DSS Case Sets Precedent

RALEIGH — The Home School Legal Defense Association says that the North Carolina Supreme Court’s precedent-setting Stumbo ruling — involving a home-schooling family's refusal to allow social workers to interview children privately — has already affected another action by child-protection services. The Court ruled in July that the DSS actions violated the Stumbos’ Fourth Amendment rights against illegal searches and seizure. In a new case, a judge dismissed a false report of child neglect after DSS officials tried to force parents to allow private interviews.