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The knock took me by surprise. I opened the door to my Manhattan apartment. Two caseworkers from Child Protective Services introduced themselves and informed me that I was “the subject of an investigation.” I asked why. I knew nothing about CPS.
The lead caseworker stated my 6-year-old daughter’s name and accused her of “inappropriately touching other kids.” They failed to consider that my daughter was standing right next to me. Stunned by their insensitivity, I tried to protect my child by sending the caseworkers away. But the following day, the agent confronted me in my building’s hallway and demanded she “see the kids.” Only then did my family reluctantly submit to an interrogation in our home.
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During that first meeting in 2019, which lasted nearly three hours, our children — ages 6, 10 and 12 — were questioned in a separate room from my husband and me. Though the allegations had already been investigated and found baseless by the police, the caseworkers launched a 60-day investigation into my family’s private life. That investigation too concluded that the initial report — and call to the Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment — “was determined to be unfounded.”
Throughout the 60 days, however, caseworkers investigated concerns that extended far beyond the initial complaint made to the central register. Caseworkers demanded my children’s confidential medical records, spoke to professionals working with my family and pulled my children out of class to interrogate them further. My children later told me they were asked if they “touched their private parts,” if they were scared of anyone in our family and if we, their parents, hit them.
Meanwhile, the lead agent told them she was there to protect them — implying that we had put our children in harm’s way. As a direct result of her interactions with me and my children, sibling fights, nightmares and overall family stress increased.
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I’d been led to believe we had no choice but to allow CPS into our home. I was wrong: We did have a choice. We could have told the caseworkers that they needed a warrant to enter our home.
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The routine violation of these Fourth Amendment rights is at the heart of the 2024 class-action lawsuit against New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services, which operates as the city’s CPS agency. Currently pending in the Eastern District of New York, the lawsuit claims ACS uses coercive tactics to search tens of thousands of families’ homes every year without a warrant, in violation of the U.S. Constitution — seeking a court order less than 0.5% of the time.
The majority of cases ACS investigates are, like mine, unfounded. Many stem from anonymous reports. Furthermore, the racism embedded in the system cannot be ignored: The overwhelming majority of cases concern Black and brown families — a Black child in New York City is eight times more likely than a white child to be investigated. But don’t assume that this is “someone else’s problem.” It could happen to any of us.
Never once during my family’s 60-day investigation was I informed of my rights. If I were arrested on suspicion of committing a crime, the police would have been required to read me my Miranda rights. But CPS caseworkers have routinely withheld this information from parents — and faced no consequences for doing so.
That’s why state lawmakers must pass the Family Miranda Rights Act, which would require that parents be notified, verbally and in writing, of their rights at the start of every CPS investigation.
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Unfortunately, legislators are blocking Family Miranda from moving out of committee and onto the floor for a vote. These lawmakers mistakenly believe that denying due process prevents tragedy. They must understand that the bill does not create new rights; it simply requires caseworkers to inform parents of their existing rights. It would still permit caseworkers to enter the home without a warrant and even temporarily remove the children if they believe the children are in imminent danger.
Passing the Family Miranda Rights Act will ensure that families are informed of their constitutional rights and treated fairly during investigations. If caseworkers had informed me of my rights back in 2019 when they first knocked on my door, it would have been a step — albeit a small one — in instilling trust. Instead, too many of us feel betrayed by the very agency that is supposed to protect our children and support families.
Loren Edelson, a writer who lives in Rockland County, is a member of the Parent Legislative Action Network.
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