Santa Clara County Social Services Agency Director Daniel Little makes a presentation with Family and Children Services Director Damion Wright (second from right) defending family protection policies at the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors meeting in San Jose. Mr. (right). California, December 19, 2023 (Dai Kanno/Bay Area News Group)
In nearly every Bay Area county, parents accused of abusing their children are barred from interview rooms when social workers receive a court order to question their children.
But that’s not the case in Santa Clara County.
Four social workers, including two supervisors, told Bay Area News Group that starting at least 2021, county attorneys will require parents to be invited to all child interviews, even if one of the parents is suspected of abuse. He said he received instructions from.
Milpitas Unified School Social Worker Nicole Steward said the impact of that guidance has spread to the Santa Clara County School District, where children are recanting allegations of abuse in front of their parents. In several cases, students came to school the day after the interview after their parents verbally abused them for telling school officials about the abuse.
Even teachers and others who are required to report child abuse say they fear doing so will backfire on the child whose parent is called.
Teachers are “begging us not to call CPS (Child Protective Services) anymore,” Steward told members at the Santa Clara County Child Abuse Prevention Council’s January retreat.
County social workers have shared similar stories in interviews with Bay Area News Group in recent weeks. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they fear losing their jobs. A social worker said the girl got into an argument during an interview to which her mother had recently been invited. Separately, a social worker supervisor said that while the child’s mother was present during the interrogation, she explicitly told the child not to say anything to investigators about the alleged abuse. Supervisors say the child was abused again earlier this year.
The new revelations have reignited tensions between Santa Clara County’s social workers and the county attorney’s office. The tensions emerged late last year in a Bay Area News Group investigation into the county’s response to the fentanyl-related death of 3-month-old Phoenix Castro. The report discusses the county’s increased efforts to keep troubled families together and how the Department of Family and Children Services is seeing warning signs from social workers about the risks of sending baby Phoenix home with her parents. It became clear what I had been missing.
The two groups have been fighting in recent months over allegations in a state investigation that county attorneys often ignored social workers’ attempts to remove children from unsafe homes.
The state study also highlighted concerns that “social workers can no longer meet with children at school without parental permission.”
“School interviews are often the only opportunity social workers report that they can interview children without worrying about changes due to guidance or parental presence,” the report states.
Social workers and supervisors said the county’s interview process is another example of child safety decisions being taken out of the hands of county attorneys, which puts children at risk while prioritizing parents’ rights. They claim that it is an act of exposure.
Even California’s veteran lawyers, who have been at the forefront of advancing the rights of parents and families in child welfare cases, say that always inviting parents for interviews after a court order is outside the norm in other states. says.
“I’ll tell you, I don’t know of any other county that does that,” said Oceanside attorney Donnie Cox.
Spokespeople for Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and San Francisco counties all told Bay Area News Group that social workers do not invite parents to child abuse interviews after receiving a court order. he said.
Damion Wright, director of the Santa Clara County Department of Family and Children Services, disputed Santa Clara County’s insistence on always inviting parents to child abuse interviews, saying, “Policies and practices require social workers to “This will allow us to quickly obtain orders.” Juvenile courts now have the ability to meet with children without their parents present if necessary. ”
But that doesn’t match what workers say are their marching orders.
Alex Lesniak, the department’s union steward, said: “Regardless of what the published policy says, the reality is that social workers are encouraged to invite parents to interviews no matter what.” Advised, directed and encouraged.” their child. “
At a training session in October, Deputy County Counsel Babbitt Madhvani taught about 45 officers about the state criminal law, which gives children the right to be questioned in private about abuse, according to a copy of the presentation that was shared widely in the county. He reportedly instructed them to “ignore” him. Department store. Madhvani did not respond to questions about her training when contacted through her office.
When asked why it directed social workers to ignore state law, the Santa Clara County Attorney’s Office said it was responding to a recent court ruling “to ensure compliance with new legal standards” regarding interviewing children. Stated.
But Cox, who represented the family who won a key issue in one case, Mann v. County of San Diego, said the case focused on invasive medical procedures and interviews with children. He said he had nothing to do with it.
“They really need to go back and read these cases,” Cox said. “My understanding is that this law is not invalid, it just needs to be interpreted in a constitutional way.”
On Saturday, the county acknowledged for the first time that it was advising social workers to invite parents for interviews under court order. After more than a month of questions directed at the county, Santa Clara County Attorney Tony Lopresti said his office will issue new guidance this weekend and that after receiving a court interview order, social workers will ” “We have the discretion to decide whether to notify you or not.” Based on the social worker’s assessment of the situation and potential risks to the child, the child’s parents will be invited for an interview. ”
Steve Barron, a member of the Santa Clara County Child Abuse Prevention Council who was present when Steward told him about the children’s fracas, said the children were interviewed in the presence of the parents who were allegedly abusing them. I was furious when I heard that.
“I can’t think of a way to expect a child to come forward about abuse or neglect in front of the abusive or neglectful parent, or in front of a parent who seems upset,” Barron said. “It will only make it more difficult to protect abused and neglected children. There are no two ways about it.”