Why a Miranda Warning for Caseworkers is Necessary
Just as with police, people who interact with CPS caseworkers must know their rights.
I’ve put up my latest bill idea on Write Your Laws, find it here.
I call it “The Caseworker Accountability and Transparency Act.”
It requires all caseworkers who interact with the public to wear a bodycam, like police do, but it also requires them to read a Miranda warning to parents before they enter a home.
The Miranda warning would state, “A caseworker shall not enter your home unless permitted in without an appropriate warrant or other court order. Any answers to our questions shall only be done voluntarily and shall not be coerced. A parents’ failure to answer any questions shall not be used as the reason why children are taken. Furthermore, the caseworker shall announce the purpose of their visit prior to asking any questions.”
The reason this is critical is because many unethical caseworkers thrive on the parents’ lack of knowledge to bully them into agreements the parents should not make.
This video below is one example. The parents clearly state they don’t want the caseworkers to enter their home, but the caseworkers are not very clear on the consequences if they are not allowed in; as such, the two parents relent.
There should be zero confusion about what the consequences of allowing a caseworker into your home are and what the consequences for refusal as well.
In the next video, the parent stands his ground, but when the caseworkers leave, they make it entirely unclear what will happen next.
Finally, in this video, a caseworker proclaims comply or else.
All three videos are the direct result of caseworkers’ willful obfuscation of the consequences of complying and not complying.
That’s not how any of this should work. When interacting with a caseworker, every parent should know what rights they do and don’t have and that’s what this Caseworker Miranda Warning would do.