HSLDA Files Emergency Appeal in Pennsylvania

email alert ^ | James R. Mason, III

[hsmomx3]

Dear HSLDA members and friends:

In a situation very similar to the Stumbo case in North Carolina, an over-zealous social worker in Pennsylvania is causing serious legal problems for the Gauthiers, an HSLDA member family.

In mid-February, Mr. and Mrs. Gauthier took their infant daughter Isis to the hospital because she was listless and had a slight fever. Apparently because they did not immediately follow the doctor's recommendation, the parents were reported to social services for possible medical neglect. While their daughter was lying in ICU, several social workers interrogated both parents at the hospital.

After Mr. and Mrs. Gauthier returned home with their now-healthy daughter, a social worker demanded entry to their home to "complete her investigation." Since the family had already talked to several social workers, and they knew that the doctors had also talked to social services, they called HSLDA for advice.

HSLDA faxed a letter to the social worker, stating that she already had more than enough information to close the case, and that a home visit had nothing to do with whether medical neglect had occurred.

In a surprise move, the social worker petitioned the local court on March 4 for an order to search the Gauthiers' home. The petition did not allege that the child was at any risk of harm, nor did it state any reason for the home visit except to "complete the investigation." Neither the Gauthiers nor HSLDA had any notice of this petition; the first that the family knew of it was when they received a copy of the court order in the mail March 8 stating that they had to allow the social worker into their home within 10 days.

On March 9, HSLDA petitioned the judge who had signed the order for a delay until we had an opportunity to present the family's constitutional rights in a hearing, but the delay was denied. Even though there is no reason for the social worker to enter the home, the judge stated that the social worker was required by law to make a home visit. In addition, the social worker now claims that she has to make the home visit to check for the presence of pneumonia.

We have now appealed the issue to the Superior Court in Harrisburg, and we have filed a petition for an emergency stay so that the family's Fourth Amendment rights are protected while the appeal proceeds.

Please pray for the protection of the Gauthier family.

Sincerely,

James R. Mason, III HSLDA Litigation Attorney

[hsmomx3]

FYI

[kimmie7]

Don't you homeschool?

Thanks hsmomx3. If you operate a ping list, please add me. If not, I'd be glad to start one.

[UnsinkableMollyBrown]

Please add me to any homeschool ping list, also.

[Boxsford]

Unbelieveable and sickening how these social workers behave as though they are gods.

[Born Conservative]

In mid-February, Mr. and Mrs. Gauthier took their infant daughter Isis to the hospital because she was listless and had a slight fever. Apparently because they did not immediately follow the doctor's recommendation, the parents were reported to social services for possible medical neglect. While their daughter was lying in ICU,

There are a lot of missing pieces of the puzzle here. How old was the infant?(a "slight fever" in a child under 2 months old could be criteria for a spinal tap, blood culture, and urine culture to rule out systemic infection). Why is the child in ICU? What was the "doctor's recommendation" that the parents didn't follow? Fever in an infant is usually aggressively "worked up" due to the possibility of overwhelming infection that could quickly kill the child.

[Born Conservative]

To put my previous comments into perspective, I am an RN in a large outpatient Pediatric clinic, and I work with a pediatrician who specializes in child abuse (we see children several times per week for evaluation of alleged child abuse). The goal of the visit is ONLY to do a medical exam, and a social worker does a "social" history, both of which are non-judgemental. The philosophy of the doctor is that he is just reporting objective findings, and any investigation is the responsibility of law enforcement. Gestapo-like social workers should not be allowed to overstep their authority as has apparently happened in this case; this just taints the work of other professionals who do a good job.

[hsmomx3]

I totally agree with you as I was wondering what happened prior to HSLDA getting involved. It would be nice to know before an alert is sent.

[hsmomx3]

Yes, I homeschool but I don't have a pinglist and I don't even know how to do one.

[js1138]

There are a lot of missing pieces of the puzzle here. How old was the infant?(a "slight fever" in a child under 2 months old could be criteria for a spinal tap, blood culture, and urine culture to rule out systemic infection).

Yup. Infants can die in a matter of hours. Nothing in this article gives a clue as to what was going on, one way or the other. As for the visit by a social worker, that's pretty standard and requires no court permission at all.

I've seen both sides of this, from the point of view of a social worker and as someone who was visited after taking my kid to the doctor for a cat scratch. I've seen genuinely evil social workers, and I've seen kids nearly die from neglect. It ain't a perfect world out there.

[Geritol]

"In addition, the social worker now claims that she has to make the home visit to check for the presence of pneumonia."

Why does a pneumonia check have to be done in the home?
Is the social worker a doctor that would be able to give an actual diagnosis?
IS pneumonia some "thing" that hangs around in houses and can only be recognized by a social worker who goes in searching for it?
If there was possibility of pneumonia, should not the child see medical treatment immediately, not wait for the in house visit by the social worker within 10 days?

This is so bogus. What I am really curious about is what the delay actually consisted of. That and what the history of this social worker is.

[Born Conservative]

I agree-this is TOTAL bovine feces. First and foremost, a social worker is not going to be the one to assess a patient for pneumonia. Second, there is no way that I'm aware of to "check" for pneumonia in a house (although you can check for it in a specific individual). Pneumonia is a general term for a lung infection; it could be bacterial, viral, fungal, etc. We are constantly being exposed to these, yet our immune system is usually capable of fending them off. In the case of a very young infant, the immune system is immature, and that child must depend mostly on antibodies obtained from mother while in the womb. You are correct; the proper way to assess a child for pneumonia is to seek evaluation by a doctor or other practitioner.