Robb, J.
Case Summary and Issue
B.S. (“Mother”) appeals the trial court’s order, based on authority granted by Indiana Code section 31-33-8-7, compelling her to allow the Crawford County Department of Child Services (“DCS”) to interview two of her children. She contends the statute is unconstitutional as applied to her because it allowed the trial court to compel the interviews based solely on the uncorroborated accusations of an undisclosed informant, violating her substantive and procedural due process rights. Concluding the statute as applied in this case violated Mother’s right to raise her family free from undue interference by the State, we reverse.
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Mother does not argue Indiana Code section 31-33-8-7 is unconstitutional on its face, as she concedes it may be applied constitutionally. See Br. of Appellant at 9. Instead, she argues it is unconstitutional as applied to her, because the trial court issued an order under the statute compelling her to submit her children for an interview with DCS without any evidentiary showing of need. In doing so, she acknowledges this issue has already been decided adversely to her position by another panel of this court. See id. at 11 (citing A.H., 992 N.E.2d at 966-67). But she argues this panel should reconsider the holding in A.H., especially in light of the Seventh Circuit’s decision in Doe v. Heck, 327 F.3d 492 (7th Cir. 2003), and hold that an order compelling an interview under Indiana Code section 31-33-8-7 can only be issued if there is at least reasonable suspicion of child neglect or exigent circumstances.
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As noted above, parents have a constitutional right to raise their children without undue interference and the State has a valid, compelling interest in protecting those same children, though its interest does not rise to the level of a fundamental right. See In re T.H., 856 N.E.2d at 1250. Essentially, we are asked to determine what standard of evidence is enough to tip the balance toward the State’s interest and justify compelling the parent to act in a manner inconsistent with his or her right to control the family. Mother seeks to impose a Fourth Amendment-like standard on a court order issued pursuant to Indiana Code section 31-33-8-7; that is, she asserts such a court order should only be issued if supported by, if not probable cause, at least reasonable suspicion. Mother does not claim that the Children cannot be interviewed under any circumstances; rather, she asserts that an order compelling interviews over her objection was inappropriate on this record. The State asserts that imposing an evidentiary threshold of reasonable suspicion or probable cause before an order compelling an interview can be granted is contrary to good public policy and would interfere with the State’s interest in protecting the welfare of children. [Footnote omitted.]
Indiana Code section 31-33-8-1 provides that DCS shall initiate an “appropriately thorough” assessment of every report of child abuse or neglect it receives. Ind. Code § 31-33-8-1(a). Such an assessment must include certain things, Ind. Code § 31-33-8-7(a), and may include an interview with the child, Ind. Code § 31-33-8-7(b)(2). [Footnote omitted.] If DCS attempts to obtain the consent of the parent to conduct an interview with the child and the parent refuses, DCS may petition the court to order the parent to make the child available. Ind. Code § 31-33-8-7(d). The court may issue such an order, after a hearing, if the court “finds that good cause to issue the order is shown upon the record.” Ind. Code § 31-32-13-4; see also Ind. Code § 31-32-13-1 (providing the court may issue an order to control the conduct of any person in relation to the child); Ind. Code § 31-33-8-7(e) (providing the court may grant a motion to interview the child). Because of the distinction between must and may, the legislature cannot have intended an interview with a child to be a matter of course in every assessment. See G.E. v. Ind. Dep’t of Child Servs., 29 N.E.3d 769, 771 (Ind. Ct. App. 2015) (noting the term “may” “ordinarily implies a permissive condition”); State ex rel. S. Hills Mental Health Ctr., Inc. v. Dubois Cnty., 446 N.E.2d 996, 1001 (Ind. Ct. App. 1983) (“The words ‘must’ and ‘shall’ are mandatory terms.”). Rather, DCS is not required to conduct an interview with a child as part of its assessment, and the trial court is not required to issue an order allowing an interview over a parent’s objection. However, the trial court may issue such an order if DCS shows good cause on the record supporting its request for an interview.
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Good cause is an admittedly imprecise standard. See Newton v. Yates, 170 Ind. App. 486, 496, 353 N.E.2d 485, 492 (1976) (stating, in the discovery context, that “[w]hile an exact definition of good cause is somewhat elusive, it is clear that a mere allegation of need and a summary statement alleging that the information cannot be obtained from another source will not be sufficient to surmount a ‘good cause’ hurdle”). Nonetheless, it is the statutory standard upon which the trial court must base its decision. We are not prepared to say that a higher evidentiary threshold is constitutionally required to support an order compelling an interview, as we do not have to under the facts of this case. As in Newton, DCS cannot merely allege it “needs” to interview a child to “complete its assessment” and thereby show good cause. Something more is required, but nothing more was shown in this case.
DCS is statutorily required to assess all reports of child abuse and neglect. Before an order can be entered overriding a parent’s wishes and subjecting a child to an interview, however, DCS must show the trial court some evidence beyond a report from an undisclosed source that neglect or abuse is occurring. In other words, a report triggers an assessment, but because the assessment is not required to include an interview with the child, the report alone does not allow DCS to conduct such an interview. Rather, if in gathering information about the items required to be included in an assessment, DCS finds some evidence supporting the allegations of the report and determines—not as a matter of course, but as a result of the circumstances of the specific case being investigated—that an interview is necessary to complete “an appropriately thorough” assessment, DCS may ask the trial court to order an interview if the parent does not consent.
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Conclusion
The statutes on which DCS based its request to control Mother’s conduct by compelling her to submit the Children to interviews by DCS require DCS to show some evidence suggesting abuse or neglect before the trial court may issue such an order. No such evidence was presented to the trial court in this case, and the order issued pursuant to Indiana Code section 31-33-8-7 is reversed.
Reversed.
Barnes, J., and Altice, J., concur.