In In re Y.W.-B., the Superior Court confronted two challenging family law questions. First, the Court held that a county child protective services agency “may obtain a court order compelling a parent’s cooperation with a home visit upon a showing of a fair probability that a child is in need of services, and that evidence relating to that need will be found inside the home.” The Court held that traditional 4th Amendment considerations do not apply in child welfare checks of the home. Next, the Court ruled that the trial court erred in prohibiting the parent from recording DHS workers as they conducted their home visit. The Court held that such a restriction on free speech was subject to intermediate scrutiny and that DHS failed to offer any support for curtailing the right.
