Expert Witnesses - Fight CPS And Win

Expert Witnesses

Why expert witnesses are important: When you go to court, if the judge doesn't close the case then you're being given some kind of "service plan" that you must complete before the next court session (usually in six months; in some states more often.) Your "service plan" will usually include parenting classes, therapy, psychological evaluations, and drug-testing if it's a drug case. There are many variations on this so read the small-print on the court order to see exactly what's expected of you. The important thing to keep in mind is that all the professionals you're seeing through the CPS case are THEIR witnesses. These witnesses are paid by CPS and will testify on behalf of CPS and usually against YOU.

Juvenile court cases are decided by "a preponderance of the evidence". They do not need to find you "guilty beyond a reasonable doubt" - that's for criminal court cases. In Juvenile detention cases, they just need to see who has the most evidence. Social workers know that and parents with push-over attorneys (who work for the county) are at a severe disadvantage because usually they have no preparation for court - the public defenders sure do nothing most of the time! To reverse that disadvantage, you must PROVIDE YOUR OWN EVIDENCE, and a good way to do that is to hire your own expert witnesses who will evaluate you at your expense and testify on your behalf. This is one of the best ways to fight the system if you're unlucky enough to be embroiled in a Juvenile Court case.

Lawpsych: The Forensic Psychology and Psychiatry WebRing

Allen Cowling, PI - false allegation defense specialist. Good site!

PoP Psychiatry - the psycho-industry according to Leonard Henderson at Oregon Family Rights. As usual, he's right-on with his description of how social wreckers use contracted psycho-techs to ruin families, and why they are not credible... especially those who rely on CPS for more contracted work. If you hire an expert witness, make sure he doesn't work for CPS too!

Institute for Psychological Therapies - this site can help with defense of false child abuse charges.

Winning the Battle-of-the-Experts - expert advice on expert witnesses.

No Psychs - the psychiatry industry has gone out of control... though it helps a few people with needed meds, many other are hurt by money-driven pop therapies. What the world needs now is love, not more therapists.

Resist Psychological Evaluations
The caseworkers have a "one size fits all" solution to getting evidence to use against you: the Psychological Evaluation process in which all parents are forced to submit to invasive questioning. Their hired help relies on CPS funding for an income so will invariably find something wrong with your psychological makeup. The solution is to realize this is a violation of Fifth Amendment privacy rights and to resist such an invasive ruling in every way possible while you're in court. Inform your attorney that you intend to fight for your Constitutional Rights to be upheld and as a sworn officer of the court, he has a responsibility to act on your behalf. Getting rid of Psychological Evaluations knocks the feet out from under the corrupt child welfare industry! One at a time we will win this battle against family intrusions and pop psychiatry.

[Note: If you are already court-ordered to complete a psychological evaluation, consult your attorney if you want to go back to court to ask that the ruling be changed. If you are court ordered to do something, then don't do it, CPS will use that against to to keep your children from you. Fight CPS And Win recommends that you complete all court-ordered activities on your reunification plan as quickly as possible.]

Taint Hearings - a way for lawyers to challenge the credibility of interviews with children.

A Good Discussion on alt.support.child-protective-services - about how to use expert witnesses in court, and conversely, how to fight the evidence presented by experts who testify for CPS.

National Child Abuse Defense and Resource Center - an Ohio non-profit organization that helps with finding and advising attorneys nationwide. Also provides referrals to expert witnesses.

Suggested Arguments Against GAL's + Parenting Advisors - lots of good ideas here for discrediting antagonistic Guardian Ad Litems in court.

Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology - doctor's website. He is concerned about psychotropic drugs given to children, and includes an article about teachers making CPS snitch calls on parents who take their kids off ritalin. Based in Maryland.

Complete DSM-IV Criteria for Mental Disorders - a simplified version by James Morrison, who created this website for use by mental health professionals as well as patients, relatives, and other lay people.

Vegetarian Children and the Courts - interesting information on children taken by CPS because they are vegetarian, written by a doctor that works for CPS and supports vegetarians.

QuackWatch - a guide to health fraud, and quackery.

American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry - they have published information about problems with the child welfare system. Check their links for numerous other similar organizations.

American Association of Physicians and Surgeons - 11/2000 - an article on this website speaks out against forced hepatitus-B vaccinations and exposes the threat of CPS intervention if parent's don't agree to the dangerous vaccinations.

Stop Bad Therapy - this website calls for legislative reform for the therapy industry. Excellent website may have many leads for cases in which bad therapy has become a problem.

Dr. Friedlander - this is one of the good guys - a pathologist who will testify PRO BONO (that means for free) in cases of false allegations, if medical testimony is needed.

Whores Of The Court - book by Margaret A. Hagen PhD explaining why expert testimony by psychologists is unreliable.

Psychological Evaluations - what to expect if you are court ordered to have a psychological evaluation during the course of a child welfare service case.

Lawpsych: The Forensic Psychology and Psychiatry WebRing - lots of experts who will testify in court. If you need one, you might want to look at this webring.

American Psychologist - magazine for psychologists. The current month's articles are online.

False Accusations of Physical and Sexual Abuse - 1984 report by Daniel C. Schuman, M.D. -- of interest to serious researchers.

Testing - if you're being given psych testing you can read about the test here.

Challenging Expert Testimony
A few considerations:
"Where . . . an expert's qualifications are challenged, the appropriate course is for the expert's prior contact with similarly situated children to be considered. In this case such testimony should include the expert's prior treatment of children of similar age, alleged to have been sexually abused, where there was no physical evidence of sexual abuse. Additionally, testimony should include the expert's level of specialized training, the procedures utilized and the rationale for using them. Knowledge of methodologies generally accepted in the field is also relevant." --In the matter of Jaclyn P. (anonymous), et al., 86 N.Y.2d 875, J. Smith, dissenting.

I am working on gathering information about court-ordered drug therapies and what effect they have had on CPS cases. Eventually there will be a questionairre form on this website for this topic, to gather statistics. If you have had such an experience, please keep coming back to help us with this project. I personally know of one woman who lost her child because she refused to take a psychotropic drug, prolixin, that was harming her, and another woman who took the drug lithium due to a juvenile court order, even though she had been found to NOT be manic-depressive, and when she developed lithium poisoning CPS walked in and took away all her kids. We are damned if we do and damned if we don't with legal actions like these! More information to come, as I research and organize it.

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