On February 2nd, 2007 we met again with our DSS case worker at our home. I am still not able to live at the home, but still am able to have 3 hour visits each night with my family. 3 hours goes by very very fast.
Our case worker met with us in the afternoon so that she could talk with our children. She talked to them for a little while just asking very basic questions about how school was going and about how they were doing. They asked when I would be able to come home, and received a kind but non-commital answer from her. She then asked if she could speak with my wife and I alone and the kids went upstairs to play.
She basically asked me to sign 3 documents, 1) a standard family assessment sheet 2) A Revised family safety plan that removed the requirement for us not being allowed to discuss the Case or the DSS investigation with our children 3) The Family Planning document, which specified I needed to have a Sexual Predator Assessment done, and then based on the outcome of that, additional measures might be done.
One interesting question proposed by our case worker us was: “If your daughter was four, and told you that evening she had been molested, what would you have done?“ My wife said she would have immediately addressed the situation with the supposed offender and taken the child to the police or emergency room. I said I would probably be in jail for assault. Her response was “exactly”.
She very much seemed to question the inconsistencies and statements made by the girl’s parents but seemed to not be able to do anything about it. I realized at this point that the case workers themselves have very little authority, and just come out and take notes. All of the decisions made within DSS are made by supervisors who don’t see you on a day to day basis.
Regarding the documents, I told her that I would be unable to sign them until they were reviewed by my attorney. She of course was not real happy about this and frankly she implied it looked suspicious. Don’t be fooled, as this is a tactic they use to try to make you do something. Don’t EVER sign ANYTHING without consulting an attorney first.
I shared the documents with my attorney a few days later. He wanted to call the DSS worker first before making any decisions. I received a call a few days later fro m the DSS worker telling me that she was no longer allowed to talk to my attorney and that he would need to contact the DSS lawyer going forward. Seems he must have rattled some cages.
My attorney made some amendments to the DSS documentation, and allowed me to sign everything but the Family Planning Document. He would not allow me to take a sexual predator assessment due to the potential risk it could have against my legal case.
Legal Case Update
Nothing new was happening here. I was still attending court each week. I would come in, sit down for 10 minutes then be told by my attorney that I could leave. He was continuing to ask for a continuance while waiting for the DA to begin working with him. Me driving all the way to the court house just to be told I didn’t need to be there was getting old real quick. These weekly visits were a waste of time, and taking time away from my job.
The legal case at this point had almost come to a stand-still. My attorney did inform me that the CAC (Child Advocacy Center) interview tapes with the girl I supposedly molested were not in the Discovery information he received and he therefore requested copies of them from the DA.
The nightmare continues…
