ProPublica Report Finds Child Protective Services Agencies Routinely Fail to Comply with Warrant Requirements to Enter Homes

From [HERE] Governments set up rules governing how they govern. Then they ignore them. So, what’s the point? Is it a nod to decorum before the proverbial government party guest throws up in the bathtub and hits on your mom? 

If the law says an entry order or warrant is needed to enter people’s homes to investigate alleged crimes against children and you choose to ignore that law, that should make you a lawbreaker. Instead, it just makes you a child protective services investigator.

An investigation by ProPublica has found that these orders are almost never obtained. Instead, investigators simply exploit the ignorance of those targeted, bullying their way past their thresholds to perform warrantless searches of people’s homes.

By law, ACS [Administration for Children’s Services] caseworkers are not allowed to enter and search a home without either permission to enter or an entry order, which is the legal equivalent of a search warrant, unless a child is in imminent danger. But many parents don’t know that they have the right to deny these government agents or don’t push back for fear of losing their children, according to parents and their advocates. And caseworkers frequently say things that are coercive and manipulative in order to get inside homes without going to a judge, according to interviews with more than three dozen former ACS workers, New York City Family Court judges, parents, children and attorneys.

How often is this requirement ignored? Pretty much all the time. ProPublica found that in New York, ACS engaged in more than 56,000 cases a year over the last decade. In the average year over the same time span, it only obtained 94 warrants/entry orders: less than 0.2% of the total cases.

While it’s certainly true not all open cases result in home searches, home entries are extremely common. Home visits are a requirement in most states when a case is opened, which means investigators will make an appearance at people’s homes at least once, if not multiple times, before the investigation concludes.

The data obtained by ProPublica says investigators almost never obtain these orders. The statements made by agencies contacted by ProPublica back up these findings: warrants are the exception, even if they’re supposed to be the rule.

[I]n a ProPublica and NBC News survey that drew detailed responses from 40 state child welfare agencies, all said they would only obtain a warrant or court order to search a home — or call the police for help — in rare cases when they are denied entry. None said they keep any data on how often they get an entry order.

This adds up to millions of warrantless entries to homes every year, performed by agencies that rely on coercion and ignorance to gain entry. When a cop tries to enter a home, most people know they need a warrant to do it. That information has long been mainstream, thanks to decades of TV cop shows. But when a child protective services investigator shows up, people aren’t aware they are government employees performing criminal investigations and need to have the same paperwork to gain entry. [MORE]