Kuwisdelu said:
There is a fear — a completely justifiable one, IMO — that many people will treat all such "data points" as equal.
Yes.
And keep in mind that because these "data points" are initiated in anonymity and remain on the record even if found to be baseless, having ten baseless "data points" all from the same ex-spouse who happens to be fighting for custody of the kids is, on the record, exactly equal to having ten "data points" coming from ten different sources without a personal vendetta.
Also, beyond there being a tendency to see all these "data points" as equal, there is also the risk of assumption that because there are data points at all, there is a higher likelihood of guilt. I would say that in, say, the case of custody battles over children, this is not necessarily the case - but there is currently no way to know how the "data points" were generated.
Yes it does. A visit from the CPS is a data point, which may be important if other data points emerge. Of course no one should have their kids taken away, or be disqualified from fostering or adopting, because of a visit from CPS. But if someone is getting CPS called on them repeatedly, that is not something I'd want to be ignored because each time, the worker didn't find anything specific enough to act on.
We do not keep such "data points" on people accused of any other crime. If you are accused of murder, rape, torture, or even treason against your country, but no evidence is found to support that accusation, it is not kept on your record as a "data point" that suggests, should you be accused again, that you are likely guilty simply because of the number of times you've been accused.
Moreover, an ex-spouse who accused you of murder, rape, torture, or treason and whose accusations were found to be baseless could not go on reporting the same accusations against you every single year without facing criminal charges themselves. They could not do so in anonymity and then sit back and watch the state subject you to a full-on investigation every time, never once facing any sort of investigation or discipline themselves. They can not build a series of "data points" against you in this manner.
Yes, it's possible for a CPS worker to be overzealous or have an agenda, and it's possible one could have busybody neighbors or a vindictive family member. So there should be checks and balances and a lot of discretion.
There should be. There is not. This is one of my areas of contention.