On January 9, 2007 I called and left a voicemail message with DSS supervisor managing my DSS case requesting that she call me back and provide me with a status on the case. I mentioned that my wife had previously left a voicemail on Thursday, 1/4/07 and that neither of us had received a call back. I also referenced their procedure manual Chapter 7, Section 1408 2.a where it states:
The Investigative stage shall be completed within 30 days, or there shall be documentation to reflect the rationale to extend the investigative assessment beyond 30 days.
It had been 58 days since the initial investigation started. I expressed to her in the voicemail that this was becoming a severe strain on our family and that I at least deserved a status and planned time line for a resolution of this. I additionally explained that this was very difficult on our kids, and my wife. I also told her that we all wonder day to day when I will be allowed to return home with my family.
Remainder of the CAC medical reports
Later that day I picked up case file from my initial attorney’s office (recall I changed attorneys). The case file contained the discovery documents and CAC medical reports for Evonne, the other little girl at the party and all of my children. I had not yet reviewed the medical reports for my children or the other little girl. Her nor any of my children had any signs of abuse or molestation; however all of my children had signs of mental trauma due to my absence from the home.
DSS Substantiation
At 3:45 that afternoon I finally received a call back from the DSS supervisor. She informed me that my DSS case had been substantiated and was being turned over to another social worker for case planning and management. I asked her why and how it was substantiated, and she informed me that it was substantiated due to the substantiating environment. In other words they substantiated my case due to the potential risk I was to my children due to the charges. Yes, it is possible to completely removed from your home and have a DSS case against substantiated just based on an allagation.
She informed me that we would be contacted on Wed (1/17) by our new social worker who would start the process case planning process. She stated that the case worker would determine how much danger there was, and possibly suggest a sexual offender assessment for me. She did advise me that there was an appeal process that I could follow, and that I would be advised of that on Wed by the case worker. The appeal would be made to the Director for Social Services. She also indicated that my 3 hour daily visitation is still in place until the case planning and management assessment was completed.
Not a good day
Today was not a positive day and felt like even though we had taken 3 steps forward with the discovery information containing little to nothing and me starting back to work this was a big step backwards. I truly believed that given my children had no signs of abuse and due to my full cooperation with them through all of this my case wouldn’t be substantiated. Nothing in this whole process makes sense to me.
I looked forward to finding out about the appeal process. That was something I definitely planned to go forward with.
