PETITION TO STRENGTHEN DUE PROCESS RIGHTS
OF PEOPLE FALSELY ACCUSED OF CHILD ABUSE

We, the undersigned, believe that California's laws that were Intended to protect children from child abuse do not
adequately protect the rights of people who are falsely accused of child abuse. Under the current system, innocent
parents are frequently accused of such heinous crimes by former spouses as a formidable weapon in custody battles,
or by other persons who use the system to harass and financially- or emotionally harm innocent parents. Therefore,
we request that you support changes in state law to ensure that government officials assigned to investigate such
allegations honor the constitutionally-guaranteed due process rights of persons accused of such crimes, as follows:

1)  That state or county child protective service workers be required to provide written notice, and a court
hearing, before placing any person's name on the state Department of Justice list of suspected child
abusers, known as the Child Abuse Central Index, and on any corresponding national law enforcement
databases.

2)  That state or county child protective service workers be required to pay fines or other penalties if they
have been proven in court to have violated the due process rights of any person accused of child abuse.
Furthermore, that the state or county involved in the child abuse investigation shall be required to
reimburse any person's attorney's fees needed to delete any listing in the Child Abuse Central Index,
where officials involved have been proven in court to have violated that person's due process rights.

3)  That state or county child protective service workers be required to promptly provide written notification
and a court hearing to contest any listing in the Child Abuse Central Index, to any person who has been
added to the Child Abuse Central Index since the index was created on or about 1980, but who has not
previously been notified of the listing in writing.

4)  That state taw (Penal Code Section 11169 et seq.)be revised to delete the requirement to list on the
Child Abuse Central Index, the names of child abuse suspects whose cases have been deemed by child
protective service workers to be "inconclusive" or "not unfounded." We think the listing should include
only the names of persons when the allegations against them have been deemed to be "substantiated,"
because listing inconclusive cases violates a person's constitutional right to be considered innocent until
proven guilty.
 

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If you gather signatures on the petition, please return it to:
Mark Arner c/o Bob Glaser, Esq.  8304 Clairemont Mesa Blvd. #213 San Diego, CA 92111-1315