Many social workers in Israel have become self-appointed lawmakers who believe they don’t need a Judge in order to take action.
The story below is a real case decided on October 2013 by the Honorable Judge, Mr. Zagury from the Family Court in Nazareth (case # 19980-10-13).
The divorced parents of “Plonit” have been disputing some divergences in court for a while. The custody of their 18-month-old child (“Plonit”) was finally given to the father due to the fact that the mother was, and still is, not only a drug addict but also suicidal.
One day, after a year of having lawful custody of his child, a social services worker knocked on the father’s door, took the child away and handed “Plonit” over to the mother! Simple as that.
The legal aspect:
In order to understand the absurdity of this situation, that even the Judge was in shock when he learned about it, I will go into a few details and explain the legalities.
In order to take a child away from the biological parents, social services must have an order signed by a Judge. A Judge will not sign that order without listening to all sides involved including the parents, and depending on the age of the child listening to the child’s side as well. There is an emergency exception to this if it is deemed that a situation exists in which the child is in “imminent danger”, in this case a Judge is asked to sign an order to bring about a change that protects the child.
The other exception is when an extraordinary event, such as a child is found in imminent danger under the parent’s custody, for which there is no time to ask a Judge. These are extreme cases involving serious crimes committed by the parents or any other severe event. Even in these cases, social services will have a very limited time to bring the case to be heard in court.
In most cases (as sad and harsh as it may sound) a Judge will not rule against a social service request. This is the reality of the system today. Trying to explain in nice words or with logic as many try to do is just a waste of time – the reality is what it is: Judges are too often just a rubber stamp for the social service workers. Not all Judges, as we will see in this extreme case.
The reasoning behind taking the child away:
The Welfare Office explained that the decision hinged on claims that the father sexually abused the child, was in the habit of walking naked in front of her, and didn’t put her to bed on time. The father denied the malicious accusations against him (made by the mother), noting that she was threatening to spread rumors against him in an effort to receive custody again.
The Judge questioned the mother whether these accusations were real. During the interrogation the mother admitted that they were false accusations.
The Judge was clear in his statement:
The Judge emphasized the almost sacred right of the biological parent’s custody of their children and the maximum precautions to be taken before removing a minor from the parent’s custody. The Judge reminded that this action can be carried out by the Court and only in extreme and urgent emergency can it be done temporarily without the consent of the Court.
The Judge was also amazed by the social worker’s conclusion that the child was tired in the kindergarten because she was put in bed too late, around 9 pm. The Judge said clearly that even if this was the case, and he wasn’t sure it was, it’s not a legal reason to take a child away from the custody of the father.
The result:
The child was returned to the father, but the case is still open and we may hear about it again in the near future.
The overpowered social workers:
The reality is that Social workers have too much power, are too quick to judge (without gathering all the facts) parents they perceive to be doing something wrong, do not have enough professional education or expertise on the subject, and are given way too much backup from Judges and other organizations “concerned with children’s well-being”.
As we see, it’s enough that a mother, any mother – even someone who is clearly mentally unbalanced, suicidal and a drug addict – can complain and convince the welfare department that their accusations are true and therefore they can do as they think is best without conducting a complete review and investigation.
Social workers have too much power regarding the prison system, probation, divorces etc. and all that’s required is completion of a 3-year program in the social worker school with a little work experience in order for them to begin exercising that power. If you find yourself under their attack, immediately seek legal counsel.
