There has been a lot of talk recently as to whether or not Child Protective Services will come after individual parents if their children refuse the state tests.
I would like to answer some questions.
What does Child Protective Services specifically do?
One of the things they do is prosecute cases against parents for child abuse or child maltreatment. These are the definitions of child abuse and maltreatment from the NYS Office of Children and Family Services Website.
Child Abuse
Generally, the term abuse encompasses the most serious harms committed against children. An "abused child" is a child whose parent or other person legally responsible for his/her care inflicts upon the child serious physical injury, creates a substantial risk of serious physical injury, or commits an act of sex abuse against the child. Not only can a person be abusive to a child if they perpetrate any of these actions against a child in their care, they can be guilty of abusing a child if they allow someone else to do these things to that child.
Child Maltreatment
Maltreatment refers to the quality of care a child is receiving from those responsible for him/her. Maltreatment occurs when a parent or other person legally responsible for the care of a child harms a child, or places a child in imminent danger of harm by failing to exercise the minimum degree of care in providing the child with any of the following: food, clothing, shelter, education or medical care when financially able to do so. Maltreatment can also result from abandonment of a child or from not providing adequate supervision for the child. Further, a child may be maltreated if a parent engages in excessive use of drugs or alcohol such that it interferes with their ability to adequately supervise the child.
Is a Parent guilty of child maltreatment if they allow their child to refuse the state tests?
The above would seem to indicate that they are not . If a parent places a child in imminent danger or harm by failing to exercise the minimum degree of care in providing a child with education that would be considered child maltreatment. I hardly think allowing your child to refuse the state tests puts you in that category. In my experience, when CPS brings a case relating to education it's usually because the child is not going to school.
Can CPS bring a case against the parent for allowing their child to refuse the state tests?
Now that's a different story. This is all about interpretation. There is only one way to make a complaint to CPS about a child not getting the proper education, you must call the New York State Child Abuse Hotline. The counselor on the phone will take information from the complainant and then decide if the case will be investigated. For a case to be investigated the counselor must determine whether or not the child is being harmed. So how do you determine if the child is being harmed? Well that's all up to interpretation isn't it? The counselor on the phone, their supervisor or even someone higher up determines the threshold question of whether the child is being harmed. If they do believe the child is being harmed they would have to investigate. Now, I'm not a conspiracy theorist but I don't think it's unreasonable to believe that people in this county have been prosecuted for political gain and wouldn't say it's out of the question for it to happen again.
Should we be concerned?
Probably not but we can't be positive. But isn't the damage already done. In this age of immediate and widespread dissemination of information, a statement by a quasi important figure that is meant to scare parents, is extremely powerful. When an issue gets into the public consciousness whether it's true or not people get concerned.
It's a hard argument to make when a parent says that they heard somewhere that they could get arrested or have their child taken away if they don't take the state tests. Who should that parent believe? Their trusted friend or the internet?
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