EPPiC Roundtable: When CPS Is at the Door

They’re some of the scariest questions anyone can face as a parent: What do I do when Child Protective Services (CPS) is at the door? What are they going to do? And what might happen next?

This week, the Parental Rights Foundation’s EPPiC Broadcast podcast features a roundtable of family defense attorneys from across the political spectrum to tackle these very questions.

The all-star panel of attorneys includes Parental Rights Foundation Board Chairman Jim Mason and two members of the Foundation’s Board of Advisors Committee on Child Welfare, Kathleen Creamer and Martin Guggenheim.

Jim Mason, president of the Home School Legal Defense Association, famously (in legal circles, anyway) argued a Pennsylvania case a few years ago that established beyond question that the Fourth Amendment freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures requires some show of probable cause even in child welfare cases, something we discuss in this episode.

Kathleen Creamer, managing attorney at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia’s Family Advocacy Unit and an active leader in the United Family Advocates coalition that we are a part of, works with underprivileged families every day as they deal with CPS.

And Dr. Martin Guggenheim, the founder and co-director (retired) of the New York University School of Law’s Family Defense Clinic, is a legend in family defense circles with more than 30 years of experience in the field.

Together they discuss the questions parents face when someone has called in a report of child abuse or neglect. Do you have to let them in? Can you get an attorney? What happens if you don’t accept their “safety plan?”

While the podcast is not a vehicle for giving legal advice (and state laws vary too widely for any meaningful attempt, anyway), the team helps listeners understand what might be happening and what your rights are. (Those looking for legal advice in a particular case should check the list of resources at parentalrightsfoundation.org/legal.)

If you’ve never listened to the EPPiC Broadcast before, or you haven’t listened in lately, let me encourage you to give this week’s program a listen. Let me also encourage you to share it with your family and friends, in person or online. Help spread the word and educate parents by giving it a share on your social media!

If this topic doesn’t apply to you today—and I hope it never does!—it can still help you to better understand what families face When CPS Is at the Door.

Be sure to also tune in next week (Tuesday, November 19), when Vivek Sankharan and Michael Farris team up to discuss the termination of parental rights and why it should be used only as an instrument of last resort, if ever. These respected scholars cover parental rights from both sides of the political spectrum.

Thank you for supporting the Parental Rights Foundation and the EPPiC Broadcast!