Only Answer Your Door if They Have a Warrant
Video Transcribed: So let’s talk about searches in the context of a DHS investigation. My name is Brian L. Jackson. I am an Oklahoma dad’s rights attorney here with dads.law, where fathers are not disposable. I want to talk specifically about searches as they apply to a DHS child welfare investigation.
Now, I’m sure you’re thinking of the first question because this is obvious: do I have to let them in my house? And the answer to that is probably not unless they have a warrant or a court order. If they have a removal order or a writ, a warrant, anything like that commands you to let them in the house, then you have to let them in the house. Without that paperwork, though, they’re an agent of the state. They’re no different than the cops. And you can tell them, go away.
Now here’s the thing to keep in mind with this. It’s very important to understand this. From a criminal standpoint, your refusal to cooperate in a search is not evidence of criminal conduct, and it is not probable cause, and they cannot use it against you in criminal court.
But I want to be very clear, that’s in criminal court. Deprive courts, that is, child welfare proceedings, are not criminal courts. That’s civil, and it’s a completely different rule. So here’s the thing to understand.
If a DHS worker turns up on your property and wants to come up and look around your house, you can tell them to buzz off. However, keep in mind, if you refuse to let them in the house if you refuse to let them see the children, then that could be used against you later in child welfare court, deprive court, to potentially remove the children or get a court order to get in there to ascertain if the children are safe.
Another thing to be aware of is what we call exigent circumstances, which is an exception to the usual rule about warrants. Like if somebody calls DHS and says they can hear your child screaming and it sounds like you’re whipping them with a belt or something, and the police arrive, and noises are coming from behind your door, or DHS arrives, and noises are coming, they might be able to force you to let them in based on exigent circumstances if they believe there’s an imminent threat to life or limb.
But the main thing I want to focus on is the issue of what happens if you refuse to let them in your house if you refuse to let them see your children. And the answer is it may, it’s not guaranteed; it may result in adverse action by a child welfare court later.
Because what’s going to happen is if you tell the DHS worker to go piss off, they’re going to go back to their superiors and depending on the severity of what the allegation is in the surrounding circumstances, that may get sent up the chain to the district attorney, who may go to a judge and say, “Hey, we’re really concerned for these reasons, and they won’t let us in the house.”
And the judge may issue a pickup order or another order that forces you to let those workers into the house. So it’s not the same as criminal court. Your non-cooperation is a strike against you in deprived court is the thing to take away.
Now, it’s a balancing call because if you’re talking about serious allegations. There’s evidence of criminal behavior in your house, like, for example, if the allegation has to do with drugs. You’ve got a bag of meth sitting on the table, obviously you let that social worker in, they have now seen evidence of your crime. And they are absolutely allowed and will report this observation to law enforcement.
So, in addition to whatever happens to you on the child welfare end, you could be looking at criminal liability for that. And it’s something to be aware of. So the way you handle that situation is if they’re not armed with some kind of a court order or a writ or a warrant, then get your lawyer involved and tell them they can come to see the house, but they can come to see the house when your lawyer’s present. And be polite.
Make sure you communicate to them, “Look, I want to cooperate, but I need to confer with counsel first.” It’s the same as if they want to talk to you. You want to be careful about letting somebody from the state into your house without at least conferring with an attorney.
But don’t just say piss off because that could also come with consequences. Talk to a lawyer; talk to somebody who does deprive cases. And with that in mind, if you do need advice if you need a good lawyer, one place you can find one is at Dads.Law, where fathers are not disposable. If you have questions about any of that, if you ever need a child support attorney in Oklahoma or a Men’s Child Custody Lawyer in Tulsa Okla, you can find one at Dads.Law.