How Serious are the Risks in a MA DCF Investigation?

Parents and caregivers tend to make critical mistakes during a DCF investigation by the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (MA DCF) for child neglect or abuse. The risks of a MA DCF Investigation are very serious. You must take your MA DCF investigation seriously.

The DCF investigator’s main responsibility is to determine whether your child is safe and healthy. When the Department believes your child is in imminent danger, they will stop at nothing to remove the child from their home. You will be completely powerless to stop DCF from doing this.

When people learn that DCF is conducting an investigation against them due to child abuse or child neglect, they fail to realize how serious the situation truly is.

Families investigated by DCF assume that once they explain to the Department that the allegations made against them are false, DCF will understand and close the case. This almost never happens.

This process is often an exhausting and long-term issue for your family. Take your DCF investigation seriously from the very start to prevent unnecessary complications and long-term consequences.

Why Won’t DCF Support You During a DCF Investigation?

Simply put, DCF is not on your side. DCF’s priority is to keep your children safe, and not to give you the benefit of the doubt. Parents who don’t acknowledge this risk can temporarily or permanently lose custody of their children. If DCF investigators strongly agree there is potential danger to your child’s well-being while they are conducting their investigation, they will seek alternative placement for your child in a family member’s home or in foster care.

The DCF social worker assigned to your DCF investigation may genuinely sympathize with your situation. But it is their job to gain your trust to uncover sensitive information about you. When a DCF investigator makes you feel comfortable and understood, you would be more open to sharing information with them.

What families don’t realize is that DCF investigators are trained to form friendly, honest relationships with the people they investigate. Even when parents have only positive interactions with their DCF social workers, the allegations of child abuse or child neglect can still be supported against them. Regardless of whether the allegations of child abuse or child neglect were based on a misunderstanding, social workers and investigators will always be exhaustive in their DCF investigation.

Parents and caregivers often do not realize how exposed and vulnerable they are until after the investigation. They do not realize they may have revealed information to DCF, which will work against them in the long run. Parents and caretakers tend to believe that DCF is there to help them and that DCF will close their case quickly if the allegations are false. But this is not the case. Be prepared. Take DCF’s allegations of child abuse or child neglect seriously.

How Does MA DCF Define “Child Abuse?”

DCF does not have to follow strict rules when investigating cases of child abuse. Their definition of abuse is broad enough for various parental actions to result in an allegation of child abuse against you.MA DCF includes physical abuse and sexual abuse of a child in their definition of child abuse. DCF specifically defines abuse as:

“the non-accidental commission of any act by a caretaker upon a child under age 18 which causes, or creates a substantial risk of physical or emotional injury, or constitutes a sexual offense under the laws of the Commonwealth or any sexual contact between a caretaker and a child under the care of that individual.

Abuse is not dependent upon location (i.e., abuse can occur while the child is in an out-of-home or in-home setting. Though DCF works with the police and other law enforcement personnel who are required to follow a procedure to the T, DCF has far more freedom in making and investigating allegations. 

From DCF’s definition of abuse, there are many ways that a parent could create a risk of emotional or physical injury for a child. Also, DCF can investigate a family if the child shows signs of abuse. This means that even if no physical or sexual abuse actually happened to the child, DCF will still investigate the matter to the fullest degree.

How Does DCF Decide to Support Child Abuse Allegations?

DCF does not need strong evidence to determine that parents’ actions can be emotionally or mentally harmful to their children. DCF may confuse strict parenting for criminal actions. Some parents engage in corporal punishment in which parents use physical force against the children to discipline them.

While it is possible for DCF to acknowledge that such a parenting style is not necessarily abuse, they can support allegations of child abuse against that parent. This would be the case if DCF believes that these tactics can hurt a child’s mental or emotional growth. Though DCF allegations are civil cases, and not criminal cases, DCF allegations can end up being a criminal charge.

When the allegations are of child sexual abuse or serious child physical abuse, DCF cannot use their discretion. They must refer the case to the District Attorney’s office, which means local, state, and federal law enforcement becomes involved with the case.

How Does MA DCF Define “Child Neglect?”

DCF defines child neglect as:

 “failure by a caretaker, either deliberately or through negligence or inability, to take those actions necessary to provide a child with minimally adequate food, clothing, shelter, medical care, supervision, emotional stability and growth, or other essential care; provided, however, that such inability is not due solely to inadequate economic resources or solely to the existence of a handicapping condition. This definition is not dependent upon location.”

