No Due Process in Child Welfare

The child abuse registry is the only type of its kind. Before on is placed on the sexual abuse registry, one is arrested, charged, plead, tried, adjudicated with opportunity to appeal, sentenced, and then...registers on the sexual abuse registry.

In child welfare, you have been accused of abuse and neglect of your children by an anonymous source, who you will never be allowed to challenge, not even in a court of law. By and through a court hearing you were not requested to attend, you have been found guilty of abuse and neglect of your children through a court order to remove your children, and placed on the central Registry of Abuse and Neglect without being told.

I promote creating and maintaining a central registry for any entity that commits child welfare fraud.

Battered Woman Loses Job After Being Listed in Child Abuse Registry
Opinion by Pacific Justice Institute
(22 Hours Ago) in Society / Crime

Sioux Falls, SD - A victim of domestic violence has now found herself unemployed thanks to a mistake by a government agency she turned to for help.

The woman, a South Dakotan identified as "Vickie" to protect her identity, called police in 2006 after assaulted by her then-husband. She was also interviewed by a social worker. Shortly thereafter, an official notice was sent to the couple's home that, because their children had witnessed the abuse, he was being placed on the state's official registry of child abusers. A judge gave Vickie a protective order, and the couple later divorced. Now, nearly four years later, Vickie was recently fired from her job at a daycare center after her employer learned that she is also listed on the state’s child abuse registry - apparently through an error by the county.

According to attorneys for Pacific Justice Institute, being unjustly listed as a child abuser can happen more easily and be more difficult to contest than most people might realize. "It's a nightmare," noted Kevin Snider, Chief Counsel for Pacific Justice Institute. "In California and many other states, you don't have to be convicted or even charged with a crime in order to be officially labeled by the state for life as a child abuser. That label turns up in background checks and ruins the lives of innocent people who lose their jobs or cannot find work."

This week, PJI filed an amicus brief in the case of a man who was unjustly listed on California's Child Abuse Central Index (CACI). More than 800,000 people are listed on the CACI, and courts have previously questioned whether as many as half of them are being listed with little or no supporting evidence. Listings on state child abuse registries turn up on background checks and tend to prevent applicants from getting any jobs involving interaction with children.

PJI attorneys will be sending a letter to South Dakota officials demanding that Vickie's name be removed from the child abuse registry.

I speculate the reason states do not notify and amend records is because it comes back if the state does remove the person's name after having been placed improperly on the central registry, the person has a claim to bring forth on due process violations and false claims.

Just another emerging sector in the industry of child welfare fraud. Feel free to contact me for more information.