Ruling Aids Family in DSS Dispute

RALEIGH — A precedent set in July by the N.C. Supreme Court, which limited some Department of Social Services powers, enabled a Lumberton family to win a quick resolution in a dispute with social workers. Robeson County District Judge J. Stanley Carmical ruled that DSS workers had no grounds to demand private interviews with the three sons of Charles and Ramona Bevel. The judge’s decision was based at least partially on a recent state Supreme Court ruling in a similar case, in which a homeschooling family refused to allow social workers into their home.