In the Interest of Y.W.-B., a minor – Pa. Superior – October 8, 2020 – reported decision
http://www.pacourts.us/assets/opinions/Superior/out/J-A01010-20o%20-%20104569700115642744.pdf?cb=1
The Superior Court affirmed the trial court’s order that DHS presented the trial court with probable cause to search Mother’s home in support of its petitions to compel cooperation. . . .
It reversed the trial court’s order that Mother may not film, take pictures of, or record government employees acting in their official capacity in their search of Mother’s home.
It held that that the trial court may establish reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions concerning Mother’s request to film, take pictures of, or record government employees acting in their official capacity in her home, but that the record did not support the limitation imposed by the trial court in this case.
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Privacy – probable cause – “fair probability”
[T]he Fourth Amendment, and by necessary implication, Article I, Section 8, [of the Pennsylvania Constitution] apply to the provision of the CPSL and regulations governing a county agency’s duty to investigate allegations of abuse or neglect inside a private home. Pet. to Compel, 875 A.2d at 377. Therefore, a county agency must demonstrate probable cause to enter a private residence to conduct an investigation. Id. at 377-78
[A]n agency “must file a verified petition alleging facts amounting to probable cause to believe that an act of child abuse or neglect has occurred and evidence relating to such abuse will be found in the home.” Pet. to Compel, 875 A.2d at 377- 78. Similarly, where the petition to compel involves an entry into a parent’s home to investigate a GPS report, an agency must establish probable cause. See id.; accord Romero, 183 A.3d at 397. We further reiterate that the constitutional requirements of probable cause involve only “fair probabilities.” See Jones, 988 A.2d at 655; Housman, 986 A.2d at 843.
[W]e discern no basis to apply a criminal rule of procedure to restrict a court’s review of a petition to the four corners of the petition itself, where the trial court holds a hearing on an agency’s petition to compel allowance to enter a home.See also, Interest of D.R., 216 A.3d 286 (Pa. Super. 2019), aff’d, ___ A.3d ___, 45 WAP 2019, 2020 WL 3240581 (Pa. filed June 16, 2020).
Right to record CYS workers during home visit
The First Amendment protects the public’s right of access to information about their officials’ public activities. It goes beyond protection of the press and the self-expression of individuals to prohibit government from limiting the stock of information from which members of the public may draw. Access to information regarding public police activity is particularly important because it leads to citizen discourse on public issues, the highest rung of the hierarchy of the First Amendment values, and is entitled to special protection. That information is the wellspring of our debates; if the latter are to be uninhibited, robust, and wide- open, the more credible the information the more credible are the debates.
To record what there is the right for the eye to see or the ear to hear corroborates or lays aside subjective impressions for objective facts. Hence to record is to see and hear more accurately. Recordings also facilitate discussion because of the ease in which they can be widely distributed via different forms of media. Accordingly, recording police activity in public falls squarely within the First Amendment right of access to information. As no doubt the press has this right, so does the public.
Fields v. City of Phila., 862 F.3d 353, 359 (3d Cir. 2017). The Third Circuit, however, cautioned that all recording was not protected or desirable. Id. at 360. “The right to record police is not absolute. It is subject to reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions.” Id. (quotation marks omitted). . ..
We treat decisions of the Third Circuit as persuasive authority on questions of federal constitutional law. See Stone Crushed P’ship v. Kassab Archbold Jackson & O’Brien, 589 Pa. 296, 908 A.2d 875, 883 n.10 (2006).
