Make sure you have some witnesses present, especially a lawyer, or a family doctor whom you trust. Grandparents would be useful too. They are your support people, which you have a right to have present.

Are they coming to your home? Try and meet them on neutral ground - e.g. somewhere else. Maybe a church, or a library, or something. It's not supposed to be a hygiene check, but just for reference, one woman asked us if we had a broom (we did) - after which she said that that question was her personal marker of 'bad' parents, - if they had no broom they would fail the 'test'. [scratches head]. Since then, we have always met this type of intrusion on neutral ground.

It happened to us: the bad-faith narking to authorities - we had five kids at the time - it was a false accusation from someone who was frustrated because they thought they could break us up, and get off with my partner. We met the peeps from the agency and talked as long as it took to make them go away. Patiently refuting every accusation, until they realized that it was a utter falsity they were dealing with. We sat at a picnic table and fed the (10 mo - 7 years) kids some dates. They were sweet as pie, because we met them with smiles and not ignoring the kids, so we had to stand up and check on them frequently, etc.

On the one hand: Realize that the people coming to see you, are just doing their jobs, and filling in a pile of paperwork. It's scary, but at the end of the day they want to go home and put their feet up. So be nice to them, and everything might go well. In favor of this: It's the first 'incident' so to speak - and they don't even know if the complaint has any basis.

Are they intending to do some sort of wellness-check on the kids? Might want to find out. If so, then definitely have your own doctor present if possible, or at least a have a wellness record from the doctor. I know this costs money, but some of these types, despite having to do their job, do it over-enthusiastically. They are social workers, but some are self-proclaimed diagnostic merchants and proclaim that a kid's head is deformed or something - nek minit, one has to argue with higher ups, make expensive scan appointments, and have a record with those people - and endless trouble. So forewarned is forearmed - shove them a piece of paper, that they need to file.

You might find they come out with a bunch of cute surveys with pictures on cards for the kids, asking prying questions. Prepare your kids for some shocking questions with globohomo art - or refuse to partake in the charade. Up to you. Any of these cockameemee tests they roll out on this type of interview is essentially worthless, IMO. Like a bunch of tarot cards if you ask me. Such a 'reading' is flawed because of the power-dynamic which, as you say, stresses the whole family out, so obviously the kids won't be calm and friendly, the young ones might even choose to play trampolines on the couch. prepare for questions like and 'how does it feel to xxx' which the kid will find hard to answer, because they have never thought about it; or they may find the person asking, simply too rude. (One lady had shit on her shoe, and my daughter was horrified - too horrified to read out loud in a 'spot' check.

My recommendation on that score, is to keep them talking to YOU - keep your kids out of it as much as possible, if you can. Don't let them 'interview' them, or 'test' them one-on-one, there really is no need. Set the kids a task, like finding a book they want to take out at the library, or finding the right kind of dog-shampoo on the internet (wow -we are allowed on the computer), because, ... and feed them beforehand.