Darryl H. v. Coler

Before WOOD, JR., COFFEY and RIPPLE, Circuit Judges. RIPPLE, Circuit Judge. In these consolidated appeals, the appellants challenge the constitutionality of a procedure utilized in child abuse investigations by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). Specifically, as these cases reach us today, the plaintiffs allege that the DCFS policy which permits the caseworker to conduct a physical examination of the child's body for evidence of abuse violates rights protected by the fourth and fourteenth amendments. A final resolution of this issue will require the reconciliation of very fundamental constitutional values: the privacy rights of the child; the privacy rights of the family in the important area of childrearing; and the obligation and right of responsible government to deal effectively with the stark reality of child abuse in our society, a problem the seriousness of which has only been appreciated fully in recent times and in which the methods of identification and prevention must still be termed developmental.1