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Is it acceptable for a child's attorney to condone child abuse?
A child's attorney told a parent in front of a courtroom, that a call should never have been made to DCFS to report child abuse in the stepmoms home. The call was made by the stepfather, because the child willingly told the stepdad when he was visiting moms home about an incident where the stepmom hit her own son with a stick in the leg, and left a mark that was still visible a week later. DCFS questioned the mom, son, and stepson at the dad and stepmoms home. The mom and son both said the mark happened during baseball, but the stepson said he didn't know what happened, even though he's the one that reported it to the stepdad when he visited at his moms. The case went unfounded because a child was afraid to speak against the stepmom at the dad and stepmoms home. Don't we raise our children to tell adults when something is wrong? Is it not an adults responsibility to report such an incident? If a child's attorney has a problem with this, he obviously does not care about the child.
There was an incident in that same home back in February, where the father left a bruise on the stepchild that was not only reported to DCFS, but also the police and the child told the police, mom and stepdad that the father put the bruise there, but when DCFS interviewed the child at school, the father was at the interview as well. I'm not sure what was said then, but that case also went unfounded, even though there was a police report made out, and pictures taken of a clear adult size handprint on the child's chest. My suspision is that the child told his lawyer something different to DCFS and his lawyer about that incident to.
4 Answers
- Anonymous1 decade agoFavorite Answer
You have worded this a lil confusing. But as I understand, the kid told his mom and step dad that his step mom hit the other kid. Well, you assume that kid was telling the truth. What if he wasnt?
- wendy cLv 71 decade ago
What the lawyer is saying that there was no PROOF that it happened, as result of stepmom hitting him. Not the same thing at all.
For whatever reason.. the child is telling one house one thing, and saying something else at the other house, when it is investigated. This is horrible, but not uncommon, and two things could be going on. One, he COULD BE scared to tell the facts in front of the person who did it. It may ALSO be that the child said something happened, when it did not. Kids do manipulate, if they are angry with a parent/ stepparent.. and it can be very hard to recognize. Do we tell kids to report when they are abused? Sure. It is naieve to think that kids always tell the truth, however, whether he lied to stepdad/mom, or if he lied during the investigation. And even more.. what did he say to the LAWYER? Did he deny it to the lawyer? then the lawyer is going to believe the child.
Are you aware that 2/3 of reports to cps are either unproven or false? They are not the same thing. And in todays world, many parents use false reports to cps to gain power in a custody fight. Not saying stepdad did this.. just to know what cps faces. And if the child backed down, even if it happened, cps will tend to believe the child at the expense of the reporter.
- jsmack19Lv 61 decade ago
What if there wasn't any child abuse, in that case there is nothing bad to condone?
However, if an attorney knows about child abuse they are required by the rules of professional responsibility to report it. Here the lawyer never condoned child abuse, simply saying it didn't happen and child services should not have been called.
Also the relationships in your question are confusing. Couldn't this also have been a vendetta thing?
- 1 decade ago
many criminal lawyers represent clients that are clearly guilty, but even criminals have a right to a legal defense. you should keep in mind that attorneys do not deal in moral right and wrong - their jobs are to be advocates for their clients using any and all tactics that are legally permissible.
