Social media can create serious consequences if you’re not careful, especially when you’re being investigated by DCF. Recent case I had involved a mother who was from another country and she was talking to a friend in this other country. She’s not from America. This young lady works as a teacher assistant. Her mother works at Dunkin Donuts, gets up every day at 3:30 in the morning to make donuts.
Be Smart on Social Media: How One Photo Triggered a DCF Investigation
Of course, America runs on Dunkin Donuts; and the father works like a dog. Typical immigrant family. Everybody’s working, everybody’s working really hard. She has a young child and she took a picture of a child and sent it on Instagram to a friend over in her native home. The child’s genitals were in the picture. Next thing she knows knocking at her door was the local, state and the federal law enforcement FBI, for child pornography.
Now this woman was no more intending to have child pornography than the man in the moon. However, however, the important understanding of today’s lesson is, do not put anything up on social media, anywhere that you wouldn’t want to have on the front page of your newspaper.
Protect yourself and your children by avoiding inappropriate use of social media, especially when it comes to sharing personal images. Now, after the local and state and the FBI came to her home, they ran all types of tests on her phone and this, that, and everything else, and her computer is a big to-do about nothing. But because it started on social media, the consequences snowballed quickly into a legal nightmare. They thought it was one sole single picture was sent and the person on the other end immediately deleted the picture. Okay.
With that said, now this caused great grief and time, money and effort for this woman to overcome these allegations, which were supported by DCF to begin with. She had an outstanding assessment worker and supervisor who came out to the home and sympathize and empathize with her because she over and over and over again, said, “Hey, I am so sorry. I am so sorry.
I made a mistake.” And she did make a mistake. But in her culture, the country she came from, the nudity of the children, they’re not looked at as sexual objects. And she thought she wasn’t doing anything wrong. But when in Rome you do as the Romans do so when in America, you got do what Americans do. So in the final analysis, the Area Director overturned the decision and everybody went home happy. But what’s the lesson from today’s story.
Do not, do not do not put anything up on social media you wouldn’t want to have on the front page of the Boston Globe, or the Boston Herald or your local newspaper. That’s just a fool’s errand. Be smart, be intelligent, protect your children. Don’t post anything on social media especially photos of your children that could be misunderstood or used against you, especially with no clothes on, up on the internet or any other pictures that depict you in a negative light.
I see pictures all the time of people smoking marijuana or drinking alcohol, but saying just really dumb, stupid things. That’s going to come back and bite you in the rear end. Don’t open up the doors, the flood gates. Be smart. I know you can be smart. Remember: social media is public and permanent. Be cautious, be private, and protect your family’s future.
You find yourself in this situation, it’s advisable to seek legal representation from a qualified attorney, like those at the Law Office of Kevin Seaver, who can advocate for your rights and guide you through the complex process of a DCF investigation.
Remember that the ultimate goal of DCF is to ensure the safety and well-being of children while supporting families in crisis.
Please note that this article does not create an Attorney-Client relationship between our law firm and the reader and is provided for informational purposes only. Information in this article does not apply to all readers.
Readers should not rely on this information as legal advice and should seek specific counsel from the attorney based on personal circumstances. Thank you.
Kevin Patrick Seaver is a Massachusetts DCF Defense Lawyer who represents parents against false child abuse allegations.
