When DCF finds abuse or neglect, but doesn't think they can get a judge to kidnap your children in court, they open an administrative case, and torment you and your family in your home for a year or so. This is a guide to what to expect.

The DCF Social Wreckers want to be liked. Everyone they deal with HATES them.There are TWO basic types of cases that DCF does - court cases and administrative ones. A court case, called a "Care and Protection" case, is one where they go to the Juvenile Court and ask the judge to take your children and put them into foster care. Sometimes these cases evolve into adoption cases, where the DCF attempts to terminate your parental rights forever.

An administrative case, which is about 85% of the cases they do, is where DCF responds to a report from a snitch or a family member, then sends social workers to investigate and and decide whether you have abused or neglected your children. If it decides that you have committed abuse or neglect, often based on a shallow and inept investigation, they do more investigation and keep a strong presence and hammer on your family by monthly visits and requiring you to do various "services", like drug tests, anger management, psychological evaluations, etc.

If they keep a case open for "services" that you must do, they visit your home frequently, they monitor your children at the government "skool", and require you to comply with all kinds of rules and regulations. Once you have done everything, and they deem that you are no longer a "risk" to your children, they close the case.

Here is how the DCF administrative case actually works, in gory detail:

We have already set out in the section about the DCF Snitch Network how a case gets into their system, via a report to the DCF hotline, and that it gets investigated by a worker called an "investigator". Let's pick it up from there.

The InvestigationOnce a case comes into the DCF child abuse hotline, it is assigned to an investigative social worker.

The investigator is then supposed to do an investigation in accord with the requirements of Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 119, Section 51B. If it is an emergency, that investigation must start immediately, and take only 24 hours. If it is not an emergency, then they mosey around and have fifteen business days to make a report.

The investigation consists of contacting parents, relatives, teachers, doctors, neighbors, and whoever else could determine whether the report about abuse or neglect is actually true. The investigator then must write a report, called a 51B report by everyone. You should try to get this report as soon as possible, so you know what you are accused of.

You can get this report by writing the Area Director of the Area Office which is persecuting you, whose address should be on the top of any of the letters which they sent you.


In reality, many DCF people can't investigate their way out of a paper bag, and they often get it wrong both directions. They find abuse or neglect where there isn't any, because they are easily fooled by their biases and by clever people who lie to them. And, they ignore real abuse, because they are easily fooled by their biases and by clever people who lie to them. They are often affected by their personal or professional unstated agendas, which could be anything from being abused in their own past, to having a vicious supervisor who wants them to support all claims of abuse and neglect.

They usually can't or don't look at the bigger situation or context to see if there is anything which might be an ulterior motive for someone to accuse the parent of abuse. Nor do they just let minor issues go, realizing that people go through a temporary bad time once in a while. For example, is there a nasty custody case in the family court where the woman is using DCF as a weapon to get custody? Is there an angry relative, say a grandparent, who really wants to steal their grandchild? Does the school have it out for the parent for some reason?

The investigators rarely look at obvious bias issues like this. They don't stop to ask themselves these questions or to check objective, outside references to see if they are being fooled. But, it doesn't matter, because no one holds them accountable. It is just the children they harm, and hey, who cares.

How Do You Deal With the Invaders?During the investigation, there are several critical things you must do if you want to come out of this with your family intact. You have two goals: 1) Keep the case out of court at ALL costs. 2) Make them go away as soon as possible with as little disruption as possible.


No matter what you have to do to keep the case out of court, you must do so. If they go to court to seek a custody order, the DCF has only one goal - to take your child, and they will probably succeed. So, despite you not wanting to be bullied by a social worker, that is far far far better than risking a complete loss of your children. Don't forget that, when the Social Wrecker is tormenting you and you don't think you can take it any more. They have the nuclear option, and they are not afraid to use it.

The social wrecker may have started out with good intentions - to help children - but just as likely went to work for DCF in order to work out her own tortured past, and may have all kinds of emotional baggage from past abuse in her family, real or imagined. She is going to make darn sure that no one else ever does that to anyone, and you are the current "project" for her to fix. There are a lot of inner, unrevealed agendas that most of these people are lugging around. So, have some compassion for her, despite her being a little dictator and a snotty creep to boot.


Control of the information is the key principle. Don't give them any more than you have to. Most people figure, "Hey, I've got nothing to hide." Oh, yes you do. Everything you say can and will be used against you to either take your children, or to keep a case open months past when you could of otherwise rid yourselves of these parasites. The word is: Shut up! Bite your tongue until it bleeds if you have to.

