The Family and the State
State intervention into families:  How far is too far?
From, The Kentucky Citizen Digest, Novemer/December, 2001.

Allegations of child abuse and neglect rally society to protect children, but for parents on the receiving end of a government probe, some say social service authorities sometimes go too far. 
   
Andy Miller, a Logan County parent who was accused of child abuse, says current law doesn’t respect parental rights. Miller’s 5-year-old son, Evan, arrived at kindergarten one morning with a sore and swollen eye, prompting a child protection agent to investigate.
    
Miller said he was questioned on five separate occasions and was deemed “the perpetrator.”  Miller’s 11-year-old son was also questioned without Miller’s consent or knowledge. 
   
“I felt the full power of government was unleashed,” Miller said.  “They had me by the collar. As far as rights go, I didn’t have the right to know how this happened or what was asked of my child or how it was asked.  I felt victimized.”  The school nurse might easily have suggested a treatment for Evan’s problem—severe pink-eye—but treatment for the damage to his father’s authority may be harder to come by.
   
This year three states have proposed legislation to shore up parental rights.  Connecticut, North Dakota and North Carolina may join Arizona, whose laws have been hailed as a model for respecting family sovereignty without sacrificing child safety.
   
Arizona mandates several requirements for its social workers: (1) They must notify families who are under investigation and inform them of the general allegations.  (2) Social workers must clarify that they have no legal authority to compel families to cooperate.  (3) Non-cooperation is not grounds for removing children from homes unless a clear and present danger exists.
   
Kentucky law mandates that teachers and other professionals report any suspected child abuse or neglect.  Every report must be investigated without exception.  Mike Jennings, spokesman for the Cabinet for Families and Children, explained that while they avoid undermining parental rights, when it comes to a medical decision they refer the case to a judge.
    
Adair County resident Teresa Durbin believes the state violated her parental authority.  Her crime?  Refusing, during an emergency-room visit, to allow her 15-year-old daughter to have a tetanus shot, even though she had had one six years earlier.  Durbin said a social service worker told her to “get the shot or you will give up the child [by a court order].”  Taylor County social service workers would not comment on the case.
    
Earlier this year, the Home School Legal Defense Association represented Jessamine and Pendleton County families accused of educational neglect.  A Pendleton County social-service agent told a family that home schooling was illegal unless the teacher was state certified. Another agent had a Jessamine County family summoned to court for refusing to allow them into their home.   Both cases were dismissed.
   
Fewer than 50 percent of Kentucky’s child-abuse allegations are substantiated, leading many to believe that unnecessary meddling with innocent families could be curtailed by revamping the law.
   


 

Key Family Foundation Contacts: Kent Ostrander , Executive Director Martin Cothran , Senior Associate Policy Analyst