DCF is allowed to interview a child during an Investigation with the parent or guardian’s consent. That’s easy.
The real question is whether DCF is allowed to interview a child without the consent of the parent or guardian.
The controlling statute is C.G.S. 17a-101h. It can be fairly summarized as follows:
General rule: Consent of the parent or guardian is required to interview a child.
Exception: If DCF has reason to believe that the parent or guardian is the perpetrator of the alleged abuse then consent is not required.
Note that DCF must be investigating abuse – claims of neglect are insufficient to warrant a non-consensual interview of a child. This is a vital distinction that DCF routinely fails to respect.
Maybe it is ignorance.
Or maybe DCF Social Workers are simply relying on the DCF Policy Manual, which regrettably misses the law on this one.
Section 34-6 of the DCF Policy Manual incredibly expands the exception to include non-consensual interviews of children in all cases of abuse AND neglect.
That’s right – DCF disregards the controlling law.
And their definition creates an unacceptable standard. If we follow DCF’s logic, there is essentially no exception since virtually every case DCF investigates involves either allegations of abuse or neglect.
The end result is that DCF often impermissibly interviews children.
The statute trumps the Policy Manual. The statute in unambiguous. So – how can DCF possibly reconcile their Policy Manual with the actual law on this point??
Please contact me if you have questions about DCF Investigations.