Again: Shut up! No one believes this until later, when they see their own blabber in print on a damning DCF report that is used to harm their children. Then it is too late. Shut up now, while it matters.

How? Here are some specifics:

• Say as little as possible when answering questions.
• Don't go on and on in answers.
• Digress when you can into irrelevant topics. (How about them Red Sox?)
• Keep answers short.
• When you finish your answer, and you feel that uncomfortable silence, let it be. Don't talk to fill it. Wait for them to ask the next question. Let the silence just sit there.
• Ask THEM questions, particularly about what they are accusing you of.
• Get them talking about what their interests are.

This is especially true of your kids. The investigators love to go to the government (public) skool (which should be known as the State Ministry of Ideology) and get the children alone there, and try to get disclosures about any problems at home - arguing, hitting, substance abuse, drinking, spanking, anything. When they come to your home, they will want to talk to them alone there as well. Don't let them do that, whatever you do. Just refuse politely, and they have to give in.


You should tell the gummint skool that it does not have permission to allow any Social Wrecker to speak to your child without you or a lawyer there. Ask them to notify you if any DCF agents show up for that purpose.

Sometimes, whether in school or at home, they will actually strip-search them and look for bruises, the pervs. They will definitely look for disclosures that they can twist into ugly sounding abuse against you, in order to justify keeping a case open, or even taking your children.

Whenever they can interview the children alone, they will try. Since you were not in the room, the social workers can twist anything the children said in their reports, without fear of contradiction.

Can you tape them when they come in to your house? Only if they are informed that they are being taped. It is a serious crime to not tell them, with a penalty of up to $10,000 and years in jail for violation. (M.G.L. Ch. 272 Section 99) So, put a tape player out on the table, and tell them you are recording. They will have a conniption, and you may have to back off, but do your best to record appointments. If it is a particularly high-conflict case, they will twist everything you say, so you need the tape to prove you didn't threaten them, or were cooperative when they later say you were not. If they object, ask them why, if they are going to be above board, they would worry about a recording. (If you have nothing to hide, why do they?) Tell them you will give them a copy, so they can be assured of an honest recording.

The investigator will want all kinds of information from you and your spouse or partner. If you are going through a divorce, or are going through a bad time, and you are tempted to bad-mouth the other parent - Don't. You might think you are "getting" the other parent, but you will find you did yourself in. They will hurt you right along with the other parent. Here is how: If you accuse the other parent of abuse, they almost always nail you for "neglect", because it happened in front of the children and you did not stop it.

The only sure strategy is to hang together, parents and children, against the common enemy, the DCF invader. Just give the social worker the minimum amount of information you can get away with. Never admit to any abuse. Just deflect questions about it. And, hope you roll out of the way of the fireball.

If the investigator decides, along with her supervisor, to "unsupport" the complaint for abuse or neglect, that means that they have no basis for a case, and your nightmare ends right there. They will close the case, and you are done.

If they do "support" it, your nightmare continues. Even though they may have not stolen your children, and seem to be leaning toward keeping the case open as an administrative one, they can change their mind at any time and go to court. This happens most often if, during the year or so they are into your life, you do something to provoke the delicate sensibilities of the social worker, and they react by busting you and taking you to court.

Fair HearingIf the case is supported, the DCF sends you a letter, telling you that you can appeal that finding at the "Fair Hearing" office in Boston. You have 30 days to send a quick one-sentence letter telling them you are appealing the "support" finding, and you want a "fair" hearing. Do so! There is more detail about this in another section, but a fair hearing is held at your local DCF area office to challenge the finding and get it overturned by a brief informal administrative hearing.


They are required to schedule a hearing within ninety days of your request, which they rarely do. See 110 CMR 10.10. (Go to the link and scroll down.) They will send you a letter back telling you the date and time of hearing at your local DCF lair.

How to actually conduct and win an (un)fair hearing against DCF is quite complicated, and is an issue for another section, and may realistically required the help of a lawyer.

The AssessmentThe next interloper to invade your home is called an assessment worker. This person will come to your home three times, by regulation, and try to pry out every last fact about your family, present and past. They have a multi-page list of questions for you and another for your children, and they are really over the top. She will ask you about your upbringing, any abuse in your family when you were a kid, whether your parents drank, etc. Just say you don't want to talk about that, don't answer, or say, "I don't think so", or "I wasn't aware of any."