How Does DCF Decide to Support Child Neglect Allegations?

There are various types of neglect that can lead to a supported neglect allegation against you:

• Food: The quality of nutrition is a factor DCF uses to determine a baseline level of care. DCF can accuse parents of neglect based on too little healthy foods and too much junk food. During a DCF investigation, the social worker will look through your refrigerator as well as your pantry to look for expired foods, mold or even insects. 

• Clothing: DCF considers dirty clothes on a child to be a type of neglect. The Department wants to know things such as, is the child adequately clothed? Did the children have dirty clothing? Were there any holes or stains on the clothing? Remember, DCF considers dirty laundry in a hamper or in piles on the floor as neglect due to clothing. Be sure to have these clean and managed when DCF comes to inspect the home. 

• Shelter: Inappropriate housing conditions can lead to allegations of neglect. The child must have access to clean water and hot water. The child’s bed must also be appropriate. If the child is too old for crib or too young for bed, they should have the appropriate sleeping arrangements. Each child is expected to have their own set of clean clothing that is properly stored and readily available for school. DCF will also want to make sure the conditions of the home are safe. DCF will look for leaks, rust, exposed wire or even rusty edges that a could injure a child. 

• Medical care: DCF can accuse parents of medical care when the child does not have a pediatrician. DCF also commonly supports medical neglect allegations when the child has a physical condition but does not have a specialist to treat the condition. The Department can also accuse parents of medical neglect if the child does not have a toothbrush to use every morning and night. Before DCF comes to your home, have your child’s medical records with you in case the investigator is testing you for your knowledge and attention of the information related to your child’s health.

• Supervision: When a child has a disability or cognitive delay which requires their parent to constantly supervise them regardless of their age, DCF will support an allegation of neglect against the parents for the slightest slip up and claim that you are not adequately supervising your child.
• Other essential care: emergency care; when a child has an emergency, but the parent doesn’t take them to the emergency room. 

What Factors Does DCF Consider When Investigating a Family?

DCF’s decision to support a allegations of abuse or neglect depends on:

• Whether or not the children have a disability or cognitive delay
• The ages of the children
• The history of the parents’ behaviors
• The children’s maturity levels
• Whether or not the incident happened on more than on one occasion
• How impactful the neglect was on the child’s emotional, mental, and physical growth

How Can You Reduce the Risks of a MA DCF Investigation?

One of the best ways to reduce risk in a DCF investigation is to understand what triggers concern and prepare ahead of time. To reduce your chance losing your children after your MA DCF investigation, you must take control of the situation. Prove to DCF you are not the abuser or neglector they are trying to paint you as. This means eliminating all the possible threats to your child’s safety before DCF can use them against you. Do not take your DCF investigation as an indication that you are a parent. DCF often uses their investigation to trick and manipulate parents and caregivers.

They do this to punish the parents that have unfortunately given up on and abandoned their children. Do not forget, only you can decide what kind of parent you are, not DCF. But you cannot allow yourself to fall apart. Parents who use DCF as a resource to improve their family and give their children a better life have more success with getting DCF out of their family’s life for good. 

What you must do instead is take this as an opportunity to take back control of your life. The only way to get past an immovable object is to become an unstoppable force. When DCF threatens to take your children away, you must fight back. When you learn to eat, sleep, and breathe DCF that is when they start to back down. People can fake passion, but no one can ignore it when it’s real. Give them all the passion you have inside you and direct that towards getting your kids out of their clutches. 

Don’t Let DCF Run Your Investigation – Act Now

The first thing to do is hire an experienced attorney who will protect your rights against DCF. You should also consider getting a mental health therapist. A therapist will show DCF you are serious about making progress. Hiring a therapist is a good move in general just to help you handle your frustration with DCF.

Taking control of your DCF investigation is an emotionally and physically taxing process that takes a toll on your well-being. A well-handled DCF investigation can be the difference between keeping your family together or facing long-term separation. But it is much worse for you when you let DCF get their way. Make a list of what your strengths and weaknesses are. Take your areas of improvement and seek resources to support you during your DCF investigation.

But one thing to always remember, DCF can only succeed if they can prove abuse or neglect has occurred, and that your child is at risk of further abuse and neglect. these are your children. It is up to you to step up and fight for them. All it will take is time and experience. 

You must take control and fight MA DCF on your own terms when they begin an investigation against you. 

Kevin Seaver is a trusted Massachusetts DCF lawyer specialized in DCF law since 1991.

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.