azizabrielle wrote:We will be getting a lawyer in the morning.
as for the story, I have twin 15 year brothers and one of their friends was taken away from his mom about a year ago for neglect. The friend is now 16. DSS has been sending him and his little brother to different homes all year, and now he has ended up in a home for children. My mom has been trying to get DSS to allow him to move into her home, he is like another son to her. She hated seeing him without a stable home. His mother found out that my mom was one of the people that might end up with him, and she said to one of the employees at the home that she would do whatever she could to get back at our family. Even though all we were trying to do was give her kid a safe home. So she called DSS and told them several things about my family that are not true. Such as my parents provide alcohol and drugs for the teenagers, as do I, that drugs are sold out of our house, that my brother once pulled a gun on my mom. Now the situation with the gun, well thats where the trouble is now really coming from, cause he did have a gun. He had illegally aquired 2 guns back before christmas, and my mom didnt know cause he had hidden them. One night she found out about them and took them from him, called me and I came over to take the guns and get rid of them for her. I stuck them in my purse and got ready to leave, apparently he was on the phone with his girlfriend who broke up with him. He snuck the guns out of my purse at some point. I left, and did not notice them missing until I was parked at work, and went to remove them from my purse before going into the building. They were gone, I went in and called home to see what happened. My mom was hysterical and said my brother had tried to kill himself. I went right home, we took him to a hospital, they admitted him, had him on suicide watch, and he was evaluated by a doctor. After a few days it was decided he was not a danger to himself or anyone else. My mother called the sheriff's dept, told them about the guns, they sent a guy out and he took the guns for her. Now they are trying to use this against her. There are 3 young children in her home on a regualr basis. My 2 daughters and my nephew. They searched my brothers rooms last night when they were here and found some knives and a sword. Collectible stuff basically. They said that they had to get rid of all the weapons and that we would be monitored for 3 months. my mom agreed to all of that. Then today a cop called her up and yelled at her telling her that she could go to jail because of the guns, that it was child endangerment. Even though they searched and know that there are no guns here now. He said if she could give him a name (who the guns came from) then maybe he could keep her from getting arrested. It was blatant harrassment. Then around 8pm 2 social workers and the same cop who called showed up here at our house, wanting to search again. By then we had read online that they cannot search without a warrant, and refused. They got pushy, but finally left. We were not supposed to have anyone come to the house until tomorrow night at 6, with a different woman. Which my mom will allow to look through the bedrooms, as there is nothing there. They are seriously harrassing us. I do think the best thing is to get a lawyer. I'm pretty worn out at this point. Thats the gist of it though. It's creepy that the goverment is selling kids.
You have a complicated situation. I would suggest that your first priority is to get past the current situation where your family is of special interest to the authorities, due to illegal weapons in a home where minors live. To the best of my knowledge, child protective agencies in some jurisdictions have FAR MORE power than regular police. For example, they might legally enter homes, without warrants, based solely on an anonymous report of child neglect or abuse. In your case, your mother herself invited police involvement in her life by reporting the guns to the Sheriff's office. For better or for worse, now you have to deal with it the situation. There is a good possibility that getting custody of OTHER kids will not be a realistic goal at the moment.
My suggestion is to focus on straightening out the current situation and getting the authorities out of your hair. Get the lawyer, and then do some homework! Above all, assuming you are in the U.S., get yourself up to speed on the following:
1) What the specific laws are in your state regarding child protection, and what powers authorities have -- and don't have -- in enforcing them (when can they enter your home, what to say (or not) to them, etc.)
2) Your constitutionally-protected rights, especially relating to the Fourth and Fifth Amendments.
3) Any additional protections that may be provided by your state constitution or laws.
This may seem like a lot, but in reality there's no need to start digging through law libraries. A competent lawyer should be able to go over this material with you -- so make sure and ASK these questions when you talk to one. Also, I just came across a good video put out by the ACLU which deals with the subject of excercising your rights, which you really ought to watch (link). At the end one good suggestion it makes is that when you have specific questions, to contact your local ACLU office. I've yet to do so myself, but if they're willing and able to provide you good information without charge, I'd strongly suggest taking advantage of it. Dealing with authorities is serious business, and knowing your stuff in this area is critically important to your family's well-being.
