Just mind-boggling

I just received a note from the Home School Legal Defense Association (to which I belong) noting an upcoming set of hearings on the question of whether social services workers can perform a strip search of children without a warrant.  Apparently circuit courts are divided on this issue, and it just boggles the mind.  You can not go into someone's home without just cause or a warrant, but you can take off a kid's clothes?  Seriously?


And needless to say, this explains a LOT about why many parents don't open the door for social services workers without a warrant.  The HSLDA notes that being forcibly disrobed, especially by non-medical personnel like social services workers, can cause PTSD in the same way that sexual assault does. 


We've come a long way in the past 20 years in our understanding of the 4th Amendment, but this case makes it very clear that we've got a long way to go.  There are certainly times when social workers investigators do need to see a child's skin to see if it's torn, cut, or bruised, but quite frankly, those marks don't heal up in the hour or less it takes to get a warrant. 


Moreover, a friend of mine who got his degree in social work noted that social work was (in his opinion) the easiest degree in college--maybe, just maybe, we ought to have the examinations done by people who actually know "from Shinola" about "bedside manner" (so as not to cause needless trauma) and what bruises, cuts, and the like actually mean--people like doctors, NPs, PAs, and nurses?


I guess I'm dreaming here, but that would seem that there are some obvious improvements to be made.