The kids' questions are worse. They want to know when they had their first sexual experiences, whether you touch them improperly, what sexual gender they identify with, etc. etc. Ack.

They will want to "map" your family, and "data mine", to get info on your family for their massive big brother computer system, which will be there when your grandchildren are being oppressed by the agency. They want your family to be identified and visible to all data bases they have, and can continue to prepare to control every possible aspect of every family in America.

Under their regulations, after this assessment, the DCF is to have a meeting and they can decide to close the case or reverse the finding of support, but they rarely do, even if you have given them ample basis for showing that the allegations are bogus. (See 110 CMR 5.05)


Before participating in an assessment, I always ask that they give me the entire DCF case file first. That investigator is sitting there holding a file with all kinds of info about your family and the allegations, as well as what lots of other people said about you and your family. And you don't have a clue about any of it. It puts you at a huge disadvantage, because the assessment worker may try to test you by asking about allegations you have never heard of.

You will have to send a written request to the area director to get the file. When you demand that you want the file before starting the assessment, suddenly the sluggards in the records department will find a way to get it to you right quick.

When the assessment is done, write again to the area director and ask for the assessment report too.


Service PlansAt some soon point in the administrative case, either the assessment worker or the next character described below, the ongoing social worker, is going to present you with a multi-page document called a "service plan." It has a description of the problem that brought this case to the attention of DCF, and a list of trite, boilerplate, irrelevant, stupid, expensive, and sometimes dangerous things you must do to comply with DCF's view of what you must do to "fix" your life. And you can be sure they won't help you pay for all the services they want you to participate in, or for all the money in lost work time you suffered while doing them.

The service plan may contain requirements that you get drug screens, go to a batterers class, go to anger management, go to a whiny-women victim group and kvetch about how evil men are, attend AA or NA, go to counseling or therapy, that you get a psychological evaluation, that you stop spanking your child, and the like. These things are supposed to "fix" you and your problems, like you are a machine. They rarely do.

In an administrative case, these things on the service plan are pretty important to deal with, because compliance often means they will close the case. If the case is in court, it is even more important, because the judge may decide that your failure to complete the tasks on the service plan may mean that you are an unfit parent. Absurd, but true.

The plan is also supposed to be jointly developed between you and the social worker, but they generally couldn't care less what you think, and don't bother. They just impose it unilaterally, cuz they know what's good for you. See 110 CMR 6.07(1) (Scroll down.)

Q - Do you sign the service plan, as they will demand?
A - That depends on a lot of things, which this short essay cannot fully explain.

In general, the approach that you should use is to do as many of the things on the plan on your own, without telling the social worker. Because, if you do report all you do on the plan, like the classes you go to, that information can be used to continue to keep a case open against you, or, if your case is in court, will be used by the DCF lawyers for trial prep in their case against you. Just do the stuff on your own, but don't give releases to DCF for them to get it. These are sophisticated tactics, and their use will probably require some professional legal guidance.


Ongoing Social WorkerAfter the assessment drone is gone, then comes the ongoing social worker, or workers. There may be several in succession during the time your administrative case is open. They have a large turnover at DCF.

As to how to deal with the social workers, just remember that they want to be needed. Think about it. They went to college to learn a profession where they thought they would be helping families. But now, as a DCF thug, they are in a totally adversarial relationship with every family they deal with. EVERYONE hates them with a passion. They don't like it, and who would. So, they take it out on you. You better need their tender loving care, or else!


The funny thing is, even if you are a drug addled crack whore, if you give the social worker some respect, and do all the dopey things she wants you to do to "fix" your miserable life, she will treat you better than if you are an independent person who does not want or need her around. Of course, most people don't feel that they need or want the help. But if you let the social worker feel like she can "fix" you, she may be happy, and take her thumb out of your eye a little bit. So, let 'em think she is doing that.

Be polite. Actually show some respect, and bite back on your sassy tongue. Put on some tea, and be friendly. Talk about some good points she has taught you, and what you have learned through the wonderful process of having your family invaded by DCF. They may go away a lot faster. It is just human nature.

The MOST IMPORTANT ADVICE: Always assure the social worker that you will be fully cooperative, and always pretend to be fully cooperative, while always finding ways to avoid doing so.

Closing the CaseThe question most on your mind is probably, "How do you get the case closed and make the social worker go away?" That is a book unto itself, and would take more room than we have to explain. By doing the things that I have suggested, you maximize your chances of making them go away faster, and minimize the time they will be involved with your family.