My brother in law was accused of child abuse of his daughter while staying with us. His ex-wife is claiming a bruise on his daughters leg is abuse. CPS came to our house and asked questions of course. But they wanted to interview our daughters who are 6 and 8. My niece is 3 and states it happened at our house. We don't know how it was done. But there was no abuse. I don't want CPS involving my daughters in the investigation. What are my rights? Can I refuse to let them talk to my daughters on a case that does not involve my direct family?

If it happened under your roof then they may have a right to ask questions but they may also need to start a process too. How big was the bruise and are they currently in a custody battle too?

I don't quite understand your position - a child was injured in your house, the event presumably witnessed by your children and you don't want your children to talk to the investigating agency?

What do you see the harm to be to your children if they tell CPS what they witnessed?

If your child were injured would you not want other children who saw what happened to either clear the person being accused or have that person removed from contact with the child?

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Originally Posted by fishinco

My brother in law was accused of child abuse of his daughter while staying with us. His ex-wife is claiming a bruise on his daughters leg is abuse. CPS came to our house and asked questions of course. But they wanted to interview our daughters who are 6 and 8. My neice is 3 and states it happened at our house. We don't know how it was done. But there was no abuse. I don't want CPS involving my daughters in the investigation. What are my rights? Can I refuse to let them talk to my daughters on a case that does not involve my direct family?

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Unfortunately, the case does involve your direct family. If there was abuse, it took place in your home which means your children may have been witnesses to it. I'm not saying your brother-in-law is guilty, but you have to look at it how CPS sees it; they don't know your brother-in-law from Adam and have no idea if he's innocent or not.

Personally, I don't see the harm in allowing CPS to speak to your children. They're not going to say anything harmful to them, they'd just like to speak to them. If I were a CPS worker and someone was refusing to let me speak to their children about alleged abuse, I'd be very suspicious that they were hiding something. Again, I'm not saying that you're hiding anything, but merely playing the devil's advocate.

If you're that uncomfortable, you could always request that you be present when the case worker is speaking to the children. I don't see why they'd object to that.

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Originally Posted by fishinco

I don't want CPS involving my daughters in the investigation. What are my rights? Can I refuse to let them talk to my daughters on a case that does not involve my direct family?

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Hello f:

You certainly can.

excon

My kids did not see anything. We already talked to them. My niece did not even show that she was hurt. Her mom saw a bruise approximately the size a dime on her leg. They are going through a custody battle. We did not even know anything about it until we were contacted by law enforcement. I do not believe this happened in my house. There are three adults living here, most commonly with at least two home at anytime. None of us know anything.

My kids did not see anything. We already talked to them. My niece did not even show that she was hurt. Her mom saw a bruise approximately the size a dime on her leg. They are going through a custody battle. We did not even know anything about it until we were contacted by law enforcement. I do not believe this happened in my house. There are three adults living here, most commonly with at least two home at anytime. None of us know anything.

Then why isn't anyone willing to say anything if your lack of knowledge, failure to witness, would end the nightmare?