The report language clarifies the statutory language even further: The Committee looked carefully for ways to ensure that the individual rights of parents being investigated on allegations of child abuse or neglect were protected . . . to that end the Committee wants to enhance the training of child protective services personnel to ensure that they are knowledgeable in best practices for promoting collaboration with families and that they are fully aware of the extent and limits of their legal authority and the legal rights of parents in carrying out such investigations.

H.R. 3839 requires that states have provisions in place that address the training of child protective services personnel and their legal duties, which may consist of procedures to inform such personnel of such duties, in order to protect the Constitutional and statutory rights of children and families.

The committee concludes: For instance, the Committee believes that child protective services personnel should understand that they do not have the authority to demand entry into the family home when investigating the allegation ... It is the hope of the Committee that by requiring states to improve the training of social workers in proper and appropriate investigating techniques and providing more education on appropriate reporting of child abuse and neglect by the public that the incidents of aggressive investigating behavior and incidences of false reports of child maltreatment cases will be significantly decreased.

Establishing citizen review panels

The final provision in CAPTA that HSLDA worked to add requires each state to create citizen review panels, which "shall provide for public outreach and comment in order to assess the impact of current procedures and practices upon children and families in community."

The committee's report language states: "The Committee wants to ensure that individuals' rights are protected by giving individuals who have been subject to a child abuse and neglect investigation an opportunity to be heard when they feel they have been wrongfully accused or been the subject of an overly aggressive child maltreatment investigation.

H.R. 3839 requires citizen review panels to provide for public outreach and comment in order to help states to assess the impact of the procedures and practices of their child protective services system upon the children, families, and individuals in the community.

CAPTA moves to Senate

HSLDA is working closely with Senate Education Committee staff to ensure that these amendments are retained. We are thankful to God that these amendments have been added in the House version and look forward to using these additional protections to better protect HSLDA members when they are faced with social services investigations.

This article first appeared in the "Home School Court Report" (http://www.hslda.org/courtreport/V18N5/V18N501.asp) published by Home School Legal Defense Association, and is used with permission.

For more information on Home School Legal Defense Association, visit their Web site at www.hslda.org