Supreme Court may decide if “children’s rights” include the Fourth Amendment

Richard Wexler

Monday, February 14, 2011

Supreme Court may decide if “children’s rights” include the Fourth Amendment
“SPECULATION AND HEARSAY” IS NO REASON TO TRAUMATIZE A CHILD

For details see our special website devoted to the case, www.camretavgreene.info

What kind of a case would bring together the Southern Poverty Law Center on the left and the Family Research Council on the right? Or the Battered Women’s Resource Center and the American Coalition for Fathers and Children? How about National Advocates for Pregnant Women and the Eagle Forum? The Clinical Social Work Association and the Pacific Justice Institute?

Only a case involving rights so fundamental to the protection of children that some of the most prominent advocates on the left and the right are ready to put aside their differences to join forces.

What all these organizations are seeking is simply a guarantee that innocent children will have the same constitutional rights as suspected criminals.

In contrast, those seeking even more power for child protective services agencies say caseworkers should have the untrammeled power to pull a child out of class and question her for two hours about the most intimate aspects of her life based on no more than, and these are their own words, “speculation and hearsay.”

The U.S Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case, known as Camreta v. Greene on March 1. It’s the first major case involving the power of child protective services agencies to reach the high court in more than 21 years.

NCCPR’s volunteer vice president, Carolyn Kubitschek is representing the family at the center of the case. And we’ve built a special website to provide comprehensive information about the case: www.camretavgreene.info

There’s an overview of the case, the story of the child at its center, and links to the 18 separate “friend of the court” briefs filed by 70 organizations and experts in support of the family – including many organizations specializing in representing children in child abuse and neglect cases.

FULL STORY