CIVIL RIGHTS – CHILDREN AND YOUTH SERVICES

If you have a case involving one of the Children and Youth Services agencies in Pennsylvania, and you believe your civil rights have been violated, we may be able to help.  If you have had your children taken away from you unfairly, without an adequate reason, we may be able to help.  If you have been unfairly accused of being an perpetrator of child sexual abuse, we may be able to help.  If you have been placed on Pennsylvania’s Childline Registry without a fair investigation, because of an Indicated Report, we may be able to help.  Decision making by a social worker that is clearly arbitrary violates the due process rights of the affected family.  Miller v. City of Philadelphia. Child welfare workers are liable for their investigative or administrative actions. Bayer v. Monroe County CYS.

The law in Pennsylvania is clear.  Removal of a child from parental custody without reasonable suspicion to believe ongoing custody presents a threat to the child’s health or safety constitutes an arbitrary abuse of government power.  Bower v. Lawrence County CYS.  Ordering a parent to leave a home based on unfounded suspicions or anonymous tips, without objectively reasonable grounds, is an arbitrary abuse of government power. Croft v. Westmoreland CYS.  Parents have a constitutionally protected liberty interest in the custody and care of their children.   The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits the government from interfering in familial relationships unless the government adheres to the requirements of due process.

Call us if you believe your civil rights have been violated by unfair conduct by any government official involving the custody and care of your children, or because you have been unfairly named as an Indicated Perpetrator or placed on the Childline Registry for no good reason.