One Michigan father blames not being able to play recorded testimony of his young daughters’ psychological examinations for a jury cost him his children, and he is taking steps to prevent future tragedies like this from occurring by fighting to pass a bill that will require electronic recordings of any interviews with young children in the future. This bill’s detractors claim videotaping may retraumatize children, but how is being permanently removed from a parent not also incredibly traumatizing? We are Robert Raskin and Kathleen Raskin, and we are concerned that children are being removed from their families not for safety reasons, but rather due to policies.

Cary Flagg’s Story

Mr. Flagg is a 35-year-old father of four daughters, all of whom were removed from his custody after it was alleged during his contentious divorce battle that he had sexually abused two of them. They were removed from the home based upon the testimony of a psychologist who was hired by the state, despite the fact that this deviated from the established protocol that is commonly adhered to in these cases. Although Cary Flagg was never formally charged with any crime, his parental rights were stripped, and this is why he is fighting for changes to the system by insisting that forensic interviews be video recorded.

HOUSE BILL 4298

House bill number 4298, if it passes, will require electronic recording of any interviews of children that are requested by department investigators or law enforcement officers that take place at accredited or accreditable child assessment centers. The person who is conducting the interview will be required by law to record it in its entirety, at no point shutting the recording device off. After this, the Department of Child Protective Services will be required to allow access to and to retain these recordings so they can be viewed later on in court or at any other time when documented proof is needed.

CPS and Divorce

The sad truth is, CPS is involved in divorce battles all too often, often for the sole reason that an embittered spouse is bent on revenge or obsessed with winning at all costs. Without videotaped evidence, we will never know what was really said during the forensic interviews of Cary Flagg’s daughters, because in court the details quickly devolved into a mess of he said-she said accusations. Although it is too late for Mr. Flagg to do anything about his situation, if this bill passes, it will prevent this from happening again in the future. We, Robert Raskin and Kathleen Raskin, only wish this bill had been passed sooner, but it’s never too late to right the future wrongs of these corrupt organizations.