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Signs of the turning tide: Key social worker cases & their meaning
8/26/99 - Calabretta v. Floyd
(CA, Ninth Circuit Court)
In Calabretta, which occurred under very similar circumstances to Stumbo, this HSLDA member courteously declined the social workers' request to enter her home and privately interview her children. The social workers, however, refused to back down. Based on an anonymous tip that a small child was heard saying "No, daddy, no!" the social workers demanded to enter the home, took the 2-year-old daughter into a room away from her mother, and forcibly strip-searched the child. The Ninth Circuit Court came down with a decision very similar to Stumbo: a mere anonymous tip isn't justification for violating the family's rights and privacy.
7/17/02 - Roe v. Texas Dept. of Protective and Regulatory Services
(TX, Fifth Circuit Court)
In this non-homeschooling case, the mother allowed the social worker into her home. The social worker proceeded to strip search and take graphic photos of her 6-year-old daughter, resulting in a Fifth Circuit Court ruling that the social worker violated the constitution. HSLDA filed an amicus brief in this case.
5/15/03 - Doe v. Heck
(WI, Seventh Circuit Court)
When a private school principal refused to allow social workers to interview children at the school, the social workers obtained police reinforcement and did it anyway. The Seventh Circuit Court said that forcible interviews of children on private property constitute a "seizure" under the Fourth Amendment.
7/16/03 - In the matter of Stumbo
(NC, Supreme Court)
For details on this case, see the cover story starting at left.
7/21/03 - Dubbs v. Head Start, Inc.
(OK, Tenth Circuit Court)
Health department nurses conductive intrusive examinations of Head Start children without parental consent. The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the nurses violated the children's rights: "There is no 'social worker' exception to the Fourth Amendment."
See the legal section on HSLDA's website for more on these cases.
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