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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Posts
    1

    Default Neighbour's False Accusation

    My question involves defamation in the state of: Louisiana
    Hi, a few days ago my husband and I walked down the street walking our dog, it's a dead end street and distance about 200 feet to the end. We received a very unpleasant phone call from our parents telling us not to leave our house any longer without the baby or they will call child protection services. We then found out that it was our neighbour who called them talling them that we leave our baby alone at home "all the time" and that she will call child protection services the next time. We have a very happy, healthy, loving 1 year old baby girl. She is and means everything to us, as she cannot get out of her crib and she's sound asleep after 8pm I her mom occasionaly go outside to join my husband who works late. We sit outside in the front of the house or sometimes I might if not to tired take a walk. I have at all times a monitor with me. She is not only saying all this to our family but also to all our other neighbours who most of them wimp it off and wonder why she takes her time to spread this lie. My question is can she actualy do this and threaten us to have our baby taken away for walking the dog or sitting in our front yard or talking to our neighbour next door which is 10 feet away from our front door? Could child protective services take her away because we are not inside the house with her. And if not can we report her with this false accusation, slander and defamation as we are afraid she might lie and say something that realy will hurt us. She was my husbands ex-wife best friend and I think she wants to create some trouble for us and wish to do something about it before she goes to far with these accusations. I am in my 30's and my husband is in his 40's, our party hearty days are long time gone, they occasionaly might come along ( hopefully) but we are hardworking people with no intentions ever to leave our baby alone or neglect her. When she wakes up believe me I KNOW it! I hope someone can help me find that the walking outside and being outside (within the premises of our house) without her can not harm our family. Thank you

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Toledo, OH
    Posts
    16,307

    Default Re: Neighbour's False Accusation

    My question is can she actualy do this and threaten us to have our baby taken away for walking the dog or sitting in our front yard or talking to our neighbour next door which is 10 feet away from our front door?
    The first time you get visited? No. But if you don't bow and scrape and agree to "parent education", they'll hound you to the ends of the Earth.

    I don't mean to frighten you, but I speak from experience. I had CPS called on me years ago for taking the trash out to the dumpster from my third floor apartment, in the freezing cold, at night, while my then two-year old slept in his crib. they very earnestly insisted that I should wake him, bundle him up, and take him to the dumpster with me because "anything can happen".

    Since then, they've been out to hound me because he refused to wear socks, because a neighbor didn't approve of the thickness of his coat (leather with fleece lining instead of some big eskimo parka), because he has a crooked tooth, and because he's whip thin like his father instead of fat like his mother. (He's now 16, 6 feet tall, an avid cyclist, and eats like a moose. But he insists on training for these 150 mile bike tours...he's rail thin.)

    If you insist on exercising your right to sit on your front porch or go water your garden or take out your trash unencumbered by the wee one, invest in a very good baby monitor, the cordless kind with the 900 foot signal radius.

    Don't go out with your husband to walk the dog anymore, unless you've got baby firmly tethered into a stroller. (THAT, you really shouldn't have been doing anyway.)

    And watch your back. You've got a busybody who thinks she knows how to raise your kid better than you do. Once CPS has been called on you, they will show up at your house if your cat farts sideways to see what new and interesting way you've come up with to abuse and neglect your child.

    Good luck.

  3. #3

    Default Re: Neighbour's False Accusation

    Anyone can call CPS - your parents, your neighbors, or some total stranger who just happens to telepathically know that you have a one year old child inside and both parents (with no one else home) are outside. People reporting what they witness, either to CPS or friends, family, or neighbors isn't a false accusation - they can SEE you outside without the child. They may not be aware (or care) that you have a baby monitor to listen with - but so long as they are discussing what they've witnessed, they're pretty much in the clear.

    What will CPS say/do if contacted? Likely, they'll encourage you to find a way to bring the child out with you if you want to sit outside (the child can still sleep in a portacrib) or go for a walk (strollers make excellent sleeping quarters too). They're liable to have more of a fit over the walks than you sitting on the porch where, argueably, you could get to the child quickly if a problem was heard - which won't fly if you are down the street and have to run home. But removing a child from a home is a big deal - and isn't done on a whim - particularly where the parents can show that they are monitoring the child (again, the issue is going to be about the walks, and the time needed to return home if a problem is detected).

    So to answer your basic questions:

    Yes, she (or anyone else) can call CPS and make a report based on what she believes to be neglectfulness. That you disagree with her about the level of monitoring being adequate doesn't make it a "false report" or a lie.

    No, it isn't up to her, nor will CPS care that her opinion is that the child should be taken away. CPS will get your side of the story with the baby monitor, make some "helpful" suggestions as noted above, and likely be on their way.

    Ultimately, it may not be resolved until and unless CPS sticks their head in, checks things out, and gives you a green light - but there's no better way to squash such neighborhood gossip than to have the issue investigated and cleared by the authority on the matter. And for God's sake, if CPS "strongly suggests" not leaving the child at home to take walks, then find another way - because a second report filed after that is going to put you on the radar and you do NOT want that.

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