the police and tell them someone is trespassing. Call your lawyer and explain the situation.

Children should know it is inappropriate for adults they don't know to ask for details about their home life. Any adult acting in good faith will always make it easier for a child to contact their parents without negotiation. "Yes you can use my phone" is the only acceptable response. No "come over here first", no "let's talk about where your parents are".

> Call your lawyer and explain the situation.

How many people 'have' a lawyer?

You don't need to have a lawyer on retainer, but you should probably at least have the name and phone number of one you could call in a pinch. Most law-abiding folks aren't going to see that moment coming, so having a phone number handy could make it a lot less stressful. And in a case like this, it will show the apparatchik at your door that you're not going to be an easy pushover.

That's right up there with "ask your doctor..."

What’s missing in this discussion is the neighbor. This isn’t just about CPS, it’s about there being someone in the neighborhood twisted enough to call down state authority on the parents for no particularly good reason. Most people don’t have this kind of interaction with CPS because most people don’t live next to informers. But some people do, and the informer makes things terrible for them.

Edit, which on second reading, you do mention. “Some busybody” is a big part of the problem.

There's a similar institution in Switzerland - the KESB - and it has its own horror stories. It's a matter of canton and of persons involved, but you get from their activity the whole range: from perfect and ideal support (which is of course the very reason KESB exists) to mafia-style trafficking (kids are systematically placed away by the same persons, to cash in government payments). Such an institution needs both professional and judiciary supervision in order to not depend on one individual's ethics - and KESB has neither.

You have to decide if you think that (in general) they're "good with some bad apples" or "the whole thing is rotten to the core".

If it's the first, on first contact you assume they're generally good-willed, and play the part of the concerned parent, and find something obvious and physical that can be added and verified (a fence, say, or a lock, or alarm, depending on what occurred). Try to sus out how the report occurred.

If it's the second, move. Move out of their district or out of their state. You're already fucked, so your best option is to run.

The correct path of action would be, if you have children, to have the correct kind of lawyer on retainer already. This is the unfortunately reality we have.

You do not speak with the police, you calmly but firmly inform them that they can return with a warrant if they think there is something actionable.

You then proceed legal action against the false reporter. Sometimes all you can get is a no contact order, sometimes you can get a stalking injunction, sometimes a full blown restraining order. This is why you want a lawyer ahead of time, they know how to deal with this.

That doesn't work as well in areas where people can make anonymous reports. Even where callers can't be anonymous, a lawyer would be needed to get the name of the caller; they don't just hand it out to the subject of the complaint. Couple that with frequent requirements that even obviously-bogus complaints be officially investigated, and it's a shitshow built for busybodies.

From what I've seen, in areas that you can make anonymous reports, the cops don't do anything. For example, judges generally won't issue warrants just because an anonymous phone call claimed something.

Again, don't let a cop into your house unless they have the magical piece of paper called a warrant.

*don't let a government worker uninvited into your house unless...

FTFY

The fact that even good people with nothing to hide speaks volumes about these government institutions but what it says about the people who blindly peddle them could fill libraries.

This isn't just for CPS, for all sorts areas of government.