Assemblyman Tim Donnelly's Letter Requesting Audit of Ca. CPS

Assemblyman Tim Donnelly's Letter Requesting Audit of Ca. CPS


Please write to Assemblyman Donnelly with your horriffic stories of CPS/DCYF abuse. No matter what State you're from, CPS/DCYF Nationwide need to be audited, not just California!

Mailing Address:
Assemblyman Tim Donnelly
PO Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0033

Also, please write or e-mail ALL member's. Here's the link:
http://legaudit.assembly.ca.gov/membersstaff


May 2, 2013
Members of the Committee
Joint Legislative Audit Committee
1020 N Street, Room 107
Sacramento, CA 95814
Dear Chairman Gray,
This letter is to request the Joint Legislative Audit Committee approve an audit of the policies and 
procedures on receiving reports on child seizures by county Child Protective Services (CPS), specifically 
Sacramento County CPS, San Bernardino County CPS and a county CPS of the auditors choosing. 
Recent news reports have brought to my attention the case of baby Sammy Nikolayev and his parents 
Alex and Anna Nikolayev. On Wednesday, April 24th, Mr. and Mrs. Nikolayev took their five month old 
son to Sutter Memorial Hospital to be treated for flu-like symptoms. They had been taking him there 
ever since he had been born and diagnosed with a heart murmur. Sammy was admitted to the hospital’s 
Intensive Care Unit, at which point his mother witnessed a nurse administering the baby with 
antibiotics, apparently without instructions from the doctor. 
Mrs. Nikolayev added that a doctor said the child should not have been given antibiotics, although they 
did want to perform heart surgery on Sammy immediately. At that point, Anna said, the couple decided 
to rush Sammy out of the hospital in search of a second opinion on his condition. The parents traveled 
directly from Sutter Memorial to Kaiser Medical Center in Sacramento, where doctors released Sammy 
to the care of his parents. 
I do not have concern for the safety of the child at home with his parents,” a note from a doctor said. 
Anna and Alex were forced to show the note to police, who came to the second hospital, presumably 
after staff at Sutter Memorial called 911. Police were under the impression that the child was in need of 
immediate medical attention from information the staff at Sutter Memorial shared with them. After 
seeing the child and speaking with medical staff at Kaiser, and determining that the child was not in 
danger, police left him to the care of his parents.
But just one day later, police showed up at the Nikolayevs’ home with Child Protective Services (CPS) 
representatives. Mr. Nikolayev met the authorities outside, wondering what multiple squad cars were 

doing at his house. According to him, police forced him to the ground and took his keys to the house. 
Mrs. Nikolayev heard the commotion outside and set up a camera pointing at the front door of their 
home. 
At least four police officers, who did not have a warrant, are shown on film barging into the home 
followed by CPS workers demanding Sammy. 
“I’m going to grab your baby, and don’t resist, and don’t fight me, okay?” one policeman can be heard 
telling Anna. Explanations have been hard to come by. Law enforcement referred media requests to 
CPS, who refused to offer a definitive statement other than claiming Sammy was taken because of 
“severe neglect,” a vague definition the Nikolayevs have denied. 
“We conduct a risk assessment of the child’s safety and rely heavily on the direction of health care 
providers,” CPS said. 
The Nikolayevs and their attorney, Joe Weinberger, expressed disbelief that Sammy was still in the 
hospital without their consent. “It’s absolutely amazing to me how a government can reach out and 
snatch a child after a doctor said there’s not an issue,” Weinberger said. “As we’ve seen, there is no 
emergency situation in this case...I can’t imagine having my baby ripped from my arms.”
Attorney Weinberger said that the entire case against the Nikolayev family was “manufactured.”
“They were provided with medical evidence that said that the baby was fine to be taken home and 
despite this, they manufactured an excuse to take this baby away,” Weinberger said.The initial physician 
who examined the child, Weinberger believes, is partly responsible for the situation.“I think what it 
comes down to is that parents didn’t appreciate the opinion of the doctor in a hospital and wanted to 
seek a second opinion,” attorney said. A court hearing was scheduled for Monday, April 29.
I am shocked and appalled that an agency of Sacramento County would go so far to remove a child from 
the care of his able and loving parents. This injustice cannot be allowed to go unpunished. If it does, it 
will be a defeat for government accountability and will set a terrible precedent.
I am therefore requesting that the audit include the policies and procedures of Sacramento County Child 
Protective Services regarding child seizures. We also request that the auditor include the same 
information from San Bernardino County CPS and one other county of the auditor’s choice, as an 
example of best practices.
1. What policies and procedures are in place for CPS to seize a child? What evidence is required to 
be collected before the seizure can take place? 
2. Are the policies and procedures for seizures in the audited counties consistent with best 
practices?
3. What is the oversight structure in making the decision to seize a child? 
4. What are the standards of severe neglect? 
5. What are the complaint procedures? What is the pathway for returning a child to his biological 
parents? What costs are associated with this? What sort of notification is provided to the families?6. Are cases handled consistently across socio-economic backgrounds? 
7. In regards to the Sacramento case specifically, what was the genesis for the second encounter 
with CPS? 
8. When a complaint is made what is CPS obligated to do to investigate it? Have they done more 
than necessary in regards to the Sacramento case? 
Thank you for your consideration of this request. 
Godspeed, 
Tim Donnelly
Assemblyman, 33rd District


STATE CAPITOL
P.0 BOX 942849
SACRAMENTO, CA 94249-0033 
(916) 319-2033
FAX (916) 319-2133
DISTRICT OFFICE
15900 SMOKETREE STREET; 
ROOM 100
HESPERIA, CA 92345
(760) 244-5277
FAX (760) 244-5447
TIM DONNELLY
ASSEMBLYMAN, THIRTY-THIRD DISTRICT