Legal / Legislative Updates

Daughter Spared Repeat Physical Exam

Sixteen-year-old Helen (name changed to protect privacy) felt humiliated when she was subjected to a degrading physical examination by multiple people after an anonymous report of abuse to social services.

When a second anonymous report was called in only a few months later, she put her foot down.* She refused to go through that again. Her parents, members of Home School Legal Defense Association, called HSLDA Attorney Scott Woodruff for help.

Woodruff explained to the social worker and her supervisor that Helen had a right to refuse to submit to another physical exam because the report was anonymous, and therefore not entitled to belief, and also because her exam just a few months before had confirmed she was not the victim of abuse.

The social workers got their lawyer involved and threatened to take the family to court to get an order forcing Helen to submit to an exam. Woodruff sent the social workers a detailed memorandum outlining Helen’s rights under the 4th Amendment and lined up a New Jersey attorney in case the social workers made good on their threat.

Helen agreed to an interview with a doctor, reiterating that she was not the victim of any sort of abuse. A few months later, the social workers closed their file and cleared the family of all charges without another physical exam.

— by Scott A. Woodruff