Innocent parents on state child abuser list

David G. Savage writes in the LA Times:

California's child abuse reporting act is unconstitutional because the wrongly accused have no recourse to get off the list. More than a year after that ruling, the state has yet to fix the problem.

Reporting from Washington - Craig and Wendy Humphries of Valencia have been "living every parent's nightmare," as a judge put it, since Craig's rebellious teenager falsely accused them of abuse nine years ago. They were arrested by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies and had their other young children taken away from them.

It continues today. Even though the state courts agreed that the girl's original complaint was "not true" and that the couple were "factually innocent," the Humphrieses are still listed as child abusers on the state's Child Abuse Central Index.

A federal appeals court ruled that Los Angeles County should pay damages to the couple, but the U.S. Supreme Court intervened Monday and said it would hear the county's claim that it is the state that is at fault.

I sometimes complain that the family court system treats parents as guilty until proven innocent. But this is a case where the parents are still guilty even after being proven innocent!