My Experience With Georgia DFCS

 

          Many moons ago, in Georgia in the 1990s, I received a letter from Georgia DFCS informing me that allegations of child abuse were confirmed and I was on their list of child abusers, because I used corporal punishment to correct bad behaviour in a child as a parent should. This aroused my ire as the social worker that investigated me did not speak to me or even meet me and I was never charged, tried, or convicted of any crime. I wrote letters to legislators, congressmen, and the governor, in which I went into detail about what happened and what I did and mentioned considering a lawsuit. Later I received a letter from a legislator agreeing that children need this kind of discipline and said he would bring the subject before the General Assembly, and I received a letter from the welfare department informing me that my name no longer occurred on any list.

          Later the social worker that had investigated me came too the house about a truancy problem, and after discussing that I asked him why they kept trying to penalize good parents for doing what they are supposed to do, and while he said they are trying to protect children, have right motives, etc., he wouldn’t look me in the eye and kept looking at his feet. Later when discussing the truancy problem with the school principal I mentioned how the social worker behaved when I confronted him and the principal said they’re probably just unaccustomed to that kind of confrontation and told me that I was probably the first parent in that area to ever stand up to DFCS and tell them they are wrong.

          I still sometimes wonder why so many good parents tolerate and comply with DFCS intrusions and foolishness.