Many parents in the greater Dallas area may not realize until it is too late the power that Texas’s Child Protective Service office has.
Although individual investigators may present themselves as caring people who just want to help out a struggling parent, the reality is that they are government agents tasked with ferreting out and eliminating child abuse and neglect.
In addition to having the power to remove children from a parent’s care, sometimes even without a court order, they also are required to work closely with law enforcement.
They will not hesitate to turn over suspected abuse cases to the police, who will in turn refer investigations for criminal prosecution.
Often, these charges can lead to felony convictions and time in prison, even for someone with no prior history. Other serious consequences may also apply.
People dealing with CPS need to be aware of their legal rights
Of course, the government can, and should, protect children. But the problem comes in when CPS agents trample on the rights of parents by taking their children unfairly or, perhaps worse, falsely accusing them of criminal abuse.
Texas parents need to be aware of their rights when dealing with CPS. For example, they have the same constitutional rights as they would have were the police knocking on their door. They do not have to submit to illegal searches, and they do not have to answer questions about whether they did or did not commit abuse or any other crime.
Furthermore, in some circumstances, they may be able to require CPS to interview their children only in their presence.
An experienced attorney can prove to be of valuable assistance to parents who are under a CPS investigation or who are facing criminal charges related to child abuse.
