From the globe article.

>- In the Waltham family’s case, child welfare workers had a full business day to obtain a court order before they arrived at the home, in the middle of the night. And still they did not seek one.

>- Sabey and Perkins have been sharing their story publicly to bring attention to what they called a flawed process. After the case workers took the children into custody, they later agreed that weekend to place the boys in the care of their paternal grandparents. But Sabey called for greater oversight, saying there was no need for case workers and police officers to take their children in the first place.

It seems like getting a court order for removing a child isn't the norm? Tufts doc (Newton Wellesley) noticed a rib fracture. Social worker didn't like the answers. No court order needed, even if everything is discovered on a Thursday.

Reason Article

Reason has done great stuff on civil asset forfeiture too.

>- After an exhausting gamut of interviews and after DCF workers surveyed Sabey and Perkins' apartment—where no concerns were found—the couple and their children were sent home on July 14 with a DCF safety plan, assuming their ordeal was over.

>- Instead, DCF came to their house in the middle of the night—around 1:00 a.m.—and demanded custody of the children, despite having no court documents approving removal. "It seems everything was deliberately timed to avoid having to get a court order and avoid proving to a judge that the children were in imminent danger," Perkins later wrote. "Their laziness came at the cost of our children's sense of security."

>- While Perkins' parents, who had flown to Boston, were eventually granted temporary custody of the children, it still took nearly a month for Sabey and Perkins to regain full custody of their children. According to the Post, the couple spent over $50,000 in legal fees fighting to convince the state to return their children. They will likely have to spend much more to strike from the record the couple's "supported allegation of child abuse."

July 14 was a Thursday. They should have been able to get a court order, right? Most people don't have $50,000 lying around. Does DCF operate extrajudicialy?

WaPo article