From: "[email protected]"
David,
I used to do a fair bit of Child and Family Protective Services Act
"defence" (ie: acting for parents) work way back when I practiced law
in the 80s and 90s. I've seen first hand how much power the
Children's Aid Societies have in court and the things the law lets
them get away with.
Rules of evidence, hearsay rules, procedural rules all go out the
window if deemed to be "in the child's best interest". Hell, even
murderers and rapists are entitled to get their Charter Rights (you'd
call it the Miranda Warning in the US), but not the parents in a
child protection prosecution. One minute a social worker is urging
you to bare you soul to help your child, the next moment she's on the
witness stand reading a transcript of the interview into the court's
records.
I could go on but we don't have time. Suffice to say that child
protection authorities have more power than most realize; certainly
more than the police.
Cheers, frank
A friend of mine went through that back in the 90s.
He had custody of his daughter from a divorce because his EX was doing
time for writing bad checks. You got to write A LOT of bad checks to get
REAL prison time, and she was in for two years before she was eligible
for parole.
When she got out, she sued for custody and child support and tried to
sic social services on him for "child abuse". His lawyer told him it was
a common tactic, because the system was built around the assumption the
man was always unfit. She didn't have to prove he was an abuser, HE had
to prove he was NOT.
He did eventually win his case, got custody back and was exonerated, but
he went through YEARS of hell. I don't even know if he "proved" his
innocence to social services, but his EX wrote more bad checks and got
her parole revoked.
I don't think she cared about custody, only the "child support" money.
--
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