Texas Judge Sanctions CPS $127K for Wrongfully Taking Couple’s Children and Lying to the Court

There are elements that are common almost to the point of being universal in cases involving children taken from their families by Child Protective Services, including false allegations, lying by social workers, falsified medical records, failure of social workers to follow their own policies, laws broken by CPS, and the failure to consider evidence that refutes CPS allegations. However, there is one thing that remains rare in CPS cases - that is, for anyone within the system to be held accountable. Repercussions for social workers, the CPS agency, or doctors involved in taking children from innocent parents are very rare. On Thursday, November 8, 2018, a judge in Houston, Texas, called CPS on the carpet, issuing what the Houston Chronicle says: "...may be the largest-ever sanctions against Child Protective Services, forcing the state to come up with new training for its workers and pay more than $127,000 for wrongfully removing a couple’s children and allegedly lying to the court about it." This follows a decision that Judge Mike Schneider issued last month involving parents Melissa and Dillon Bright, the same family whose children were medically kidnapped by CPS and Texas Children's Hospital. Now, attorneys for parents Melissa and Dillon Bright are calling for the firing of the CPS workers involved and asking for prosecutors to investigate and consider criminal charges.

In Unprecedented Move Texas Judge Orders CPS to Have No Contact with 2 Children Removed without Warrant – Social Worker Pleads 5th in Court

Though much of the public may still believe that Child Protective Services must have a good reason whenever they take children away from their parents, the curtain is increasingly being pulled back to expose the ugly truth behind the facade. Children are seized from their families many times over false allegations and lies. Deception within social services is the norm, not the exception. One judge has had enough. FOX 26 Houston reports that Texas judge Mike Schneider did something on Monday that has never happened in all of the state's history - he ordered that CPS have no contact with 2 children they took from their parents. According to family law attorney Dennis Slate: "The affidavit they used to remove was full of mis-truths, and half truths, and outright lies." Investigative Reporter Randy Wallace reports that Judge Schneider asked the social worker in court why he filed the emergency motion to take the 5-month-old baby boy and 2-year-old daughter of Michael and Melissa Bright. Despite the fact that the social worker had sworn an affidavit in order to take the children from their parents at Texas Children's Hospital, he pleaded the fifth amendment in court. CPS faces a sanctions hearing later this month where they could be fined tens of thousands of dollars.