The following excerpt is from Garcia v. Cnty. of San Diego, Case No.: 15-CV-189 JLS (NLS) (S.D. Cal. 2018):
There must be "specific, articulable evidence" that provides reasonable cause to believe a child is in imminent danger before the state may remove children from their parents' custody without a court order. Wallis, 202 F.3d at 1138; see Mueller v. Auker, 700 F.3d 1180, 1186 (9th Cir. 2012) (the question is "did the officers have an objectively reasonable basis for fearing that [the child] was in imminent danger"); see also Rogers,
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487 F.3d at 1294 ("Officials, including social workers, who remove a child from its home without a warrant must have reasonable cause to believe that the child is likely to experience serious bodily harm in the time that would be required to obtain a warrant."). There must be an "identifiable risk of serious harm or abuse" in the time period before the warrant can be obtained, no matter how long that period is. Demaree v. Pederson, 887 F.3d 870, 883 (9th Cir. 2018). Here, the period to receive a warrant was 24 to 72 hours. (See Individuals MSJ 10.)
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