Werme Tricks - “Our mission is more important than your rights”
November 13, 2005
You might have noticed a theme to this blog if you have read any other posts. I spend a great deal of time attempting to shed some light onto the Division for Children Youth & Families, and its practices. As a part of this attempt, I have been systematically refuting much of the claims made by Attorney Werme and her husband. Eric Werme recently commented on a post and informed me that the Tricks of the Trade page that I often use for material is actually his page, not his wife’s. Mr. Werme is a software engineer. His site explains that most of the information he has learned, he has observed from “state house hearings, etc.” I guess I never realized how much time is spent at the State House discussing DCYF’s practices.
At any rate, the Wermes have some interesting advise for families regarding your rights. They are actually partially correct this time. Individuals do not have to allow DCYF into their home. We usually ask politely, and are generally there to discuss the information received that concerns children. However, parents do not have to let us into their homes, and some do refuse. In those cases, our efforts to discern a child’s safety are somewhat hindered. If children are in public school, RSA 169-C allows us to interview children in schcool without the express permission of a parent. Our general practice is to speak to parents before interviewing children at school. Some parents have a valid concern regarding having their children interviewed at school, and we try to respect that. However, even if a parent refuses to cooperate, our job to assess a child’s safety remains. We will do what limited research we can without a parent’s cooperation. We are allowed to interview children at school, and to speak with school staff regarding any concerns. For families who do not want to invite DCYF into their homes, we also ask if they would be willing to meet with us at our office to discuss the safety concerns for their children. I imagine that the Wermes would say that DCYF is trying to lure a parent into their lair, where they have the home field advantage. This is not the case however. The meetings are generally one-on-one, or two, if both parents attend the meeting. This is an opportunity for the parents to find out what the concerns are, and to discuss these concerns with a worker. Attorneys are welcome to be present at these meetings if a family so chooses.
While the Wermes would have you believe that this is a secret that we do not let families in on, we do in fact provide every family with two pamphlets. The first outlines the assessment process and how it works. The second details a family’s rights - starting with their right to deny DCYF access to their home. Since we provide this information to families, usually during the initial visit, this is clearly not something that we are trying to keep a secret. It is true that for most families, a knock on the door by DCYF is strange and scary. We do however, make every attempt to keep the family aware of the process, what can happen, and what their rights are. The Wermes want everyone to believe that DCYF is set up as an adversarial system. Our priority is to keep children safe. That process almost always starts with helping a family to help themselves.
Warning: This post is mostly a rant with not much educational value. If you’ve read any of my other posts, or personally know me, then you are aware that I work for DCYF. I was recently speaking with a client who implied that it was my responsibilty to help her. Despite my repeated attempts to explain to this person that my responsibility was to look out for children, not their parents, this individual did not seem to understand. It got me thinking back on several of the families that I have been involved with in the past. I realized that for quite a few families, at least one of the parents implied that it was my responibility to make sure they were safely parenting their children. So, I would like to know when it became my responsibility to clean houses, make sure that children are supervised while their parents go out partying, or pass out high on whatever drug they could get their hands on. When did it become my responsibility to make sure parents have housing and food. Since when did the responsibility for these basic necessities shift from being a parental responsibility to being a governmental responsibility? Of course it is my job to assist families, and to make referrals to community resources, but if parents are unable to follow through with these resources, or are unable to find a place to live or food to eat or figure out how to clean their houses, then they are at fault - I am tired of being blamed for parent’s irresponsibility. We all have to live up to expectations in life, and if we are unable to meet basic expectations, such as keeping our children safe, then we have to face the consequences. Just once I would like someone to say to me “yeah, it was my fault, I made some mistakes and my kid wasn’t safe, I’m sorry.” Some parents realize this throughout the course of a an on-going case, but I don’t handle those cases, so I never hear those statements. 
