A.C.S (Administration of Child Services) is the government agency responsible for investigating a child abuse charge. It is to the family justice system what the Security Council is to the international community. Like the Security Council, it is not bad at identifying the presence of weapons of mass destruction (child abuse), and it is terrible at preventing genocide: remember the glorious 1994 French intervention in Rwanda mandated by the Security Council, right after the genocide had already taken place. A.C.S.’s problem is that its conclusions are followed when it pleases the justice system.
From the point of view of fathers, A.C.S.’s intervention is perhaps the least troublesome part of a child abuse investigation. In my case, they were fast and unbiased, contrary to the family justice system. June 13 2002: sicko ex-wife filed a child abuse charge against me. July 2002: the A.C.S. case worker came to the place I had in Harlem, saw the girls’ room, asked me questions, asked me to do what I had done to the girls (I squeezed Camille’s jaw with one hand in a taxicab). The same month, I received A.C.S.’s letter, stating that the accusations of child abuse were unfounded.
In this situation, A.C.S.’s procedure of child abuse investigation is crystal clear: CASE CLOSED. Therefore I should have had my weekends with my girls back.
But why listen to A.C.S. when the Family Court can have people hire phony family experts, waste years in trial and destroy a relationship between a father and his children? One answer, the sadly usual one: Fathers, you are suspect!
(Photo: Duchamp, the Bicycle Wheel)
There are instances where ACS is diligent in getting to the truth and doing the right thing. However, there are still some attorneys and judges who will try to use the mere fact that a family or parent was reported to ACS as a factor to decide against what is the just thing to do. It is important to be proactive in reporting and uncovering false accusations, mis-reporting or inconclusive investigations. The accused should not sit back and expect the truth to be uncovered or taken for what it is worth, not when custody and or visitation of children are at issue.